On Tuesday, August 8th, over 200 angels came together to help welcome and celebrate the incoming freshmen to St. Joe. Freshman Day is truly an exciting day for the entire school! When the freshman arrived, they were put into groups with upperclassmen as leaders, spending the day getting to know their fellow angels and exploring their new home.  

Students began the day in the gym for icebreaker games and an introduction to the faculty and staff of St. Joe. Then, they were escorted to the theater to watch skits put on by the sophomores, juniors, and seniors.  They also watched an entertaining video presented by STUCO. After a lovely lunch outside by the outdoor theater, they embarked on a tour of the SJA grounds in the form of a scavenger hunt.  At the end of their tour, they visited their lockers and homerooms for the first time before ending the day with mass.

Each year Freshman Day has a creative theme that the volunteers and coordinators use to decorate the school and dress up for the occasion. This year’s theme was SJA is Tie-Dye For. Students filled the school with colorful decorations and signs, and arrived in their best hippie attire.

Freshman Day would not be possible without the help of the coordinators and volunteers. The coordinators put in countless hours of planning and hard work to make this day incredible. When asked what her favorite part of Freshman Day was, coordinator Maggie Hannick said, “My favorite part about Freshman Day this year, besides the amazing and fun theme, would have to be the fact that I was joined with around 200 other SJA angels who volunteered their time and energy to meet the incoming freshman and make them feel at home. It’s so uplifting to see the newest angels come to our school and smile, laugh, cheer, dance, and have fun with other students!”

This day could also not have been possible without our campus minister Ms. Hotop. She helped put the day together and made sure everything ran smoothly. Regarding her favorite part of Freshman Day, she says, “It’s difficult to narrow down one of my favorite parts… because it was all so fun! I really enjoyed working with the student volunteers to plan a special day that would let the Class of 2021 know how loved they already are by the SJA Community.”

Of course, the biggest part of Freshman Day were the freshmen themselves! This was their first fun day at St. Joe with the rest of their classmates. Regarding the day, incoming freshman Sophie Gloriod said, “My favorite part of Freshman Day was the skits! I thought the school skits were very accurate and funny.”

We hope the freshmen enjoyed their first day with their fellow angels and that they’re ready to spend the next four years at the best all girls’ school in the nation. We love our freshmen!