Everything from Beyoncé to BMWs were displayed last Friday as St. Louis University High held its annual Activities Fair, an exposition event for most of SLUH’s extracurricular clubs and affinity groups. Over 70 clubs were part of the fair, which took place on the Circle Drive, and the fair was a joint venture for the Food Drive, where StuCo sold Pretzel Boys and donuts to raise money for freshman service.

The St. Louis U. High School campus was a sea of blue last Friday night as the Running of the Bills kicked off the football team’s first home game. This cherished event, which serves as a rite of passage for incoming freshmen, was filled with energy, enthusiasm, and blue paint.

St. Louis U. High’s Environmental STEM class, taught by science teacher Bill Anderson, launched their annual weather balloon this past Tuesday. The balloon provided great data and photos alike before coming down in Illinois.

Taking a step into the Polish past and present, a group of students from St. Louis U. High, Nerinx Hall, and St. Joseph's Academy boarded a flight on May 25, 2024, for a 16-day summer exchange program. They landed in Krakow, Poland, and had classes at SLUH’s Jesuit partner school, Kostka High School. Students stayed with exchange families in their homes and learned about Polish culture. Director of Global Education Rob Chura traveled with the students.

Over the summer, eight rising seniors made the trip across the sea to immerse themselves in Lithuanian and Latvian cultures and in the Russian language. 

Jake Fitts has joined the St. Louis U. High staff in the role of Director of Athletic Performance and has already taken steps to level up the school’s sports teams as well as foster a healthy and active community. 

Senior Alex Bendaña has flown under the radar for the past couple of years in the St. Louis U. High cross country program, scoring consistently for the team as one of its top varsity runners. However, there was nothing under the radar in his past race at the Granite City Invite, as the runner soared to new heights breaking the school’s previous three mile record of 14:55 by an astonishing 24 seconds (final time of 14:31). Bendaña’s miraculous run spurred the Jr. Bills to a landslide victory at the meet, and his presence in the squad is key to their hopes of winning a state championship for the first time since 2013

The St. Louis U. High varsity swim team just demolished its second dual meet of the regular season, beating the Parkway South Patriots by 78 points this past Tuesday. The 129-51 victory is the second straight for the Jr. Bills in the season, and the boys are just getting started. 

The St. Louis U. High Cross Country team officially put the rest of the state on notice. The Jr. Bills opened their season with a strong underclassmen performance at the O’Fallon Futures Invitational followed by a varsity win in dominant fashion at the Granite City Invitational. 

Week One was a great success for fantasy football predictions with 5 out of our 6 picks being useful to managers. The only bust was WR Deandre Hopkins, and this choice was based off of Will Levis’ potential development and a solid season last year from Hopkins with Levis. Some big boom predictions featured QB Baker Mayfield and WR Rashid Shaheed who put up 30 fantasy points and 16.3 fantasy points. Some key sits that were predicted included WR Brandon Aiyuk who put up 4.8 points and TE Jake Ferguson who put up 4.5 points. 

With wins against both local and statewide competition, and now formally ranked No. 2 in the St. Louis area, the St. Louis U. High soccer team is now full steam ahead after defeating No. 3 Lindbergh, Springfield Glendale and St. Mary’s (rankings according to GSV). The team found strength through its defense in these games, which hasn’t allowed a goal in the past week.

“Let’s go get a statement win.” That was the mentality of junior quarterback Kyren Eleby as SLUH came home from a hard-fought loss to St. Ignatius in their season opener last week. Facing the Hillsboro Hawks, a team who last year went 12-2 and won their district championship, the Jr. Bills looked to feed off of the energy of the Running of the Bills to catapult them to victory. They ultimately succeeded, snatching a 24-17 win from Hillsboro with a late fourth quarter touchdown under the Friday night lights.