Mission Drive 2026!

Jesuit High School enjoyed a fabulous Friday (April 24) of music, games, and activities on campus during Mission Drive Day, completing one of the most successful Mission Drive’s in school history!

When the fundraising efforts were all added up, the students had raised a remarkable $17,372 during the drive, the second-most ever!

The money all goes to the Mission Drive 2026 beneficiary, the Lord’s Ranch in the El Paso, Texas area. Jesuit’s director of community service Noah Menendez ’14 had launched the drive at Convocation in March, citing the phenomenal mission of the Lord’s Ranch and its history under the leadership of Class of 1945 JHS alumnus Fr. Rick Thomas, S.J., for its selection as the drive beneficiary for the second time in a decade.

About $6,650 of the $17,372 total raised came from small fees associated with the smorgasbord of Mission Drive Day activities, food sales, and various competitions, such as soccer, pickleball, trivia, spikeball, chess, basketball, ping pong, and poker.

The Mission Drive Day funds were added to the $10,000+ raised during four weeks of Mission Drive homeroom collections to achieve the near-record total. The homeroom of teachers Ruston Broussard and Nicole Sutton was the classroom generosity champion ($999), and runners-up were Mike Boza ’78 and Marla Jennings ($711).

The top earners on Mission Drive Day were:

• $1,151 - Environmental Club Concession Stand – moderator Vindri Gajadhar
• $960 - Mission Madness Basketball Tournament - African American Club – Audrey Merck, Corey Perich
• $883 - Pancake Paradise with the Asian American Club – moderators Paula Collazo, Madeline LaFrenier
• $858 - SADD Spikeball Tournament – moderator Lauren Maguire
• $739 - Cultural Food Table – Nayvi Hernandez, Oscarina Quinones
• $580 - Pickleball Tournament – Ruston Broussard, Greg Malafronte ’05

Mission Drive Day began Friday, as it always does, with a phenomenal music concert for the student body inside the Tiger Palace. It featured the choir (under the direction of Adrian Quesada), band (Dr. Alfonzo Kimbrough), and orchestra (Nina Wegmann). Many of the musical selections from the Mission Drive Day Concert, and many more outstanding songs, will be showcased at the Spring Music Concert on Thursday (April 30) at 7:00pm in the Shembekar Auditorium. Admission is free.

The various competitions across campus are a huge component of Mission Drive Day. Among many of the other winners of campus-wide competitions were Jac Sansone ’26, who earned lifetime Jesuit legend status by capturing the Italian Club’s meatball eating competition for the third straight year. Lorenzo Pasquotto '29 triumphed in the ping-pong tournament, and the teacher tandem of Perich and Malafronte prevailed in the pickleball final over Max Miller ’28 and Lucas Sierra ’29.

At 1:40pm, everyone gathered back inside the Tiger Palace for the annual student-faculty basketball game to close out the day. The students avenged their ovetime loss last year with a 40-31 win led by Jesuit basketball standout Tyler Caouette ’26.

The Mission Drive dates back to the 1930s at Jesuit, though Mission Drive Day was established early in the 21st century. One of the school's great annual traditions, the Mission Drive has been a means for Jesuit students across generations to help thousands of people in need. In recent years that has meant reaching children in need in locales such as Colombia, Nicaragua, and Belle Glade, Fla.

View photos below, and for a very large gallery of photos from Mission Drive Day, go to the Facebook page Jesuit High School of Tampa.