Breaking News… Cupid is real. I recently got to know him, and he doesn’t shoot people with arrows. He uses his keyboard. 

Every January, Bishop Kenny students take the Computer Fun compatibility survey. When Valentine’s Day rolls around, all students have the opportunity to purchase their results and find out their top matches. 

To those who’ve ever wondered, “Who created my list?” “Are my results accurate?” I have the answers. Some think that matches are randomly generated, but Cupid is a man named Joe Barnard.

Before his business, Barnard worked at a high school in Ohio as an assistant principal and Student Council advisor. 

“There was a company in Idaho doing a similar program back in 1979,” Barnard said. “That company went out of business, and I had a business background, so I started doing the program.” 

Barnard’s company has been a great success for him.

For more than 40 years, he has worked with Bishop Kenny to decode our surveys and find matches. 

“Thousands of schools have done our program, and millions of students have taken part in it,” Barnard said. 

Students receive a paper with around 35 questions. The questions consist of the opinions and habits of high school students. Once they fill it out, all the slips get mailed to Barnard. 

Barnard inputs each slip into his computer by hand. Once he is done, the computer prints out a slip listing the student’s top ten matches, top three least compatible and top three best friends. 

They are then sorted by the Newspaper students, and sold at lunch on or just before Valentine’s Day.

This is one of the longest ongoing traditions at Bishop Kenny, according to Vice Principal Michael Broach, who graduated class of 1999. 

Hundreds of Kenny students buy the surveys each year, and while Barnard receives a cut, most of the money raised goes to benefit The Shield.

On behalf of the staff, thank you to those who purchased their matches and supported us. Now you know the real Cupid is Joe from Ohio.