While the rest of the student body enjoyed a day off last Friday, the sophomore class participated in the first special class programming day of the semester. The event was designed to foster brotherhood and forge bonds with classmates during a time in which it has become increasingly hard to do so. 

“Walking around the school during the day, you don't get to see students acting as they would in a normal year, so that was nice to walk around and see guys interacting with each other in a way that was almost normal,” said STUCO Co-moderator Megan Menne.  “It's giving the guys time—the students time—to focus on each other and their friendships and building their class unity and giving them a reprieve from the constant barrage of messaging you get about Covid and the pandemic.”

The day commenced with a whole class meeting at 8:45, which was followed by icebreaker activities in smaller groups. During these small groups, the students were also tasked with designing a class t-shirt, which was later voted on to determine a winner. 

“It was fun to get to know the guys, and it was fun to see their opinion on silly questions. It was kind of fun to have these friendly arguments with other people with, like, why they think something is better than another thing,” said sophomore Carter Lowe. 

“The room I was put in was filled with people that I either knew but wasn’t super close with or didn’t know that well at all. It was a bit of a random group,” said sophomore Patrick Mehan. “We started doing the ice breaker questions and thus immediately broke the ice between all of us. It was probably the hardest I had laughed in a while and I was very thankful for this random yet great group I was put in.”

After the icebreakers and t-shirt designing were finished, it was time for Mass, which was directed by theology teachers Jon Ott and Joseph Hill, S.J. Learning the different parts of the Mass is a staple of sophomore theology, and so this was a “teaching Mass,” where the different liturgical terms from the theology classroom were put into practice. 

After Mass, the students enjoyed the timeless classic of a pizza lunch.

The afternoon was split into three stations: trivia, activities in the pool hall and on the upper field, and a combination of basketball and chess in the Field House. All of the activities were a hit, and both in-person and virtual students were able to participate in some way. 

“It was a ton of fun playing games with them, and I wouldn't say I completely forgot about (masks), especially since everyone's wearing masks, but it definitely became something sort of like in the ‘back there’,” said Lowe. “The games were definitely really competitive but more so in a fun way, like we were all just like having a good time.” 

Although all of the sports and games were a great, fun way for the sophomore class to relax and relieve some stress, many students felt the most important feature of the day was the time spent with classmates. 

“It was the connection with the students that made it more memorable. It really didn't matter what we were doing. If we were just sitting outside talking with each other, it still would have been as fun and memorable as us being in little groups and playing games,” said Roither. 

The day concluded with a prayer service given by sophomore class moderator Frank Corley, but the enthusiasm for the day’s activities and bonding didn’t stop there. 

“The sky's the limit for how much more can be added to these programming days, especially when the pandemic is over. If you have the opportunity to have fun and enjoy time with your classmates during these tough times, run with it,” said sophomore Kam Bailey. 

“This day was a great reminder that we are doing this whole life thing all together and we always have each other's backs, whether that’s on the spikeball court or during a hard part of the math homework,” said Mehan. “This was a great reminder of why I love SLUH and why I get up at 7:00 a.m. every day and trudge up the long walk to the theater lobby. It’s because of all of you guys and the relationship and friendships I’ve built from SLUH and I can’t say thank you enough to everyone that participated on this day of formation.”