VALPARAISO – How many laps around the racetrack do drivers in the Indy 500 attempt to complete? What drink does the winner traditionally gulp at the end? When does the Indy 500 take place?
Before the Indy 500 car race took place on Memorial Day weekend, students and faculty at St. Paul Catholic School learned more about the event that welcomes the start of summer in the Hoosier state thanks to a visit by Alana Jardenil, a 2018 graduate of the school and a 500 Festival Princess this year.
Helping organize Jardenil’s visit was Gayle Bakota, who has worked at St. Paul for seven years and is an enrichment teacher. Prior to her employment with the Valparaiso school, Bakota taught at St. John the Evangelist for seven years as a third-grade teacher. She was a nanny between the two teaching positions, caring for Alana and her sister Bella when Alana was just three years old.
“Over the years we have all become very close, and I love the girls as if they were my own daughters,” Bakota said. “In fact, the girls are like sisters to my three boys.”
Bakota shared that Jardenil approached her a month ago, telling her she had applied for an Indy 500 Princess position and won. As part of the honor, she needed to reach out to the community and help promote the Indy 500 Race, so she asked Bakota if she could talk to the students at St. Paul. Bakota agreed because she knew it would mean a lot to Jardenil to return to the school and share her story.
“Just knowing how bright and assertive she is, I knew this would be a good experience for the kids as well,” said Bakota. “She is a good role model and truly someone the younger kids can look up to. She has accomplished so much already.”
Jardenil was a straight-A student at St. Paul, then went on to Chesterton High School to become the valedictorian. She currently studies neuroscience (the study of the nervous system) at the University of Notre Dame.
“Notre Dame provides a multitude of opportunities to attend Mass, whether that be at the basilica or in any of the dorm chapels, and it has truly been such a blessing to attend such a wonderful school and their amazing church services,” Jardenil said.
As Jardenil went from class to class at St. Paul, she talked to the students about never giving up and following their dreams. She was introduced as a former student, having some of the same teachers the children have now. Jardenil and Bakota wanted the students to see that if they worked hard, they could be very successful and maybe earn a similar honor to Jardenil.
The 500 Festival Princess Program is for academically driven and involved college-aged women. The program selects 33 college-aged women (through an application and interview process) from schools across the state to serve as ambassadors for the 500 Festival nonprofit organization, with one of them selected as the Indy 500 Queen. The program also provides a scholarship and serves as a networking and personal growth opportunity, while all of the princesses ride with the queen in the Indy 500 parade and appear at the race.
Jardenil originally heard of the program from a past princess she met at the University of Notre Dame. They bonded over being from Indiana, and the former princess told her about the program and encouraged her to apply.
“When I looked into it more, I saw how great of a program it is and knew immediately that I wanted to give it a try,” she said. “When I received the email that I had been selected as one of the 500 Festival Princesses, I was truly just so excited and honored.”
As a part of the program, princesses are tasked with creating at least four different community outreach events, and Jardenil knew that visiting her elementary school was one that she wanted to do. As a part of her outreach with St. Paul, she led various activities with grades K-5. Jardenil started by talking to each class about the 500 Festival and the 500 Festival Princess Program, and how she became involved. Depending on the grade level, Jardenil had different activities to share with them, including an Indy 500 Kahoot (a free game-based learning platform) game, race car coloring sheets and a book reading.
At the end of each talk, thanks to her 500 Festival Board of Directors mentor James Callaghan bringing an official Indy 500 truck to the school, the classes could step outside, see the vehicle up close and take photos with it.
“I liked that she was super nice and had a crown,” said fifth grader Sophia Branfield about Jardenil before turning her attention to the vehicle. “The truck was red and had a big sticker and nice paint job.”
Callaghan, MD, senior vice president and chief operating officer for Franciscan Alliance, explained that Franciscan Alliance is a partner with the 500 Festival, which promotes the race and the state and also has a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) program for children.
“I hope the students will have an appreciation of the significance of the race for the state and then learn the math and the science behind the cars and race, and the physics of it,” he said.
Jardenil agreed, stating she wanted to bring awareness to the 500 Festival and the 500 Festival Princess Program and build excitement for the upcoming Indy 500 race. She recalled being a student at St. Paul herself and added that she hoped to inspire students to try and “achieve anything they put their minds to.”
“My favorite part of attending St. Paul was that my classmates truly became my family,” she said. “Many of my classmates were together with me for nine years. We practically grew up together, and we all became such close friends. To this day, I am still friends with many of them. I think it speaks volumes (that while at) St. Paul I was able to cultivate friendships and build a wonderful community.”
Caption: Alana Jardenil, a Valparaiso resident and a sophomore at the University of Notre Dame, interacts with first graders on May 14 at St. Paul Catholic School. During the visit, Jardenil shared details about the Indianapolis 500 car race and how she came to participate in the 500 Festival Princess Program. (Provided photo)