St. Louis U. High is one of 62 Jesuit high schools in America, but students usually have little opportunity to learn anything about these schools. This past weekend, however, six underclassmen had such an opportunity upon venturing to Sparks, Md. for the annual Arrupe Leaders Summit.

SLUH was among eight Jesuit schools nationwide to send delegates to the summit, organized by the Ignatian Solidarity Network, in which students participated in social justice discussions and activities grounded in Catholic faith and Jesuit teaching. The SLUH students included five sophomores and one freshman, and French teacher Annie Hilmes and social studies teacher River Simpson, SJ served as the faculty chaperones.

The six students were chosen based on personal recommendations from SLUH faculty members, and they also had to fill out an application. The group flew out on Friday afternoon, and stayed at a retreat house for the following three days with dozens of participants from the other schools until their departure on Sunday morning. After meeting each other, all participants had the opportunity to learn about the program’s namesake, Pedro Arrupe Gondra, SJ, the 28th Superior General of the Society of Jesus, which laid the foundation for the program’s basis in Catholic Social Teaching. 

The itinerary that followed consisted of prayers, community time, and discussion sessions focused on social justice and how it compared from school to school. United with dozens of students from across the country, the SLUH students were able to discover new things about what Jesuit education looked like on a national level.

“I learned a lot from seeing what their school does for social justice and for leadership,” said sophomore Will Kreuter. “So I got to take advice and learn things from them, and hopefully take it back to SLUH.”

“It was interesting to see how each school ran its social justice programs, and it was so fun to connect and make friends throughout the country,” added sophomore Greyson Mueller.

Students were also able to reflect on the practical ways in which they and their schools could become more welcoming and inclusive.

“(The program) began to explore different ways in which our students can rethink their own biases, rethink their own assumptions, and begin to think critically about the way things are, which may not necessarily be the way they have to be,” said Simpson.

Another major focus of the workshops and challenges, spread out over the three days, was leadership and how to become a better leader, both in school and in society. The Jr. Bills embraced this growth and demonstrated their potential to be effective leaders.

“I was most moved by seeing (the SLUH students’) creativity blossom,” said Simpson. “Initially, when they started to form their own action plan for things they might want to advocate for at school, they were the ones leading the discussion. They were the ones thinking of things that we can possibly change or do, so (I saw) their ability to grow into their own shoes and to take on a leadership role.”

Before the summit ended, students reflected on Sunday morning on how they can bring their ideas to fruition and enable others to act through love. A final prayer service followed as well.

“To close off the trip … all the students went up to their chaperones, and myself and (Hilmes) prayed over our students and gave them a commission to work for justice at their high schools, remembering what they were learning for that day,” said Simpson. 

Through their prayer and discussion, students and chaperones alike saw practical ways in which the SLUH community itself could take action to become more socially just.

“I think a big moment (at the summit) for our school environment and our men was their learning about collaboration,” explained Simpson. “We have all these affinity groups at our school, like ACES, Ongoing Conversations, the Black Student Union, etc. which highlight a lot of issues our students experience or deal with on our campus or in their home lives, but they don't do a lot of work together. And (the students) were beginning to see how they can actually begin to reach across some of these across these aisles and do some more collaborative events, or how we can advertise for these affinity groups more to get guys who are not simply a member of that club interested in going to the meetings about them. Because these clubs are not merely for people of that identity … they’re meant to include other people in them to learn— about them, with them, and from them.”

Overall, the trip had been an eye-opening and fruitful adventure for those involved.

“I think it’s a good experience,” said Kreuter. “If you get recommended to do it, and you can go, I would definitely suggest applying for it. It was a really fun experience for me, and especially even though it was only three days, I  met a lot of new people, I had a really good time, and I got to learn a lot about what other schools are doing for social justice.”