Welcome to Remote Learning

The devastating impact of COVID-19 has created an extraordinarily challenging period for the world. Our strength at Jesuit Dallas is our desire to be together and to celebrate the joy of our community, and we have been particularly challenged by how the global health crisis has created the need for social distancing, and impacted the way students are taught and learn. Although the pandemic stripped our ability to be together physically, the vibrancy of our young men and faculty was on full display throughout the spring, as we collectively embraced the opportunity to persevere through an unprecedented set of circumstances.

As the art department moved classwork online, they invited the community to learn and create alongside our students. All 2D digital design, 2D traditional design, photography, and drawing students, along with any willing faculty and staff, participated in a weekly challenge that included social media to create a digital multi-panel comic strip telling a story about their time in quarantine; creating a piece of still life artwork; designing an Easter card; and competing in a cover contest for the 2020-21 School calendar.

On May 2, the Jesuit Dallas Chess Club took its annual fundraiser out to the community by organizing an online open chess tournament. The Club raised nearly $700 in support of Minnie’s Food Pantry, a nonprofit organization providing meals to 5,000 people in the DFW area per month. Congratulations to Cole Frutos ’23, who went undefeated through five rounds to win the tournament.

On May 20, the community enjoyed a Night at the Jesuit Theater…virtually! Streaming live through Jesuit Dallas’ social media channels, theater arts students wrote, produced, and acted in a 20-minute original ePlay, titled “The Whodunit!” The cool concept, which featured as many filming locations as actors, asked the audience to solve which of the 19 suspects was the perpetrator in this robbery-mystery, while laughing all the way.

Given how populations with existing health conditions were among the most vulnerable to the physical impact of COVID-19, Jesuit was proud to continue in the “Be The Match” program. Hundreds of students, faculty, and staff joined the Registry this spring and volunteered to be listed as a potential blood stem cell donor, ready to save the life of any patient in need of a transplant.

Many classes, including students in the French program, participated in synchronous learning while utilizing the Quizlet Live app to create engaging activities like quizzes and games to keep the learning fun.

We began our virtual fourth quarter of the academic year with a prayer service, and it was a great reminder that faith formation is an integral part of the Jesuit experience. Throughout the rest of the spring, various students, staff, and alumni recorded themselves using video and audio to lead the community in the daily morning prayer and through the day’s examen while the campus ministry office regularly shared prayer and faith-based resources in the morning announcements.

Although our ability to travel was severely impacted this spring, the service and social justice programs stayed in constant communication with the non-profit agencies serving our global partners. One of our Peruvian programs supports a food aid effort in the rural highland of Sullumayu. Jesuit redirected its efforts to respond to a severe food shortage in the community caused by the pandemic. Working in partnership with a network of Jesuit parishes in the region, Jesuit Dallas sponsored the delivery of food baskets, “canastas,” to this remote indigenous community. At the time, it was the only source of food they were receiving aside from what they were able to grow themselves (largely limited to potatoes).

Beginning with the Jesuit Dallas football program and extending out across campus, student-athletes joined the sportsYou app so that coaches could communicate with their players. Hundreds of Jesuit students posted inspiring messages of remote training throughout the spring, while coaches shared motivational quotes, nutrition tips, and regularly engaged with the boys. The football program also recognized an “Iron Ranger of the Week,” to an individual who excelled by example and inspired their teammates. Open Mic, which has become a regular tradition in the cafeteria, was given an online makeover, as Rawley Schott ‘20 and Jack Garrison ’21 hosted an Open Mic event on Microsoft Teams during the first week of May to the delight of classmates and teachers. The response was so positive that the students decided to host another Open Mic event the following week.

The COVID-19 crisis created a landscape defined by a sense of social isolation, but we wanted to inspire our community by showing that critical service programs must continue even in a time of challenge. Throughout the spring our students engaged in a number of different initiatives including pen pal programs at assisted living and memory care centers; meal deliveries to formerly homeless individuals with HIV/AIDS residing at Hillcrest House; and virtual classroom mentorships with students at Notre Dame School and our

United to Learn partner schools in DISD.

Replicating the experience of a virtual Ignatian Day (I-Day), Jesuit’s strength and conditioning coaching staff hosted a highly-attended two-part nutrition seminar online in May that covered all aspects of maintaining strong physical, mental and emotional health, while properly fueling the body.

Whether it was presentations to help prepare our seniors for life in college, a sociallydistanced Senior Kairos retreat, a virtual Honors Convocation, or College Day on social media, administrators tried to maintain many of the School’s important activities and endof-year traditions, albeit in different and creative ways.

In early April, Jesuit’s anatomy students enjoyed a virtual visit with Dr. Bob Hendler ’66, who delivered a presentation to the students entitled, “Understanding the Immune System: Practical Application and COVID-19.” Dr. Hendler stayed on the line to answer the students’ many questions and to offer amazing context about working on the front lines during the coronavirus pandemic.

Despite a closed campus, the math lab remained open. Faculty made themselves available in virtual classrooms throughout the semester where students could “drop-in” and meet with a teacher online.