Judge Memorial CHS experience helps student achieve academic success after struggles

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SALT LAKE CITY — Moving to a different state and switching schools during high school is never easy, but a Judge Memorial Catholic High School student has used the experience to transform her education.

Renati Hackley, 17, spent her early years in Utah, but her family moved to Nevada when she was 3. In Las Vegas, Renati attended public schools, doing well academically until the pandemic hit. Then she struggled with online learning and the accompanying isolation.

“The challenge that we ran into when it came to Covid was not having someone physically there that you could talk to,” said Renati’s mother, Leinati Hackley, adding that she was unable to help her daughter with her coursework. “It’s not the same as when I was in school, so I felt horrible, not being able to help.”

Although in-person learning resumed at her school, Renati transitioned to an online-only school where she again faced challenges and ended up failing her junior year.

“It was hard for me to do online because I procrastinated a lot, which was really rough,” she said.

When the family learned they would be returning to Utah last summer, Renati, her mother and her grandfather Charles Dooley, JMCHS Class of 1975, decided things were going to be different for her here. Renati had the option of entering public high school as a senior, but would have needed to carry an extremely heavy course load to be able to graduate with her class. Seeking an alternative, Dooley approached Judge Principal Patrick Lambert, who offered Renati a place in the upcoming junior class.

“I felt that academically that was the best option for me, to start over at Judge,” she said.

The Judge experience has allowed Renati to excel. The school’s smaller teacher-to-student ratio has helped her not only to catch up but to master her coursework. “It also allowed me to get more comfortable with my teachers and to ask them more questions,” she said. “Judge has helped me become the best academically because before, it was a struggle for me, and it has been a huge change. It has been so helpful for me.”

“That change from her not wanting to do her homework, not understanding it, not having help, to where now she is in a school where she has a whole class dedicated to getting help from a teacher, there’s been a huge difference in her doing her homework on her own versus battling with her,” Leinati Hackley said.

Renati’s nine months at Judge also have changed her outlook. “She’s happy. She wants to do activities; she wants to participate in things and her overall personality and confidence have changed significantly,” Leinati said.

Renati agrees that the Judge environment has had a tremendous impact on her success. “Seeing my grades go up, it really motivated me and helped me realize I could actually do this,” she said.” It allowed me to have a lot of confidence.”

The opportunity to attend a Catholic school has also been a blessing, she said. “It has helped me open up to God more,” she said. “Before, I wasn’t really prioritizing him, and I think that being able to go to a Catholic school and have religion classes, it allowed me to talk to him more, to pray more. I just see a lot of positive changes in my life.”

Renati is now carrying a 3.5 GPA and is on track to graduate in 2024. This year she has also contributed to the success of the varsity girls basketball team. After high school she hopes to enlist in the Navy and to pursue a career in photojournalism there.

“Renati is truly a Judge success story, where our focus on ‘cura personalis,’ or the whole student, has allowed her to reach her full potential,” said Adia Waldburger, the school counselor. “Renati is also a very kind, caring person and we are truly blessed that she and her family chose us as her place to finish her high school career.

“[Dooley’s] dream had always been to have a grandchild carry on the Bulldog tradition, and Renati became the first to do so,” Waldburger added.