COMMUNIT Y: The building of community as a Christian value
Picking Olives and Planting Friendships Harvesting community spirit and olives from century-old trees on campus.
S
ince 189 8, more than fi fty beautiful heirloom olive trees have lined the western edge of Sacred Heart Schools’ campus along Elena Avenue. In the early part of the century, the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (RSCJ) tended to the trees and harvested the olives, but as time went on, the trees became less of an agricultural crop and more of a natural part of the campus landscape.
According to the former Director of Schools Nancy Morris, RSCJ, the olive trees migrated their way north from Mexico with the missionaries, and set roots in the Atherton area courtesy of Faxon Dean Atherton. While there isn’t confirmation, many believe the trees are well over 100-years old, and were planted as a property border even before the RSCJ settled on the land. Since the RSCJ last cultivated the trees in the 1950’s, for decades