Just a few years ago, Joe Shasky III ’01 would have told you that his biggest regret was never graduating from Riordan. Now, in the 2024–2025 school year, he can finally say that he did.

After a regretful high school career, and battles with drugs and alcohol, Riordan alumnus Joe Shasky turned his life around. He made a change for the better and earned his diploma at the beginning of this school year.

In high school, Shasky admits he wasn’t a responsible student, and that his attitude could have been better throughout high school. 

“When I was at Riordan, I wasn’t applying myself. Even though I got good grades, I was a huge troublemaker,” Shasky said.

He would find himself being rude, and acting in ways he would later regret. He was first kicked off of his sports teams for poor attitude, but before it got better, it got worse. He was eventually asked to leave Riordan. 

He wore this shame for a long time. But, rather than sitting around, Shasky decided it was time to change. 

“I looked at myself in the mirror and said I didn’t want to be that person. And it was that point in time where my life started to turn around.”

To make this change, Shasky started with something familiar to him: coaching youth sports. He did this so he could help any young kids who were like him, kids who were struggling and needed a positive male figure in their life. 

“A lot of why I started coaching was to give back to the young people who resembled me. Who, for whatever reason, whether it was their home life or individually, who just needed some positive male influence,” Shasky said.

His players were inspired by his energy and genuine love and care for the game.

Former baseball player for Shasky, Alexandre Fonseca ’25 said, “He really inspired love for the game, he seemed like he really cared.”

Over time, Shasky became more mature, and made sure to atone for his mistakes.

“As I got older I apologized to those I needed to apologize to and thanked who I needed to thank.”

And though Shasky had come a long way, he still felt like something was missing. He still had not received a high school diploma. 

So, with support from people like Joe Shasky II, Viggen Rassam ’87, and Michael Vezzali-Pascual ’88, Shasky III put in the work to complete the requirements he needed to graduate. This led to him earning his diploma. 

Almost 25 years in the making, Shasky’s work came full circle when he received that paper. 

 “[Tim Reardon] handed me my diploma and I just started to cry. I knew my dad would be proud of me, and I was proud of myself.”

And even though earning his diploma was a huge accomplishment for him, Shasky doesn’t want to stop there. He plans to keep going, and fulfill the next chapter of his life. 

“It felt more like a part of the journey, not that I reached the mountain top, but I finished one of the side missions in life.”