History was made on September 18th at the local St. Paul Eagle Street Bar & Grill. Not only were the Cretin-Derham Hall girls soccer team there to celebrate a win over Forest Lake, they were celebrating a momentous victory for Jenny Haigh ’91 who is soon to be represented within the high school walls.
Haigh is already included within the CDH Hall of Fame being a tri-sport athlete in soccer, basketball and softball. Not only was she an outstanding player at CDH and beyond, Haigh also grew to be an amazing wife, to Aileen Guiney, and then mother. However, as time progressed, Haigh developed chordoma, a rare blood cancer, ultimately leading to her passing in 2018. Knowing how much of a positive influence Haigh had, her wife Aileen Guiney took it upon herself for her to be properly honored. Having her oldest graduate from CDH two years ago and her youngest in plans of attending the same high school, Guiney set her eyes on CDH for her remembrance since this is where it all started.
As Guiney conducted her research for this goal, she realized that the academic environment of CDH led to one thing named after a student athlete which were the locker rooms. Seeing this, she was set on a mission for both her wife and all CDH female athletes. Of course, Guiney didn’t always know that her actions would result in a scoreboard. However, seeing that CDH needed a more modern one on the Wingerd turf field with video footage and being an impressive soccer coach herself, she decided it would kill two birds with one stone.
Guiney kicked off her plans by working with two of Haigh’s fellow ‘91 alumni, Meg Hyland and Pat Connelly. With this additional help, fundraisers started one after another, the first being at Pat’s house during the early summer of ‘25. With the first meeting then to the final one at the Eagle Street Bar, it was officially announced that enough money had been raised for the future scoreboard to finally become reality. Naturally, the quick, yet very impressive, journey was not just one smooth paved road. When asked about the hardest step, Guiney admitted, “The hardest part honestly is that it’s hard to fundraise when it’s something so personal. I am a private person and I had to be more open about this part of my life than I normally would be, also asking people to donate money can be uncomfortable!”
Throughout the whole endeavor, Guiney was able to step out of her shell to help grow Jenny Haigh’s accomplishments as well as her own. Having only coached one year at CDH and already having such an influence, it seems as if every student and parent is wondering the same thing: What will she do next?
