Fr. Ralph Resigns as CCP President, Dr. Guidry Announced as Replacement
January 11, 2021
Rev. Father Ralph Siefert, President of Chaminade College Preparatory, announced that he is resigning in June 2022.
On January 8, 2021, the iconic Father Ralph announced that he would be resigning as President of Chaminade. Father Ralph has served as the president of Chaminade for over 30 years and the impact he had on the community and the school is tremendous. Mr. Todd Guidry, the Middle School principle at Chaminade will be taking over as president of Chaminade starting in June 2022.
Dr. Guidry will have a transition year in the 2021- 2022 school year to learn from Father Ralph and serve as the Vice President. Guidry’s eight years of experience at Chaminade and work as middle school principle will make the transition seem very smooth and natural. Guidry graduated from Xavier and received a Bachelor of Arts in Theology as well as a Doctorate in Education from SLU.
The news of Father Ralph retiring was not shocking because of his age yet was very eye opening at the same time. Father has impacted so many different people in a variety of ways for so many years and will surely be missed. “To me, Father Ralph embodies Chaminade. It helps that he’s known basically my whole family, so I feel like I have a special connection to him personally, but he truly has impacted me in my time at Chaminade,” Senior Ted Sudekum said. “From his faith, to his support for the football team. He has made Chaminade a better place for me.”
Father’s endless support for the students inside the classroom, spiritually, and in extra circulars is so powerful and never goes unnoticed by students. Senior Jack Carrow explained his favorite memory of Father by saying, “my favorite memory was seeing Father Ralph photograph all of our soccer games, no matter the weather he was there and he even came to road games which was cool to see him cheer us on and support the team .” It was the continuous acts of kindness and small deeds which Father did that influenced all the staff as student body. “Making conversation when I stop by his room for candy, earning what it means to be a Marianist,” Senior Cole Verhulst said.
While Father has been the epitome of the school’s model, “Esto Vir” and touched so many people, Dr. Todd Guidry will most definitely do the same. Guidry’s experience and impact at Chaminade is felt daily. “I think Guidry is the best person to replace Father Ralph,” Explained Jack Carrow, who attended Chaminade for middle school. “He has done a great job of leading the middle school and will be able to transition smoothly into his new role.” Chaminade has many students who started in middle school and gone onto high school, and for that reason Guidry will feel right at home and have no reason to be uncomfortable.
When asked if Dr. Guidry will be able to take over and have the positive effect Father Ralph had, the three seniors answered without hesitation, “yes”. Ted Sudekum expanded on that saying, “I do think Dr. Guidry will be able to take over and fit the role of president extremely well.” Sudekum continued, “ It will be weird to me to not see Father Ralph as president because it’s the first time in Chaminade history that a non-lay person will hold that office, but I think Dr. Guidry will do just fine. I think Dr. Guidry’s has had a positive impact on the school thus far and will continue to do so.”
