by Lucas Chan ’14

Every year, Stuart Hall High School and the rest of the four-school community celebrates Duchesne Day in their own unique way. In past years, the schools would recognize the importance of St. Phillipine Duchesne and of her works within their own schools, but this year, the community did something a little bit different.

At the start of the day, the high school boys met at the Broadway campus. While waiting for the activities to start, the high school boys were greeted by the elementary school boys who were to accompany them throughout the day. During the day, both boy schools participated together as did both the girls schools. The first activity of the day was to gather into student families. While in the groups, students greeted each other and listened to Mr. Vasquez’s presentation about the various Schools of the Sacred Heart around the world. In his presentation, Mr. Vasquez displayed the various uniqueness of each of the schools but mainly how all the schools are connected. Some of the schools mentioned in his presentation include our schools in Princeton, New Jersey; St. Charles, Missouri; Tokyo, Japan; and New York, New York.

After the presentation, the students stayed in their families to work on a fun geography activity. The families identified the countries with Sacred Heart Schools in them and challenged other families to a true or false activity. Everyone had fun and both the elementary school boys and high school boys bonded together in their families.

At the end of the activity, everyone walked together to attend Mass at St. Vincent de Paul. During the Mass, the school Jazz Band played their music. Special Mass music organized by Mr. Campos was played throughout the Mass. The group included musicians Kailen Santos, Riley Acaret, Patrick Wong, Shing Hoi Lao and yours truly, and singers such as Brandon Leong, Steaven Baldoza, Aaron Tolentino, Elijah Tolentino, Dominic Cheung, and many others. This year’s group is actually the biggest music organization ever at Stuart Hall High School.

After Mass, students went with their families to explore San Francisco much like Rose Philippine Duchesne did as she traveled to America. Along the way, students did such activities as planting grass seeds, releasing ladybugs, learning about each other, and visiting James Kessler’s ‘06 niche. The journey ended back at Stuart Hall High School where students enjoyed a nice barbeque with snow cones and hot dogs. The day ended in the school’s gym where all the families participated in some team building exercises. The day was centered on celebrating Duchesne Day while becoming more of a community.

Check out Taro Duncan’s video story here