Catholic Schools Week at BSM often includes a speaker who talks about the importance of Catholic Schools. Mr. Matt Birk was this year’s speaker, and on February 1 he talked to the BSM students and staff about his journey throughout his life.

Birk grew up in Saint Paul, Minnesota attending Cretin Derham Hall Catholic High School. He later attended Harvard University on a football and academic scholarship. In 1998, he was drafted in the sixth round of the NFL Draft by the Minnesota Vikings.

At the assembly he spoke of his faith journey that was found during his football career. He used a topic that was intriguing to the students and related it to something that can be confusing for them to understand. “I liked how he related football and God together, so we could understand it. He related it to something we all know very well,” freshman Megan Watts said.

He engaged the students through his experiences while providing good life lessons and gave an insight to the life of a professional athlete. “I thought the speaker was very good because he did a good job relating to us as students, but using humor as well. He also had very good stories about his time in the NFL,” senior Joe Dunn said.

It also made students think about their own faith and the journey that they are on. He showed the students how to keep a strong faith base while being so involved in a very time consuming career. “He taught me that you can never truly be content or truly happy without good faith,” junior Jane Hoyt said.

In the short time that he spoke, he taught the students so much about faith and the way it played a role in his life. He is someone that students can look up to as a role model. “I have longed looked up to Matt Birk. He has a good background and great, great Catholic values. He is definitely a role model for the youth today,” Coach Joe Creer said.