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At Shaw, peer service, mentoring aligned with a saint
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By Christine Bordelon
Clarion Herald
The new school year has brought a new leader as well as a new way to build camaraderie at Archbishop Shaw High School in Marrero.Salesian Father Steve Ryan, the new director/head of school, said Archbishop Shaw has organized its students and faculty into four distinct “houses” named after these saints – Blessed Carlo Acutis, St. Dominic Savio, St. Francis de Sales and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati.
Each house, composed of a mixture of students from every grade level, works to emulate the virtues of that particular saint.
Father Ryan said all four were holy men who lived their Christian faith every day. Of special note is that Blessed Frassati was a teenager.
Students will group together by house membership – not by grade level – for school Masses and pep rallies. The houses will perform community service projects and participate in Thanksgiving and Christmas food drives together.Each house is led by a senior who encourages its members to trust and rely on each other, Father Ryan said. The senior leaders also call meetings and lead the prayers and reflections at individual house meetings.
Chosen as household leaders this year are Dylan Vo (House de Sales); Peter Nguyen (House Savio); Kaden Robichaux (House Frassati); and Jene Baquet (House Acutis).
Helping others by service
One of the first schoolwide activities was volunteering at the Giving Hope Stephen F. Stumpf Food Pantry near the Barataria Boulevard campus.On Sept. 3, students Daniel Mailhos (House Savio), Gavyn Morales (House Frassati), Kaden Robichaux (House Frassati) and Enrico Tapia (House Acutis), along with faculty member Celina Crossland and parents Marce Couture, Jennifer Mailhos, Fred Morales and Kaci Robichaux, spent four hours filling food bags and distributing them to drivers.
Over 500 families, many hurting from the Hurricane Ida, came to the food pantry for assistance that day, even thought the pantry itself did not have electricity.
Students have the opportunity to volunteer at the food bank by sorting food or giving it out on either Mondays or Wednesdays from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. They are accompanied by a teacher, a parent, Salesian Father Wilgintz Polynice, who is the school’s mission coordinator, or another Salesian religious.
Troy Duhon, a 1982 Shaw graduate who was named the school’s 2021 Distinguished Alumni of Year, helped found the food bank and informed the school about the community resource.
After Hurricane Ida passed through, Shaw students also helped clean out mud and mold from homes that were destroyed or badly damaged.
Saints visible in school
St. John Bosco, founder of the Salesians, laid out what he called the “Preventive System” of educating students. It is based on charity found in the Gospel and the four pillars of reason, religion, loving kindness and active presence (service).Father Ryan hopes the new model of aligning students and faculty by specific houses dedicated to a saint will build character, leadership, scholarship and brotherhood among students.
Each of the saints – whose picture is on display in the lobby of the school – model the Salesian spirituality of joy, a personal relationship with Jesus, a trust in the intercession of the Blessed Mother, kindness, service and the fulfillment of their duties in their state in life, Father Ryan said, who believes their examples will inspire the young men at Shaw to aim higher.
The school has also a relic of three of the four saints. Archbishop Shaw is working to obtain a relic of the recently beatified Blessed Carlo Acutis.
“We want our school to be strongly Catholic and strongly Salesian,” Father Ryan said. “The household system is a key component in our pastoral and educative community.”
As a friendly competition to build virtue, display boards have been erected in the cafeteria that give recognition to the outstanding service projects that members of each house have completed. Spirit points are given to households for each activity.
“This new structure advances our efforts to live ‘excelsior’ – to go higher in virtue,” Father Ryan said. “The example of the saint is becoming more meaningful, and we pray it encourages and forms more future saints.”