ARCHBISHOP SHAW: CLOSINGS AND OPENINGS

(Marrero, La. – July 6) – At Archbishop Shaw High School in Marrero, May is the month for shutting down the school year.

End-of-Year Events

The seniors started their final exams on April 30 and finished on May 3. On the final day there was a morning examination followed by graduation practice and distribution of the caps and gowns. A crawfish boil followed: boiled crawfish, boiled potatoes, and boiled corn. After the seniors had eaten to their hearts’ content, the swimming pool was opened; the tradition is for seniors to jump into the pool with their full uniforms and shoes on. There were also games of cabbage ball and frisbee.

The senior prom was held on Saturday, May 12. On May 18 the baccalaureate Mass was celebrated at Immaculate Conception Church in Marrero. The Mass was introduced by the Student Government president Leroy Holmes. During his talk, symbols of the school year were brought forth to be placed before altar. Ryan Hernandez and Jude Lutz carried the school banner and Ryan Taix the school diploma. Jacob LaBove presented the Silver Eagle, which is awarded to only 10% of the graduating class. Cade Abercrombie presented the 2018 class picture that will hang in the entrance to the school.  At the end of the Mass the salutatorians (Christians Asevado, Vincent Nguyen, and Colin Palazzo) and valedictorians (Joshua Mitchell and Jacob Van) were announced and received their medals and the Principal’s Award. Ryan Taix was honored as the outstanding student athlete. Mass was followed by an awards breakfast for the seniors and their parents, at which time the various other senior awards were announced.

The novena to Mary Help of Christians was prayed over the PA system each morning. The underclassman exams ended on Friday, May 25. Thus the 2017-2018 school year concluded.

Summer Programs: Camps and Academic Support

With only a week’s gap, summer camp started on Monday, June 4. The summer camp program was redesigned and is now called the Archbishop Shaw Summer Experience. The camp welcomes boys and girls of ages 4-12. Campers can be signed up for all six weeks of the camp or for one three-week session. The summer experience is now enhanced by mini-camps which take place in the afternoon of the camp day; enrollment involves an additional fee. Week 2 is for soccer and cheerleading mini-camps. Week 3 is a wrestling mini-camp, Week 4 a baseball mini-camp, Week 5 a basketball mini-camp, and Week 6 a football mini-camp. The camp also provides free care before the camp day opens at 8:45 a.m. and from the end of the camp day at 3:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m.

At the same time, summer school opened on June 4 for students who needed to recover academic credit in order to be promoted. There was a SOARS program in session for two weeks for incoming students who needed extra preparation, mainly in math and English. This program was taught by Shaw’s Mr. & Mrs. Jeff Abreo.

This year there was an ACT preparation course that was completely full and drew students from neighboring schools besides Shaw students. The Notre Dame STEM program was taught by Ben DeMarais of the Shaw science faculty, assisted by an intern from the University of Notre Dame.

Thus the Archbishop Shaw campus still experiences a lot of activity until everything shuts down in the last weeks of July. Then it will be time to prepare for the new school year, which will open on Monday, August 6.