by Matt Colella ‘14
My opponent would have you believe actually benefiting from a club is nearly impossible – that a student doesn’t really pursue extracurricular organizations because he is legitimately interested in it, but because he wants to simply hoard impressive activities to show off on his resume. Now men, are we really that low? Is the Saint Ignatius student body really composed of a bunch of boys just wanting to stack their resumes to get into a prestigious university? Are we really that focused on our own future successes that we fail to pursue real interests or serve our community? Is that the kind of student body that led to Ignatius’ being recognized as arguably the most elite school on the west side of Cleveland?
Now I know all of you students out there know that we are nothing like that, but the man behind the opposing position seems to think differently. To him we are apparently the epitome of selfishness, the antithesis of charity – men for ourselves, not men for others. Clearly organizations like Labre, Men of Regis, Gonzaga Society, Support our Troops, and countless other service organizations right here on campus are filled with kids just trying to make the most for themselves, not trying to perhaps give off the aura of altruism solely to impress a few people in the admissions office of some college. I know we’re better than that. You know we’re better than that. The whole community knows we’re better than that.
As you all know, unless you literally slept through every single one of your freshman theology classes, our school was founded on the principles of Saint Ignatius and his commitment to social justice. We still carry on this tradition of the Society of Jesus today, and it’s quite clearly represented in our extracurriculars. We, as a school, are very in touch with tradition and would never give it up, especially when it brings so much good into the world. I firmly believe that our student body utilizes the various organizations around school for the purpose of bringing justice into our world community – that we carry out or duty to be men for others.
I firmly believe that we students are just as committed to social justice as ever, and that we don’t value our own desires over the needs of others. We truly are men for others, and our extracurriculars perfectly embody this principle of altruism that we hold so dear to our hearts. To deny this – as does my opponent – is to say that our school has completely and utterly failed in its mission, that our school has taught us not to act for those in need, but for ourselves. Now unless you actually believe that this institution is a complete failure, that the teachers are failures, that the Jesuits are failures, that your peers are selfish cretins, it is absolutely absurd to believe that we abuse the extracurricular system for our own advantage.
