These Blue Jays on the freshman football team arrive first to the locker room to get ready for their big game against Rummel at John Ryan Stadium. Front row, from left: Jay Scott, Walker Mannino, Maxwell Jubenville, and Geoffrey Morris; back row, from left: Win Schibler, Luke Besh, Patrick Lavie, Jamal Wright, Hayden Morris, Tripp Haddad, Chris Gillen, and Giovanni Licciardi.

The Jesuit student council, with the help of guidance counselor Mrs. Mary Favalora, led a lunchtime pep rally unlike any other in Traditions Courtyard. The pep rally was not for a football game. Not for a swim meet, or a wrestling meet. In fact, it wasn’t for an athletic event at all. It was a PSAT Pep Rally, the first of its kind at Carrollton and Banks.

In order to get their minds right for the school-wide Wednesday testing day, student council members attracted a large number of Blue Jays to the pep rally corner of the courtyard. From the second floor balcony they threw No. 2 pencils and “Thinking Caps” to students in the crowd. Mrs. Favalora led the group in a pump-up speech, which concluded with the cheer, “I Can, I Will!” Student council executive aide Paul James ended the pep rally, chanting “I believe that we will merit!” The PSAT Warrior-hopefuls in the junior class aim to win the battle tomorrow against the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test.

Though his homeroom may not have walked away victorious after their intramural game, pre-freshman Connor Campbell was there to support the members of 806’s flag football team during the first half of lunch. The Intramural Sports Program provides an opportunity for students of all grade levels to participate in recreational sports. Under faculty supervision, grade-level leagues are formed for touch football, basketball, as well as other possibilities throughout the year. In each sport, homeroom teams compete against each other in games held during the lunch period.

For the third year in a row, the Spanish Department has showcased a traveling exhibit during Hispanic Heritage Month to highlight a famous Hispanic artist. The exhibit is located in the Resource Center. Salvador Dalí was the first featured artist in 2015. Diego Rivera was showcased in 2016, and this year’s exhibit features Frida Kahlo, a Mexican painter famous for her bold self-portraits. For two weeks, teachers can bring their classes to the library and use the exhibit in their assignments. Spanish teacher Andrew Dykema used the exhibit to teach his students about looking at and analyzing art, self-image and beauty standards, and the relationship between Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. The class also watched a short film about the Museo Casa Azul in Mexico. The exhibit is on display until Thursday.

…is a common phrase among the senior class of 2018. In fact, the seniors chanted “respect your elders” today at the pep rally during the noise battle among the grade levels. During lunch, however, the class of 2018 fell to their elder rivals in the annual Senior-Faculty football game. The faculty won the game 14-0.

Jesuit’s 2017 Legend of the Game, Rick Chanove ’89, gives a pep talk to the football team after practice on the eve of the Great American Rivalry game between Jesuit and Holy Cross. Chanove inspired the Blue Jays to keep their focus and energy on the next play, not the previous one. “I don’t care if you’re 1-3 or 4-0,” Chanove said. “Regardless of your record, you must have heart. You have to be able to forget the last play and focus forward.”

Chanove stands out as one of Jesuit’s great athletes of the 1980s. As a three-year letterman in football at quarterback, he was a big factor in the Jays’ victories over the Tigers in 1987 and 1988. After his senior season, he earned All-District and All-Metro honors. Learn more about the Jesuit-Holy Cross Game, Rick Chanove, and other Rivalry Game honorees.

…the Marines. Senior Kevin Gallagher tests his strength in the Rivalry chin-up contest during lunch. Members of the Marine Corps sent representatives to both Jesuit and Holy Cross to sponsor a chin-up competition for students of each Great American Rivalry school. The school with the highest number of student-recorded chin-ups is the victor. A trophy will be presented to cheerleaders of the winning school at the end of the third quarter of the Great American Rivalry Game on Friday.

“Et tu, Jayson?” asks a Caesar-clad Mr. Bob Roso at the moment of his assassination during the opening skit for Homecoming Week at Monday’s Morning Assembly. The student council launched this year’s theme – “Romecoming Week” –by riffing on the iconic lines from William Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar. Here, Caesar is attacked by a group of student council senators and finally stabbed by Jayson before taking his last breath. “Romecoming” activities kicked off Monday at lunch with courtyard jousting and will continue through the week as students and faculty prepare for the Jesuit-Holy Cross football game on Friday.

“Half and half,” answered campus ministry director Peter Flores ’09, when asked about the tone of the 8th grade retreat held this past Saturday. “It was a great mix of fun activities – like the skit on the life of St. Ignatius and the water balloon launch symbolizing the cannonball that wounded St. Ignatius – and great spiritual moments like praying in adoration and at Mass in our beautiful chapels.” Flores added that the retreat focused on two talks. The first was about Ignatius’ conversion, and the other about Ignatius becoming a Jesuit. The activities concluded with a walking pilgrimage that invited 8th graders to figuratively walk the path of Ignatius in order to grow together as a class, in their faith, and in their knowledge of the founder of the Jesuits.

After winning her sixth point in the Senior-Faculty Table Tennis activity today at lunch, algebra teacher and Mu Alpha Theta moderator Mrs. JoAnn Schexnayder sends opponent Adam Larriviere a message by putting her hands up, almost as if to say, “Bring it on!” No matter the side Larriviere serves it, Mrs. Schexnayder was ready for the return. This Senior-Faculty event serves as a great prequel to the highly anticipated Senior-Faculty football game on Will Clark Field during Homecoming Week.

Jesuit’s Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps, or MCJROTC, got together on Wednesday, Sept. 13, for some tasty jambalaya cooked by J.R. Piseno, MGysgt., USMC (Ret). While it was no “special” occasion in particular, it was the first of many activities the cadets in the program will enjoy throughout the year. Cadets can take field trips to the National World War II Museum, the annual air show in Belle Chase, the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, FL, and to Marine Corps bases during the biennial summer orientation trip. Cadets also participate in morale-building activities during the year, such as semester field meets, quarterly cookouts, and an MCJROTC dance. MCJROTC will also celebrate the Marine Corps birthday on Tuesday, Nov. 7, at 6 PM.

One lesson of St. Ignatius that rings true is the expression that “love ought to show itself more in deeds than in words.” When it comes to being a “Man for Others,” Jesuit president Fr. Christopher Fronk, S.J., takes the lesson of Ignatius to heart. Fr. Fronk was activated to cover the services during Holy Week last year on board the USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) in the Persian Gulf, since there were no other priests available for the job. This flag, which is now on display in the second floor hallway across from the Resource Center, was flown on board the ship on Holy Saturday in appreciation for that service. Fr. Fronk had the honor of presenting it to the school community at Morning Assembly on Friday, September 8.

Working the Herpetology Club station at Rush Day taking place Tuesday and Wednesday at lunch, pre-freshman William Coy and club moderator Mrs. Helen Swan (front) show off the reptiles that grabbed everyone’s attention. Seniors Benton Moore, Jake Theriot, and Clay Talbot also worked the display table. Here, Moore holds four baby turtles, Coy handles the ball python, and Mrs. Swan lifts the bearded dragon.

After the Blue Jay Marching Band completed their halftime performance at Tad Gormely on Friday night, the drum line made its way to the student section to pump up the crowd for the second half of football against Warren Easton. Not only did the student section swell to the next level of excitement, but perhaps no greater air drum session has been seen in the gizzard in the recent past than the one on display by freshmen D.J. Bent and Garrett Derbes. These Blue Jays have learned early on the value of marching to the beat of their own drum.

What is a gizzard? The definition can be found on the back of the new student section shirts. Sporting his very own Gizzard shirt and what looks like a wolf snow cap (for a blizzard), student body president Paul Treuting explains the meaning of the word— “a muscular, thick-walled part of a bird’s stomach for grinding food, typically with grit.” Student body vice president Matt Frischhertz holds up the shirt to show the huge crowd at the first pep rally of the school year. This definition is one highly prized by loyal Blue Jay fans. The senior class of 2018 have now officially nicknamed the Blue Jay student section as “The Gizzard,” the place where any and all Blue Jay foes are ground up with that old-fashioned Blue Jay Spirit.

Those familiar with the podracing sequence featured in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace know podracing to be a popular sport in the less-developed regions of the galaxy. It’s also one of the most dangerous sports ever invented. Podracers, the custom-built, anti-gravity pods propelled by large turbine engines, were only as safe as the mechanic who made them and the pilots who operated them. The podracer used for today’s Star Wars-themed Welcome Week activity was also custom-built (using a rolling cart, cardboard, and rope), and it was only as safe as the two pilots (partners) who dragged it. Not to fear, though! Senior Drew Black took the necessary precautions, pictured here with his plastic helmet and armor before the big race!