Introducing Our Salesian Theme for the 2018-19 School Year

At the end of the school year six of our rising seniors were invited to Salesian Leadership camp in Brooklyn Michigan.  Our students, Kayla Cheney, Olivia Hays, Riley Smith, Lily Winstanley, Sam Markle, Elijah Hensley (And Patrick Riley, who was part of the group, but was unable to attend the camp) have spent the last few months discussing a vision for Bishop Ireton.  Mr. David Ballintyn, and Dr. Rebecca Vaccaro assisted them in reflecting on what Bishop Ireton is, and where they would like to see it in the future. Their work led them to describe the school as catholic, joy-filled, and community-centered. They described the mission of the school was to form disciples for Christ following the teachings of St.. Francis de Sales and Jane de Chantal.  

 

As they focused these ideas in their own minds, they spent the week at camp learning leadership skills, participating in liturgy and prayer, practicing team building, fostering better communication, and discovering how to implement St.Francis de Sales’ teachings into their own daily lives. By the end of the week, they were ready to take these themes and messages back to Ireton and share them with the community.  Stay tuned in the future for when they’ll be working with you to dive into these themes of joy-filled discipleship!

 

The culmination of their work was to uncover a quote or saying by St. Francis that encapsulates the work they’ve put in and the mission they see for the school.  After several finalists, they settled on the following from a letter from St. Francis de Sales to St. Jane de Chantal.

 

The 2018-2019 Salesian theme for Bishop Ireton is “Live joyously and courageously never doubting that Jesus Christ is entirely yours."