The Brave News

by Diego Santizo, Sports Editor

In what seemed impossible at the time, the senior count went up from thirteen to forty-two in the dying minutes of the deadline to allow a Kairos to successfully take place, and all the credit goes to Mr. Torre for making it happen!

The deadline to sign up for Kairos was on April 14th at 11:59 PM. There needed to be at least twenty-five people signed up for Kairos in order for the retreat to take place. It was 8:00 PM and there were only thirteen people signed up. The events that would follow would be what everyone called a “miracle”.

Mr. Torre would end up texting most – if not all – the senior class on Google Chat promoting the event and giving financial assistance to anyone who needed it. After a series of texts and texts, he fell asleep hoping for the best. When he woke up the following morning, it was 6:00 AM and the deadline was over. He hesitantly checked to see if Kairos would be a go and to his surprise the new amount of seniors who signed up for Kairos were up to forty-two! It was indeed a miracle!

Current St. John Bosco Interim Principal Mr. Jaramillo praised Mr. Torre’s miracle-working skills, as Mr. Torre showcased his true Salesian spirit.

“Only Mr. Torre can pull of a miracle equivalent to the miracle of Christmas as he pulled of the miracle of the pandemic with Kairos successfully taking place. Only he has the energy to bring us together in a time like this so he truly is the Kairos miracle maker,” said Mr. Jaramillo

Mr. Torre’s passion and motivation were the x-factors as twenty-nine seniors signed up for Kairos in the dying hours of the deadline day and he credits two sources.

“The first source was my own experience in Kairos as a faculty/staff member and my experience was made by people’s shoulders who I stand on and if it wasn’t for people like Mr. Jaramillo, Ms. Tracy, and Ms. Day who began the Kairos program here at Bosco then my experience wouldn’t of happened,” said Torre.

Mr. Torre credited his second source to the students, and he pointed out that if it wasn’t for their desires to share their stories to their fellow classmates, then his passion and motivation for hosting a Kairos would have been absent during the dying hours of the deadline.

Bosco’s 2021 Youth Delegate Pedro Ochoa was grateful for the opportunity as he was 1 of the 6 student leaders who took part in Kairos 51.

“Kairos meant a lot to me, especially for it being my first time leading it. This miraculous kairos showed that anything is possible. Mr. Torre is a person that always puts others in front of himself and it showed during the whole process of planning and successfully pulling off this event. This Kairos proved it as he dedicated so much time for the senior class even though there was a major possibility that it may not happen at all,” said Ochoa.

A few days later, COVID-19 testing took place on campus, and the following day, Kairos was a go! Seniors spent 3 days and 2 nights isolated with one another enjoying a nice distraction from everything that was happening to them outside the designated area. Those 3 days were described by many seniors as “life changing”.

Bosco senior and Kairos participant, Anthony Mejia, could not be more satisfied with the experience and life-changing opportunities he was able to experience.

“It’s definitely a life changing experience that you’ll remember for the rest of your life and really makes you grow closer with your Bosco brothers,” said Anthony.

Kairos not only leaves an impact on current participants, but also on alumni and current leaders. Key Club President and Kairos student leader Hector Andrade had a good way of describing Mr. Torre’s heroics, as he was able to join the retreat as a leader.

“Mr Torre best put it, ‘We were a QB who was always scrambling since the 1st quarter, every play.’ But at the end of the day we got the win. Mr Torre’s dedication and love towards Kairos is the reason why he’s such an influential part of bosco, he pulled through adversity all for this 2021 senior class and I am very thankful,” said Hector.

The praise of Mr. Torre doesn’t only start and end with the students as the faculty and staff were just as impressed as the seniors were with Mr. Torre’s heroics.

Mr. Salmingo points out the work Mr. Torre had to do, that not many people know of, and how little praise Mr. Torre gest for it.

“Behind the scenes there is so much that has to be taken care off that people forget and the participants never notice due to how good the presentation of Kairos turned out to be so I gave huge kudos to Mr. Torre for taking care of the ugly and turning it into something beautiful,” said Mr. Salmingo.

Mr. Salmingo has a good point when mentioning the “behind the scenes” action because Mr. Torre’s hectic schedule consisted of calling the retreat center back and forth multiple times, making arrangements to visit the retreat center himself to see if the seniors would like it, helping the student leaders with their talks, planning every second of Kairos from the bus trip there to the events that took place and those were just a few of the many tasks he dealt with all in the span of one week.

Bosco counselor, Ms. Yesenia Moreno, decided to add Kairos to her “to-do” list for the future as a result of watching how passionate Mr. Torre and the students were for Kairos.

“I really congratulate Mr. Torre for doing what he did because if I were to do that it would for sure leave me feeling overwhelmed so I give huge kudos to Mr. Torre for doing anything and everything he could in order for the seniors to have a memorable experience,” Ms. Moreno said.

The praise didn’t stop there as the 2021 Kairos Alumni Director Mr. Alvidrez believes the biggest factor in Kairos taking place was when Mr. Torre jumped in during the senior meeting to promote the event.

“If it were anyone else or someone who wasn’t as enthusiastic as Mr. Torre is who jumped in at the meeting I don’t think the miracle ever would’ve taken place,” said Mr. Alvidrez.

Mr. Torre’s hard work truly paid off as seniors did indeed have a memorable experience and current senior and wrestler Jasper Centeno was just one of many who were ecstatic about their time there.

“Kairos was truly once in a lifetime experience. I am more than grateful for the many lessons I learned and for having a new perspective of my faith. Before Kairos I was really disconnected with my faith but thanks to Kairos I am happy to say my connection has been revived,” said Jasper.

ASB President John Udabe is just one of many other happy participants who is proud to see what Mr. Torre was able to accomplish.

“I was so glad I could go on Kairos this year and that it was even able to happen. I think it was a perfect way to begin wrapping up my senior year at Bosco and help me grow closer to my classmates before we graduated,” said John.

The senior class thanks Mr. Torre for everything he did as they now have memories they won’t forget anytime soon. There is no one on campus who can be as proud as Mr. Torre to arrange an event in a matter of hours and showcase what a Salesian educator is capable of accomplishing.