PAG Drive Tops $1.15 Million in Pledges as Over 925 Parents Show Generosity 

 
Tom Bagwill chairs the
2007-08 PAG drive.

 

The 2007-08 PAG Drive hit its zenith on PAG Sunday, Sept. 23, with 925 Blue Jay parents pledging a total of $1,156,852.

Here are the preliminary pledge totals by class:

 

·         Seniors -- $257,069

·         Juniors -- $225,189

·         Sophomores -- $261,427

·         Freshmen -- $198,035

·         Pre-freshmen -- $215,132

Many thanks to our parents for their participation and generosity.

And, no, it’s not too late. Parents who could not turn in their pledge cards by PAG Sunday may, of course, still do so. Please drop the cards off at the development office, donate online, or fax to 483-3816.

Questions about the PAG drive? E-mail: pag@jesuitnola.org.

View Photo Gallery of PAG Sunday.

The following is an Open Letter to Jesuit Parents from 2007-08 PAG Drive Chairman Tom Bagwill:

 

Dear Jesuit Parents:

 

For some, the Jesuit connection takes longer to develop. For me, 30 years! Before I explain, I want to tell you about Jesuit’s Parents’ Annual Giving drive and ask that you support the school you and your son have chosen. 


The drive, sometimes referred to as the PAG or GAP drive, is designed to make up the financial difference, the gap, between the cost of tuition and the actual cost of educating your sons. 


That number, $2,285 this year, sounds sizeable, and it is. But when you compare the Jesuit education with its tuition cost, even factoring in “the gap,” we trust you will agree that Jesuit is the best education value in the Greater New Orleans area. And when you compare it to the tuitions of other Jesuit schools across the country, our own Jesuit represents one of the best and most economical values.

 

And there’s another important point. The PAG drive allows Jesuit to keep the cost of tuition affordable and, therefore, accessible to a wide segment of our local population. Jesuit has always believed that a diverse student body is an essential element of your son’s total educational experience.


A few of the PAG Captains who are volunteering
to help in the 2007-08 drive

 

Last year, parents set a new record, donating more than $1.1 million to the PAG. Our parents actually run the drive. Tri-chairs in each class recruit a total of about 75 captains to make sure you receive detailed information about the drive, and to answer any questions you may have about it. Our captains don’t ask you for money. That’s Fr. McGinn’s job, just one of the jobs he does extremely well. After all, he’s a Jesuit. 

 

PAG donations are tax-deductible. Tuition isn’t. If you forget that, you’ll remember it on April 15.

 

The drive culminates with our PAG Mass on Sunday, September 23 at 9 a.m. here on campus. There’s no Saints game that day and that’s no coincidence. We hope you will do everything you can to be with us on what is one of the most important days on the Jesuit calendar.

 

Back to the Jesuit connection. For me the connection came later because, although I was accepted to Jesuit, family circumstances – primarily the loss of my father – prevented me from attending high school here. However, one of my sons, Chase, is a Blue Jay senior (Class of 2008), and my younger son, Ben, is a pre-freshman (Class of 2012). I’m not a Blue Jay in the traditional sense, but what I’ve found over the past four years is that you don’t have to be a Blue Jay alumnus to be part of the Jesuit family.


Senior John Walsh, who is president
of the 2008 student body, explains
the importance of the drive from the perspective of a Blue Jay to parents
at the PAG Sunday Mass.

 

I’d like to leave you with this thought. When your son selected Jesuit and you supported that decision, both of you chose an educational institution that demands he put forth his best effort. On behalf of the Jesuit priests, brothers, and scholastics, the top-flight faculty, and our entire PAG leadership team, all we ask is that you put forth your best effort by participating in this year’s drive.

 

Thank you and I look forward to seeing you this Sunday.

 

Sincerely,

  

Tom Bagwill

Chairman

2007-08 PAG Drive

 

 

Spiked! PAG Captains Suffer Humiliating Loss to Sons at Coconut Beach Volleyball Event

 

PAG Chairman Tom Bagwill (yellow hat) thanks Tri-chairs, Captains, and their Blue Jay sons for braving a recent scorching Sunday afternoon to liven up the annual fundraising event with a spirited volleyball tournament at Coconut Beach near the Lakefront. 

In the preliminaries, the dads showed their sons the basics of playing volleyball.  In the championship game, however, the young Blue Jays pulled together and put on an awesome display of spiking, diving, and placing serves in strategically unreachable areas. The bottom line is the dads ate sand as their kids whipped them in the first PAG Father-Son Volleyball Championship Tournament. 

Mr. Bagwill will present the winners with a Blue & White volleyball at Assembly on Friday, September 21. 

Photo Gallery PAG Father-Son Volleyball Tournament


Open Letter about PAG Drive to Blue Jay Parents
from Jesuit's President 
 

  

Dear Blue Jay Parents:

 

Each year we look to our returning parents for their leadership in our Parents’ Annual Giving drive.  As part of the Jesuit family you understand what Jesuit High School is all about – your sons’ intellectual, spiritual, and emotional development.

 

Since its inception in 1975, the PAG has focused on a single purpose – to raise enough funds to make up the deficit between the school’s tuition income and expenditures. We have kept tuition affordable for most families for 161 years for a reason – it creates a more diverse socio-economic mix of students which, in turn, turn expands your son’s educational experiences. You help us achieve this goal through your gift to the PAG drive.

 

The gap this year is $2,285. I hope we can count on you to participate with your tax-deductible contribution. I do not make this request casually. Without the participation of every family at the level that is affordable for them, our tuition would have to be significantly increased. 

 

If you have not already done so, please return your pledge card to the development office before the end of this week. New parents are asked to come to Jesuit on PAG Sunday, September 23 and sign their pledge cards after Mass and breakfast. I encourage all parents, new and returning, to attend Mass this Sunday at 9 a.m. in the Chapel of the North American Martyrs.

 

It is important that parents turn in their pledge cards on PAG Sunday (earlier if you are a returning parent). Because participation is critical to the success of the drive, I hope you understand that if we do not receive your pledge card by Sunday, your class captain will be asked to come to your home to pick it up.

 

You may choose to contribute online at Jesuit’s web site, www.jesuitnola.org. Clicking on Jayson in the upper left corner will bring you to the donations’ home page.

 

I look forward to personally thanking many of you on PAG Sunday. I know that your presence will bring further strength to the Jesuit community.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

Anthony McGinn, S.J.

President

 

 

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