In all levels of sports it is almost a rite of passage for athletic directors, coaches, and fans to start each new season trying to determine the burning question: Who will step up to replace the seniors who graduated, or those other contributing athletes no longer on the team? At Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in Bethesda, MD, where Katie Ledecky graduated in 2015, the question that will always be asked is, “Who will be the next Katie Ledecky?”

I know what you’re thinking...the natural reaction to the question is that I’m referring to Olympic level competitive success. In fact, I am not.

Yes, Katie won Gold in the 2012 London Olympics the summer after her freshman year at Stone Ridge and smashed her own world record on Sunday night in Rio. But when I ask, “Who will be the next Katie Ledecky” it is with the knowledge that she is an even better person than athlete!

The first time I met Katie, she walked up to me and apologized that she hadn’t sought me out to introduce herself sooner. “Wow!” I thought, “This young woman, arguably the best athlete in the world, was so humble that she felt she needed to introduce herself through an apology.”

Katie continues to visit our campus more often than I can keep track of. You’ll find her most often interacting with our students in Kindergarten through Grade 8, making the most of her time spent on campus inspiring young Stone Ridge Gators.

So – through the five Goals of Sacred Heart education and our partnership with Positive Coaching Alliance and their motto of Better Athletes, Better People – our students understand what we mean when we ask, “Who will be the next Katie Ledecky?” We mean, “Who will exemplify the way do we do things at Stone Ridge? Who will carry the ‘SR Way’ from athletics and academics into the rest of their lives? Who will always reflect our mission?”

If you are lucky enough to meet Katie, you will hear how quickly and proudly she states, “I AM a Stone Ridge Girl,” and how well she lives out the five Goals of Sacred Heart. You will find that she embodies the PCA ethos of Triple-Impact Competitor, not just in swimming competition, but, more importantly, throughout her life.

“Who will be the next Katie Ledecky?” I promise that if you want to do things the right way at your school, you will ask the same question we ask at Stone Ridge.