California Province of the Society of Jesus



California Province of the Society of Jesus Sponsorship Review

St. Ignatius College Preparatory March 8-10, 2009

Committee: Kim Baldwin (Brophy), Mark Pierotti (Bellarmine), Ed Harris, S.J. (Chair).

SI’s President Robert Walsh, S.J. when he was President at Loyola High School was wont to tell the parents on Freshman Orientation Night : “Our primary purpose is to get your son into Heaven, not Harvard!” We can interpret this as a contemporary corollary of Ignatius’s First Principle and Foundation which is operative throughout the four years of a student’s high school career.

“St. Ignatius is a Catholic, college preparatory school in the Jesuit tradition serving the San Francisco Bay Area. St. Ignatius strives to develop young women and men of competence, conscience, and compassion through an integrated program of academic, spiritual, and extra- curricular activities. St. Ignatius seeks to develop students who strive toward the Jesuit ideal of the magis: a thirst for the more for the greater good, for the more courageous response to the challenges of our time in the fullest development of students’ talents, and for a life-long disposition to serve. (St. Ignatius College Preparatory Mission Statement)

St. Ignatius College Preparatory is committed to all of its constituents in the Formation for Mission and Jesuit Identity according to this Mission Statement.

Students told the Visiting Committee that they are drawn together into community in a spirit of service. KAIROS, the new sophomore retreat, and other retreats foster this process, along with Friday Morning Liturgy (FML), Immersion Trips and many Service opportunities. Teachers in the classrooms challenge them to think critically and to express themselves and to work for a balance in their lives. They feel challenged to integrate the three tenets of Jesuit education: the academic, the spiritual, and the co-curricular. They are invited to broaden their world view and to take a deeper perspective on contemporary issues. They are concerned for each other and care for each other. They feel called to go outside their individual comfort zones. They are challenged to be leaders and “agents of change”. Each one realizes that he or she has something special to contribute to the group enterprise. Students appreciate the generosity and dedicated efforts of every adult member of the Ignatian family. The number of students who apply for admission each year is evidence of the good work that is being accomplished at the school.

Faculty/Staff at SI are dedicated, intelligent, passionate, caring, and involved. They are able to meet the students “where they are at”! Students have trust and confidence in every adult with whom they interact every day. The support staff has as great an impact on many students as do teachers in the classrooms or coaches on the field or moderators in the many student activities. Ignatian Evenings and Retreat Days for all are “continuing education” in Mission and Identity for faculty and staff that build on such province-wide programs as the Ignatian Orientation for new faculty and staff and the Colloquium for the Ministry of Teaching for more experienced members. All are encouraged to take advantage of the opportunities which the Adult Spirituality Program offers. The Faculty Professional Development Program is a wonderful opportunity on a regular basis to reflect on one’s participation in the larger community. Faculty and Staff spending time with one another is also worthwhile community formation, and time spent with the students helps to open up adults to the broader dimensions of life which the students experience. One of the best ways adults can learn from the students themselves outside the normal routine of the school day is to assist on a KAIROS or one of the other retreat programs or to assist with student reflection exercises for Christian Service or to accompany them on Immersion trips.

Parents: the parents are drawn to SI by the promotion of spiritual values and the call to the service of others. The school reinforces the values of the home. They appreciate the presence of the Jesuits. They feel welcomed, and they are invited to get involved and to participate in the school community. The parents appreciate the support their sons receive from the adult members of the SI family. They are confident in SI because they see the growth in self-confidence in their sons over the four years of high school. They appreciate the opportunities presented by the Adult Spirituality program to grow in their own faith life. They are hungry to learn more about SI from formal programs (such as Drug and Alcohol Awareness Nights) and more informal contacts. They learn a great deal from their sons, but there is always more to learn from the adults who work at St. Ignatius. Each contact with a parent, whether at an Information Night, by returning a phone call promptly, or through casual conversation at an athletic event, helps to instruct parents about the overall context of this school.

Leadership and Administration: these people are very much aware of the quality and the potential of the SI students entrusted to your care. They understand the hopes and expectations of the parents and the alumni. They appreciate the quality and the dedication of all those on the front lines in the classrooms, on the fields and courts, in the offices and all other venues of the many student activities. The Long-Range Plan will help the school implement its dreams for the future. The new Ignatian Mission and Identity Committee of the Board will help to preserve the focus of leadership efforts.

ISSUES

It is of critical importance to continue to grow in the understanding of what Jesuit (and Ignatian) Mission and Identity is. The school has recently experienced what can happen when this ingredient is not present. The new leadership of the Trustees and the Regents are aware of this and take their responsibility seriously. They want the Boards to work with the President and the Principal to make it an effective influence in the school. Comprehensive board formation will allow the boards to practice Ignatian discernment and to deliberate about issues in the school in an environment that is conducive to cooperation and partnership. Decision making will then build the spirit of the school community along the lines of “mission” and “identity”. This growth in mission and identity is never a one-shot deal; it is always a matter of “continuing education”. The boards are developing some programs for their growing understanding of the Ignatian purpose, and more ways are being developed at the local and provincial level. They also learn about SI from seeing the students and faculty, staff, and administration in action. They want to support all the endeavors of those who work with the students on a daily basis.

It is important to keep the energy flow going among all constituent groups so that “community” continues to be nurtured. Board members – Administrators – Faculty/Staff – Students – Parents – and Benefactors are all affected by developments on campus. Smooth transitions in leadership are important when those times come, and planning for leadership succession is an important part of the mission task. There will always be a creative tension between and among the many desires for new or improved facilities, for financial aid resources, for additional staffing needs, for cost controls, for tech support, and other desires to achieve the development of school goals and objectives.

The school has experienced transitions in a number of the leadership positions in the school in the past couple of years. This means a number of new faces, with some more to come. It’s a time for fresh ideas. This experience can engender both hope and fear. But giving in to the “fear” is, in fact, a temptation, something that Ignatius Loyola would label as coming from the “Evil Spirit”. Now is not the time to “wait and see” what will happen. It is important for the students to keep moving forward on their life’s journeys, and it is important for school personnel to continue to be companions for them along the way. The faculty and staff were instrumental in maintaining the stability of the institution during the recent troubles. There is no reason to doubt your understanding of your roles at the school.

The challenge of the vocation to be Ignatian teachers and educators (as we all are) will always be the desire to do our best and to do the MAGIS. But we must always remember that the MAGIS is not necessarily “quantitatively more” but “qualitatively better”. When we remind ourselves that each person has a different role on the team and that there are complementary functions, then we realize that we can (and must) rely on one another. And in the process, there is lesser danger that any student might “fall through the cracks” as we attempt to accompany them through their four years of high school.

We are all very busy people. There will never be enough time to do all that we would like to do for our students and for ourselves. But it is important for all to engage in the struggle to reflect upon all the activity and to arrive at some semblance of balance and to help one another carry out the commitments.

We will always have questions about what we do, such as,

1. How do we continue to grow in our Jesuit Mission and Identity? How do we understand this “mission and identity”? Are we all “on the same page?”

2. How do we address the student body’s catholicity and diversity as the school continues to draw its students from the greater metropolitan area?

3. How do our Admission policies serve the constituencies from which we draw our students?

4. Are we providing all the support services for our students to ensure their success at SI? Are any students “falling through the cracks?”

5. What is the most effective use of the Jesuit presence on campus?

6. What are effective means to promote the Jesuit Mission and Identity with volunteers and off-campus coaches?

Questions such as these will continually call you to reflect on the effectiveness of your ministry to the students and families of St. Ignatius College Preparatory. The students are always a reliable measure of the effectiveness of every program on campus. How can they be challenged and invited to assume more responsibility for campus activities? The INSIGNIS program develops a talent pool for retreat leadership. Can this be replicated for Campus Ministry, Student Government, Christian Service and athletics?

God is always and already at work in the busyness of the day. Continue to take time each day to realize and acknowledge where that is true and how you can respond to God’s invitation to you to help build up The Kingdom.

Earth’s crammed with heaven,

And every common bush afire with God.

But only he who sees takes off his shoes;

The rest sit around it and pluck blackberries.

(Elizabeth Barrett Browning)

The Committee members knew that are were many good things happening at St. Ignatius. Our visit enabled us to see the Ignatian spirit at work through our conversations with students, faculty, staff, administrators, coaches, counselors, parents, regents and trustees. Each committee member learned something that he or she could take back to his or her own school. We appreciated the hospitality of every member of the SI Community with whom we met.

The Sponsorship Committee is grateful for the time, energy, and dedicated effort that went into the preparation of the school’s Self-Study Report. We thank the leadership of the school, particularly Charlie Dullea and his team for shepherding the process to its successful conclusion. We are particularly grateful for the warm hospitality of the Jesuit Community on campus, with whom we stayed during our visit.

The Visiting Team gladly and gratefully recognizes St. Ignatius College Preparatory as an apostolic work of the Society of Jesus, a “Jesuit” school, and by this report recommends to the Provincial an unequivocal continuation of sponsorship.

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