Tuesday May 19, 2015. 
This was a day I sometimes never
thought would come. This particular Tuesday morning Ann wrote the last tuition
check to Bishop McDevitt High School, end a very special chapter in our lives.
Many families have experienced this same thrill time after time. In our case it
is unique because we have been writing checks for 24 years. More specifically,
our family's time at McDevitt spans 286 consecutive months or 1,246 weeks or 8,448
days. Figure the hours, minutes and seconds out for yourself, I am not counting
any more. During that time Ann and I
estimate that the sum of all our checks easily exceeds one-hundred thousand dollars. Our oldest son Stephen enrolled in August of
1991. Seth our youngest graduates May 27, 2015. Our home mortgage did not last this long. Before
I continue please permit me to say that we wish it to be clear that we are not
complaining. This was our choice, 100%. We were in one accord in this decision.
To us it was not a sacrifice but rather a priority. Never did we feel that we missed
out on anything, never did we do without anything and never did we ever have
second thoughts about our commitment to value of the high school education of
our children provided by Bishop McDevitt educators. The return on our
investment (ROI) was worth every cent.
How does one measure the ROI for a hundred thousand dollar plus
investment twenty-four years in the making. In our case we looked at the
finished products and the feedback received from them directly and garnered
from the successes and failure in their post secondary years reflected in their
lives. When your college student tells you that their undergraduate classes are
easier than the classes they had at McDevitt you know your ROI is good. When
you college student tells you how easy it is to write term papers you
inherently know you ROI is great. When your college senior is challenged by his
professor, accused of plagiarism, stands his ground by defending his work and
ultimately wins when the accuser admits that he has been convinced admitting
that rarely has he witnessed writing skills such as those exhibited by this
particular college student, you know your ROI is off the charts. When you have
a son that does not do well in college as a recent high school graduate but
returns to the academic world ten years later and earns a Bachelor degree while
working full time, one's ROI soars. The value of a McDevitt education is not
only manifested in those who continue their education in college. When you have
a son that finds himself challenged by the classroom rigors of the
undergraduate student, realizes that it is not for him, then parlays what he
learned at McDevitt into a successful career as a surveyor, our ROI continues
to climb as it nears the apex of expectations. The measurement does not end
here. We have other children who are still working on or just beginning the next
chapter of their lives. Where they are going, what they do when they get there
and the measure of success achieved are still hidden behind the curtain of
time. What we as parents know, what we as parents have proof of is that they
have the same advantage as those siblings gone before them, they have a Bishop
McDevitt education.
Through the years when speaking to friends about our commitment
to a Bishop McDevitt education we are told that they cannot afford to send
their child there. We realized when we were
blessed by having a family, when we became stewards to God's creations, we
could not afford not to make the commitment. Through the entire process these
past twenty-four years we were able to do what we did, we were able to provide
what we did, we were able to have a fantastic ROI because we believed that God
would provide us our daily bread. Whether it was the food on our plates, the
roof over our heads or the tuition needed to provide a quality education for
our seven children, He was always there, He was always faithful. Thank you
Lord! May you now continue to be with us as we turn the page to the next
chapter of the life you have so graciously give us. Proverbs 30:8-9 - DD
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