By: Andrew Casey ’15

“Our Baptismal calling as Christians is to be people who serve and put the needs of other first. As a Catholic school, we strive to instill the attitude of service in our students,” Father Jeff Smialek commented. This is why Joliet Catholic Academy seniors had a service day instead of a day off while the underclassmen attended their class retreat.

Many seniors thoroughly enjoyed doing the service and said that they would go back again. Senior Nicholas Slaboszewski, who worked at the Timbers commented, “It felt so good to see the smiles on [the residents] faces when we walked in and spent time with them.”

Friday, November 14, JCA held its second annual all school retreat and senior service day. Freshmen, sophomores, and juniors attended different class retreats while the seniors did various service projects around the community. The freshman retreat focused on acceptance and belonging while the sophomores learned about good decision making. The junior retreat was centered around deepening faith and relationship with God.

Seniors did service by either working one of the retreats or working at an outside location. Outside locations included Feed My Starving Children, Habitat for Humanity, Hand of Hope Ministries, Ready Set Ride Stables, the Timbers retirement home, Hopeful Tails Animal Shelter, and New Life for Old Bags. While the underclassmen learned about Christian values, seniors were able to put them into practice by serving the community.