Lucy G. MSJ ’21
A big tradition we have at MSJ is Catholic Schools Week. This tradition has been going on for years, and it has always been a favorite for the students. Catholic Schools Week is a time for students to reflect on their faith and do good for the community around them. There are two Catholic School Weeks every year, one is at the end of January and the other is usually in the middle of November.
We have done many different things to celebrate Catholic Schools Week in the past, but a consistent tradition of ours is a spirit week. We do a full week of spirit days during Catholic Schools Week to allow the students to have fun and express themselves by dressing down. Also, the money collected from students for dressing down during spirit week goes to a good cause, usually Project Help in December, or another event or fundraiser students have organized. Catholic Schools Week is about bringing Catholic Schools together in the country by reaching out to their community, within and outside of their schools, to do good everywhere. Four years ago, for Catholic Schools Week, MSJ did their part by hosting a community service day. The entire school was split up into several different groups and everyone did something different that would help better the school and greater community. Some groups stayed at school and cleaned the entire building. Other groups did activities like raking up leaves at the nearby park.
This year's Catholic Schools Week we are continuing the tradition of a week full of dress down days, starting Monday the 16th and ending Friday the 20th. Along with this tradition, we will also be having a pep rally-like day of activities on Friday the 20th, which is also a half day. It will be filled with games for every student to participate in and end with “Pie a Teacher.” This is a fundraiser we are incorporating to help fund Project Help. Bins are set up in the office for the duration of Catholic Schools Week with teacher names of them. Students may go into the office and put money in any teacher’s bin they want, and the two teachers at the end of the week that have the most money in their bins will get pied by a lucky student. Every student is extremely excited about seeing their teachers have pie smeared on their faces (and some teachers seem to be excited about it too.)
Catholic Schools Week is always an exciting time at MSJ, whichever activities are chosen to celebrate each year. It allows students to get excited about Thanksgiving break and Project Help. Not only that, but it's also a time for students to act on their faith and do something bigger than themselves, like raising money for a good cause and having fun doing it. Catholic Schools Week will always be an MSJ tradition that raises school spirit in students and the spirits of the greater community.