By CONOR MCCONVILLE ‘17
Here at Saint Ignatius High school students are promoted throughout their four years to grow academically, athletically, and spiritually. However, with Saint Ignatius being such a large school with over 1,500 students, it is often hard for a class to grow academically, athletically, and spiritually together. In addition to this, there are only limited opportunities and events for a class to come together as one such as homecoming and prom for seniors.
For these reasons, every year the entire freshman class takes a day off from learning in the classroom, in order to make a class wide quasi-retreat known as Freshman Spirit Day. With the help of juniors and seniors, the freshmen are led through various activities that help them feel better connected to their school, their community, their faith, and their classmates. Mrs. Koehler, one of the head planers for Freshman Spirit Day said, “The purpose of Freshman Spirit Day is to build a spirit of community, a spirit of of God, a spirit of self, and a spirit of the school. Saint Ignatius is so large that that days and programs like Freshman Spirit Day make the school feel a little bit smaller and a little bit more like a community. There only certain amount of all class events and we want to emphasize that events like this one make the freshmen feel welcome in this community ”
Photo Credit: Mrs. Mary Catherine Koehler
The freshman started the day as we start all things here at Saint Ignatius High School, with prayer. The entire freshman class, along with faculty, and the junior and senior leaders gathered in Saint Mary’s Chapel and were lead in the liturgy by Rev. Raymond P. Guiao, S.J.’82 and led in song by Mr. Jason Falkofsky and the freshman choir. After mass, everyone gathered in the Breen Center where Mrs Koehler, and several students gave a presentation regarding fair trade and how important it is to the Saint Ignatius mission. From there the freshman split up into groups and from 9:55 to 10:30 heard a talk in the Chapel from either Mr. Gallagher or Mr. Vilinsky about what it means to be a part of Saint Ignatius, played a Cleveland/Saint Ignatius Kahoot! trivia game, and went to the market to enjoy some of the delicious foods offered by vendors.
After this rotation everyone gathered in the breen center to begin the afternoon activities which featured a tour of Ohio City, which included a stop at Mitchell’s for some delicious ice cream, a capture the flag game involving water balloons, and lunch. To end the day the freshman gathered in the Sullivan gymnasium for prayer and then went out onto to Wasmer field to sing the Alma Mater with the marching band.
When asked how the day went, Mrs. Koehler said, “The whole thing went really, really well and I heard great things about the Mitchell’s ice cream, the tour of Ohio City, and the talks in the Chapel. All of the freshman and student leaders that I’ve talked to said that they had a really great time.”
