Mission Drive Day

Jesuit High School's annual five-week Mission Drive culminated Friday (April 21) on a fabulous Mission Drive Day. After the annual school-wide music concert kicked things off, the campus pulsed with games, activities, food, and various competitions for the rest of the school day. 

It was all to raise money for Mission Drive 2018, Jesuit's annual student-driven fundraising effort. This year's drive was dedicated to the displaced children of Colombia. When all monies had been collected, Jesuit students had raised $10,261!

Decades of civil strife in Colombia has created millions of displaced children without access to education and basic needs. The 2018 Mission Drive - spearheaded by Sebastian Torres '19 and Andrew Hanna '19 and working through the charitable organization Fe y Alegria - will directly benefit those children. 

Andy Wood '92, Jesuit's Director of Community Service, established a goal of $300 raised per homeroom during the drive. The weekly homeroom collections were supplemented by Mission Drive Day funds generated via small fees associated with participation in various video game competitions, bocce, ultimate frisbee, basketball, and much more, as well as food sales. Math teacher April Bombka led the way again this year in both homeroom collections and food sales on Mission Drive Day.

The Mission Drive dates back to the 1930s at Jesuit, and Mission Drive Day kicked off Friday morning, as it always does, with a spectacular all-school music concert led by music director Nina Wegmann and Dominic DiCarlo. The Jesuit chorus, under the direction of DiCarlo, is pictured on the homepage. The musical selections performed Friday included songs from George Harrison, Nirvana, Harry Belafonte, and Elton John. Jesuit's Spring Music Concert will feature interpretations of these artists and many more, performed by the full spectrum of Jesuit musicians on April 28 at 7:00pm in the MPR.

Among the winners of the various Mission Drive Day games and events were Jonathan Dawson '21 in the Italian Club's meatball eating contest, The Goonies captured the ultimate frisbee title, Steve Tonello '18 won the FIFA video game competition, Nick Caulley '19 was victorious in the movie trivia contest, Uncle Notification won the basketball tournament, and faculty Matt Kaiser and Miguel Menendez prevailed in the bocce tournament.

The day concluded with the annual student-faculty basketball game in front of the student body in the Tiger Palace. The student team, despite a colossal coaching disadvantage and biased officiating, prevailed by 1 point when last year's student-faculty basketball game hero, admissions director Steve Matesich '91, missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer. 

Please view below the two photo slideshows from Mission Drive Day. The first is from the music concert, the second from other Mission Drive Day events.