Just say no to Queen of Peace.
Katie O’Leary said that was one of her first thoughts when it was announced in January of 2014 that Mount Assisi was closing its doors for good in June.
A sophomore at the Lemont school, she didn’t know where she was going to spend her junior and senior years, but O’Leary was very sure where she wasn’t.
“Peace was one of our biggest competitors,” O’Leary said. “When everyone was told they had to change schools, they said they’d go anywhere but Queen of Peace. That was the last place I thought I would ever be.”
A funny thing happened on the way to a new school.
Some of the girls made the trek to Peace and came back with a report that had a very familiar ring to it.
“They said it was small, all girls, and the community was so nice, just like at Mount Assisi,” O’Leary said. “All of my friends thought it would be a better place to go than some other big public school.”
So she said yes to Queen of Peace.
What a win-win situation it has been.
Now a senior, O’Leary is the starting outside hitter for Queen of Peace (21-14), which has doubled its win total from 2014 and is having one of its best seasons in some time. The Pride is the second seed in the Class 3A De La Salle Sectional.
For her senior year, the Oak Lawn resident got an extra pleasant surprise when former Mount Assisi coach Karen Van Assen was hired at Peace.
“When we found out that the old coach (Ryan Denson) left, we recommended coach Van Assen and her staff,” O’Leary said. “When they said she was coming it was a real relief.”
O’Leary is one of three Mount Assisi girls who are playing volleyball at Peace. The others are Jordan Jakubowski and Lauren Stevens.
Her contributions to the team go well beyond statistics.
“Because Katie has worked with me before, very often she demonstrates a lot of the drills we do,” Van Assen said. “She knows what I expect, and if I’m not explaining it correctly, she explains it for me.
“And she’s really fast. It’s kind of a joke among us that we have to beat Katie in sprints. She’s there early and stays late. All of things you expect a good kid to do, she does.”
Counting multiple-sports kids (O’Leary plays softball as well), there have been close to 40 roster spots filled at Queen of Peace with former Mount Assisi students, according to athletic director George Shimko.
“So far everything has been really good,” Shimko said. “The transition from Mount Assisi closing to being part of Queen of Peace has gone very well. They’ve integrated very well into everything we’re trying to get done here.”
It couldn’t have worked out better for O’Leary, who attended Van Assen’s camps as a grammar school student at St. Catherine.
“We kind of connected when Katie was in sixth grade at camp,” Van Assen said. “We knew she was going to be something special. When she came to Mount Assisi it was great to work with her.
“There was also a commonality we had. She was adopted from China (as a baby) and after talking through the years I ended up adopting a baby domestically. My daughter will be 4 in December.”
Meanwhile, the surprises keep coming for O’Leary.
She wasn’t figuring on playing sports in college because she wants to go pre-med and be a neuro or cardiac surgeon. Turns out she might get to do both at the University of Chicago.
“That is literally my dream school, and I found out that they need athletes,” O’Leary said. “I could possibly have a better chance of getting in if I play sports. So I’ve been talking to the coach and she emailed me back for a film.
“I’ll be sending her a highlights clip. It would be great to work on a major, and also be able to play, which is even greater.”
Twitter: @tbaranek
