Principal’s Newsletter
October, 2018 Jesuit High School www.jesuitportland.org
FORGING GLOBAL PARTNERSHIPS As we move into October, the energy that our students brought back from summer break has not dissipated. I am amazed at the joy that suffuses our hallways when our students and faculty return from their summer adventures. One of the most moving moments of the year comes early, at our “Welcome Back!” assembly on the first Friday of the school year. Before the assembly inevitably explodes into a rocking spirit rally, we take a few minutes in silence to recognize the service that our students have completed over the summer.
We are excited by our new relationship with Ciencias. This year, three brave junior girls— Emlyn Romero-Hernandez, Helen Ratcliff, and Nina Velu—attended the first summer program hosted by Ciencias, accompanied by faculty members Melanie McManamon and Erin DeKlotz. We hope that we will eventually send students to Guadalajara for the fall semester, and that a Ciencias student will come to Jesuit for spring semester. We will have two students from Mexico with us for two months this spring, staying with two Jesuit families. Our student visitors from Spain, all from Catholic high schools, spent the first fortnight of the school year with us, as their JHS hosts repaid the hospitality they had received in Valencia. The Spanish students bring color to the start of school, as we heard from their spirited “Olé! Olé! Olé!” at soccer matches.
Associate Christian Service Director Andrea Casey asks students who have served to stand in silence. As Ms. Casey recognizes “students who have served those fleeing domestic violence; …who worked with children and adults with disabilities; … who served the homeless; … who worked overseas Nathan Gewant ’20 makes friends on the Courts for Kids immersion (Panama) Says junior Mia Simmons, who with marginalized communities,” went on the Spain exchange, hundreds of sophomores, juniors, “Travel abroad gives us the and seniors are standing—all of them Women and Men For opportunity to see different cultures, and to leave our and With Others. comfort zone at Jesuit—not to mention improving our language skills! For me, the deeper meaning came from the The freshmen were wide-eyed. This is not the pep rally they connections I made with a family across the globe, helping had been promised. But this moment reveals who we are me to gain a wider perspective on the world.” as a Jesuit school. The students who have served know that they have been changed. They have absorbed and animated If your child is interested in a JHS-sponsored exchange Christ’s command that we create relationships with “the program, have them speak to their language teacher or visit least of our neighbors,” loving as Jesus himself did. the Office of Christian Service and Global Partnerships in Lower Arrupe. Another lesson of summer comes from those students who have traveled abroad, including service in Panama, the Dominican Republic and Guatemala. It includes JHS students invited into homes of Catholic school students in Spain, France, and this summer, for the first time, at Paul J. Hogan, Principal Instituto de Ciencias, the Jesuit high school in Guadalajara.
Educating Men & Women for Others in the Catholic, Jesuit Tradition Since 1956