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Ebony Club Looks Forward to a Milestone As Prep’s Ebony Club looks ahead to its 50th anniversary in the 2023-24 school year, one of Prep’s longest-running student organizations has had a busy 2022-23, including taking the lead on a successful Black History Month celebration. To kick off the 2023 Black History Month, the club hosted a panel titled The World of Art Through the Lens of Black Artists. This panel featured the following speakers: Rashad Davis, 09 an illustrator, animator, and writer; Eric Pryor, President & CEO of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts; Tiana Webb Evans, P’18, Founder of ESP Group LLC; and Heather Williams, recipient of the Paula Rhodes Memorial Award for Exceptional Achievement in MFA Art Practice. This event was designed to bring awareness of the uniqueness of both Black art and artists, celebrate art as a whole, and help students gain a more explicit understanding of what it means to be a Black artist in the art world. As the month continued, the club hosted additional events. A “For the Culture” dress down day raised over $1,000 for the Ignatian Solidarity Network. Several alumni of the Ebony Club visited Prep and toured the campus with current club members, cheered on our Prep basketball team, and spoke with current students. A Black Diaspora Breakfast where students sampled an array of dishes that represent the culture of AfricanAmericans, Afro-Caribbeans, Afro-Latinos, and Africans. Lastly, we brought back the Ebony Club Dance, a long-standing tradition that saw many students enjoying the company of others. The Ebony Club’s annual Washington D.C. Trip will return in March. Highlights will include visits to Howard University, Georgetown University, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture, plus an opportunity to meet and network with the Prep Ebony Club Alumni who live and work in the DC area. Emmaus CCCIII in January (top) and CCCIV in February marked the revival of Prep’s longest-running retreat program. Offered to juniors beginning in 1977, Emmaus became a senior retreat in 2012 after switching places with Kairos (introduced at Prep in 2007).
On the Road Again
by Susan Woolever, D.A., Director of Campus Ministry
The fall and winter seasons have been busy for the Campus Ministry Department. We are an entirely new team with a deep passion for serving the students of Prep. While we each have a different story for what brought us to Grand and Warren this year, our commitment to nurture Ignatian spirituality in the Prep community is united. Most weekends have been filled with freshman days of service, sophomore Koinonia retreats, junior Kairos retreats, and the revived senior Emmaus retreat! As all have experienced, the pandemic took a toll on our whole beings. Specifically, the shifted schedule interfered with our Class of 2023’s Prep retreat experience. It has been really important to help as many of our graduating seniors encounter the Ignatian values of reflection and discernment and Prep magic through retreats as possible. Eighteen seniors attended Kairos (which is ordinarily offered to juniors) and nearly 70 have attended or will be attending Emmaus. Emmaus is such a special retreat and thank God it has been revived! Alums of all ages hold their Emmaus experience as one of their most prized Prep memories. It offers graduating seniors the opportunity to be together–away from the daily grind and with peers from different clubs and athletic teams. It would be an understatement to say that it is an honor to witness young men get to know someone they have passed in the hall for four years but never spoken to, or get to know a childhood friend in a deeper way. Journeying with the Class of 2023 and creating a space where they can honestly reflect about who they are, who is on their journey with them, and who will be beside them into the future is a profound experience. The Emmaus retreats are held on the Delbarton campus at St. Mary’s Abbey. So, freetime on the Delbarton field is also pretty fun!! There are a lot of things at Prep for our community to be proud of, but helping the seniors claim and reclaim the values of cura personalis, finding God in all things, being open to growth, being loving, and seeking justice in the retreat setting ignites a great deal of pride for these gentlemen. AMDG. PREP MAGAZINE n SPPREP.ORG n WINTER 2022-23 5