Delaney Park knew she had a shot at setting a personal 5-K record, and she knew it was going to hurt.
“I thought my legs were going to fall off,” said Park, who was captain of the Bishop O’Connell cross-country team. “I thought I was way behind, so I really kicked it into gear. Then I started sprinting, and I was like, ‘I have to keep going.’ I was so surprised and happy when I saw my time.”
The record shows that Park finished the Oct. 9, 2024, race at Bluemont Park in Arlington in 21:33 to set her personal record. “I’m definitely a determined person,” she said. “So, when it really gets down to it and I want a PR, I know that I’m gonna push myself to the finish line.”
The O’Connell senior has always been on the fast track. As a first grader, she was passionate about international affairs and wanted to debate her dad about global issues. “I was really interested in history and my dad kept telling me, ‘When you’re older, we’ll talk about history and we’ll have more debates and discussions,’ ” she said. “And I was like, ‘Well, I’m older now.’ ”
A love of languages was cultivated early. “When I was very young, my mom wanted me to build up my language abilities, so she would put on DVDs of movies in different languages, and then she would (block) the TV so I would just be hearing the different languages,” she said. “I think that it shows the beauty of being able to connect with someone when you’re showing them the respect of speaking their language with them.”
While her father served in the U.S. Navy, the Park family lived in Taiwan, where she completed fourth through sixth grades while studying Mandarin Chinese. At O’Connell, she focused on French and became fluent last fall as an exchange student in France.
Park will major in international relations and minor in French at the University of Notre Dame. “I want to be an international lawyer, and to be a force for good and for peace,” she said.
Park will graduate third in her class, but her leadership and devotion to serving others is just as impressive as her academic accomplishments. She served as a student ambassador welcoming new students and peer mentored students with disabilities. “She is a cheerful, helpful, kind human being,” said Mary Jane Spurlock, O’Connell director of communications. “We are all better for knowing her.”
Looking back, Park realizes that she was developing a distinctly Catholic worldview as someone who wants to understand the world and people on a deep level, with the heart of Christ.
“Easter just passed, and when you think about how Jesus acted in the face of being ruthlessly tortured — he still forgave the people that were doing all these atrocities,” she said. “One thing I’ve learned from studying history is that we’re equally capable of doing good or doing evil. I want to choose to be kind and to help people out whenever I can.”
