On the morning of August 19, sheets of fog descended on 37th Avenue and hovered insistently above the campus. It was a classic San Francisco summer day. But the overcast, chilly landscape wouldn’t stop colorful flurries of red and blue from waving in the air as students arrived to kick off a new school year. Wildcat Nation and Student Council excitedly cheered on next to cars and school buses, while the Pep Band joyously played their instruments. The Shades, S.I.’s student rock band, made their resonant debut wearing their signature sunglasses. S.I. was back in session.
With COVID-19 seeming ever distant in the rearview mirror, the energizing scene captured S.I.’s new theme for the year: In This Together.
“I look forward to the ways students will make unity evident this year,” said Ms. Pryor Lorentz, the assistant principal for formation. The new assistant principal highlighted that “In This Together” carries forth the previous theme, “Journeying With Ignatius.” Discovering the many ways Ignatius walked as a pilgrim, she added, encouraged her this year to view and appreciate everyone around her as companions on her road.
The 2022-23 school theme arrived as a collaboration between the Student Council and school leadership. The school-wide motto “is more than just the best song in High School Musical,” Georgia Vollert ’23, a senior Student Council leader, said. “It has been so long since we’ve had the chance to come together as a community and celebrate all of our unique gifts. I’m so excited that we can do that now; in person, in school, and in this together.”
And for Ms. Pryor Lorentz, the theme extends beyond just school life: “I think of being ‘in this’ with and for our SI community, but also ‘in this’ with and for all our community partners in our city, the Bay Area, and the larger world.”
Jack Quach ’23 is a Vol. 71 Editor-in-Chief.