Jesuit’s Philelectic Society, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary, ends an extraordinary season with its spring musical Les Miserables. Fifty-seven students auditioned on Monday, the first night of tryouts, for director Kate Arthurs-Goldberg and her creative team. Pictured here, junior and regular Phils actor Thomas Sagona assists Ursulines Academy sophomore Diana Ledet in filling out an audition form. Today, young ladies from other schools are invited to audition and fill female roles. In earlier days, all roles were played by Jesuit students. Les Miserables runs March 30–April 1 and April 7–8. Click here for tickets.

On Monday, nine Blue Jays volunteered their time as part of the 8th Annual MLK Day On, Not Off call for service sponsored by the Archdiocese of New Orleans. Working alongside students from other schools, the group helped with property maintenance at St. Mary’s Academy in New Orleans East. Pictured here (back row from left) are senior Samy Amkieh, junior Emory Ducote, senior Michael Elvir, senior Andrew Stapp, senior Todd Crabtree, senior Luke Navarro, sophomore Alex Stapp, assistant director of community service Charles Bourg ’10, (front row from left) senior Christian Gonzalez, Sister Claire, and sophomore Dylan Davidson.

Throughout the week, all members of the junior class attended meetings on a very important topic: their senior schedule. Pictured here, director of student affairs Helen Swan answers questions as students review materials and information that will help make important decisions for next year.

In preparation for Jesuit’s prime-time wrestling dual meet against Brother Martin in the Birdcage, coaches Sheridan Moran and Tim Falter ’02 put on an exhibition of their own during lunch in Traditions Courtyard. Hopefully foreshadowing many of tonight’s match-ups, Moran (sporting Jesuit wrestling duds) pinned a Crusader-clad Falter to the raucous applause of the many student and faculty onlookers. After the bout, both coaches encouraged the crowd to come support Blue Jay wrestlers as they face some of their most challenging opponents of the season in the meet. Click here for The Advocate’s preview of the match.

Oscar Rabensteiner’s (1936) enormous painting of St. Ignatius Loyola was returned to campus today after being removed last June for cleaning and restoration of flaking paint. Rabensteiner painted the mural of St. Ignatius in 1939. The painting depicts the soldier Ignatius recovering from a serious injury to his knee sustained in battle. Shown with Ignatius are two of the books brought to him when he asked for reading material – The Life of Christ and The Lives of the Saints. The iconic painting  graces the back wall of St. Ignatius Hall.

As the Christmas season closes with Epiphany, Profesora Nilda Rivera’s Spanish classes celebrated… Puerto Rican-style. On Thursday students put out boxes filled with grass to feed the Wise Men’s camels in honor of Día de los Reyes Magos, or Three Kings Day. Upon returning to class Friday, they discovered small toys and candy gifted in exchange. Sharing this tradition from home, Profesora Rivera could not help but infuse it with a little local flavor — students also enjoyed king cake, the New Orleans way. Pictured here, freshman Stewart Talbot shows Profesora Rivera the gifts of candy the Wise Men left for him and his deskmate, Peter Vernaci.

After a long holiday break, Jesuit’s Sodality kicked off the third quarter with a talk by Fr. David Brown, S.J., on his experience of faith and science. Fr. Brown, who formerly taught at Jesuit as a scholastic, is now a priest at the Vatican Observatory and returns to Rome tomorrow. Sharing stories from his journey to faith, to the priesthood, to the Society of Jesus, and eventually to the Vatican observatory, Fr. Brown remarked, “Most people think that science points in the direction of doubt, but I have found in my years of studying physics that the more I learn about the universe through science, the more I come to wonder at the creator of the universe, whose wisdom and power are responsible for all the beauty we see around us.”

With exams out of the way and students home on break, things sure are quiet here at Carrollton and Banks. There’s no better place on campus to see evidence of that than the usually bustling Student Commons, which — besides the ever-festive, albeit lonely, Jayson — will remain empty until classes resume on Tuesday, Jan. 3. Jesuit High School’s faculty, staff, and administration wishes everyone a blessed, happy, and safe Christmas and New Year!

Facilities department team member Mr. Sidney Gleason is busy spreading holiday cheer in the weeks leading up to Santa’s trip down the chimney. During the season, Jesuit displays festive Christmas trees across campus, from the switchboard to the Chapel of the North American Martyrs.

Jesuit’s MCJROTC put on quite the display of strength, determination, and healthy competition during a field meet to close out the first semester. Students split into squadron teams and ran a dizzy bat relay and were splattered with yolk during an egg toss. Perhaps the highlight was a tug-of-war match that even saw Master Gunnery Sergeant J.R. Piseno get in on the action. Pictured here, (from front) pre-freshman Jonathan Morse, freshman Dylan Pearce, freshman Sebi Maraldo, pre-freshman Trevor Chase, freshman Terrol Perkins, and pre-freshman Christopher Ciaccio dig their heels in during an early round of tug-of-war.

Having a little holiday fun of their own, Jesuit’s MCJROTC held a friendly game of White Elephant to celebrate the season. To play, each participant brought a wrapped present and picked a number. When his number was called, the player either chose a new gift or stole someone else’s present. Rather than go for the steal, pre-freshman John Toso tries his luck with a mystery gift, while junior Gabe Dupuy helps him figure out which looks the most promising based on wrapping paper and shape.

After watching the movie Mar Adentro or The Sea Inside, Spanish AP students conducted a trial totally en español for one of the characters. As part of this persuasive exercise, each student played a part — from the accused and witnesses to the defense lawyers and prosecution. Pictured here, senior Joshua Sauviac takes the witness stand as Rev. Francisco, S.J., while his defense attorneys junior Donald Barrett (left) and senior Noah Martin (right) plead his case. As always, Profesora Nilda Rivera plays the leading role as impartial judge.

This week, Mrs. Leslie Merritt’s honors students used their creativity and critical thinking to make geometry take flight. Using only one letter-sized sheet of copy paper, Blue Jays created paper airplanes. While cutting was allowed, students were not able to add weight to the planes by using tape or glue. They then wrote directions — words only, no pictures — on how to make the airplanes, which included 10 different geometric terms. Students then participated in class competitions for distance, creative flight, and accuracy. Pictured here, a group of students launches their planes from the second floor balcony.

On Thursday, the Jesuit table tennis team’s drop shot abilities were on display as players faced Dominican and Ben Franklin in the schools’ first-ever tri-meet competition. In initial rounds, students played members of their own team, with the best Blue Jays moving on to take on opponents from the other schools. Pictured here, junior Christian Lacoste and senior Nikhil Gogineni battle it out in the first bracket in hopes of showcasing their skills in subsequent rounds.

One of the highlights of the Christmas season is being able to spread a little holiday happiness to those in need. In conjunction with the national U.S. Marine Corps Reserve drive, Jesuit’s MCJROTC launched its annual Toys for Tots homeroom contest on Monday. Founded in 1947, the program distributes toys to children whose parents are unable to purchase Christmas gifts. Students will collect new, unwrapped toys for area children through Friday, Dec. 9, and homerooms at each grade level with the most support will win a donut party. Last year, Blue Jays collected nearly 1,000 toys. Pictured here, pre-freshman Gavin Fitzpatrick readies Homeroom 216’s box for filling.

It’s all up in the air as homerooms 802 and 807 battle it out in the class championship game for the fall season of intramural football. Homeroom 802 came away the victors in a hard fought pre-freshman contest, while homeroom 903 won the freshman championship played on Field 2. Sophomores, juniors, and seniors look forward to their class championships all week during lunch on Will Clark Field.