From Dr. Colosimo - Hope all the seniors will make it to school this Sunday to write their senior letters ______________________________________________________ The Senior Letter at Juan Diego _____________________________________________________ In 2002, as Juan Diego was preparing to host its first graduation, it wanted to connect the graduates of the school the way most alumni are connected to their alma mater. The problem was that there was no alumni or tradition that could do this for them. The school began to explore ways to accomplish this task and it was out of this discussion that the senior letter tradition was born. The first graduating class was gathered just prior to commencement and asked to compose a letter that would be kept by the school until they returned for their ten year reunion in 2012. The students were asked to reflect on their years at Juan Diego, what it meant to them and imagine what their lives might be like in ten years when they returned for their reunion. They were invited to comment on how their experience at Juan Diego might possibly inform their lives over the next decade. The students were free to compose their letter and write a number of drafts in any manner they chose. The letters were not graded or seen by anyone other than if the students chose to share the letter. A final draft was then inscribed on a tri-fold parchment and sealed in wax with the school seal during a ceremony just prior to their graduation. At the Baccalaureate Mass for Juan Diego at the Cathedral of the Madeleine in downtown Salt Lake City, the students processed into the church holding their finished letter. As they approached the altar, they deposited the letters in a basket for the school to keep until the students returned for their first reunion in ten years. This tradition has continued every year since 2002 and the school has had the pleasure of watching the classes of 2002 and 2003 receive their letter at the first two ten-year reunions. In framing the letter-writing process for the seniors, Dr. Colosimo emphasizes the rite of passage that high school graduations represent for American tenagers. There are few events in life that alter the daily course of a person existence in more significant ways than a person’s high school graduation. The world that students have come to know - family, friends, school community and city or state - change for most, if not all, high school graduates. These changes are exciting, stressful and memorable. They mark a rite that places them in a new world experience unlike anything that they have experienced in their past. It is out of this rite of passage that the senior letter writing process has become powerful for students and Juan Diego Catholic High School. Using this time to help students to reflect on their past experiences and giving them the chance to imagine their future and how the Christian values taught at Juan Diego might inform their lives is a gift to the students and represents one of the last teaching opportunities for the school to impart its Christian values. This year (2014), through the leadership of its senior and student body officers, the school formalized the senior letter process in a new tradition entitled, Sancta Terra, which is Latin and loosely translated to mean the sacred ground. Sancta Terra begins this Sunday at the 8:30 AM Mass at St. John the Baptist Parish and continues for most of the day. All seniors are asked to attend. _______________________________________________________ Every single thing that has ever happened in your life is preparing you for a moment that is yet to come (author unknown) What lies before us and what lies behind us are small matters compared to what lies within us (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
Posted on: Sun, 27 Apr 2014 00:05:48 +0000