by Johnathan Gonzalez, Kristopher Leal

The Feast Day of St. John Bosco is a day that brings the saint back to life and brings him with the children of his school. St. John Bosco’s sole purpose was to give new life and opportunities for disadvantaged youth and delinquents by giving them a home, a place to learn and opportunities that they would have never had.

His patron is of apprentices, editors and publishers, schoolchildren, magicians, and juvenile delinquents. On January 31, The Feast Day was a day dedicated to celebrating John Bosco.

The Feast Day is a very special occasion for St. John Bosco high school and allows for the students to truly understand what it means to be apart of the Bosco community. Mr. Avila, the director of student activities, recognizes the significance of the day and what it means for St. John Bosco and the Bosco community.

“It’s our Patron Saints Feast Day. It’s special because it’s sort of like a birthday and it’s a celebration of his life,” said Mr. Avila.

Following the student’s shortened classes, the day began with the Feast Day mass. This mass featured the new Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai from Hong Kong, which was very interesting for each of us that took part. He is a Roman Catholic archbishop and the nuncio of the Holy See to Greece. The Bishop spoke about many life stories that the Braves enjoyed. In the ending portion of the mass, a senior named Noah Quezada stepped on the stage and took one for the Braves and politely asked the Bishop for a school day off, the Bishop thought about what he said and he decided it was a great idea to give us Braves a day off (That day has been decided to be placed in the month of March).

“I’m from Taiwan and knowing a man from Asia is here representing the church is nice to know, not only I am the only one along with the other exchange students coming to Bosco in a Catholic manner,” said Leo Lung.

Following the mass, there were many activities for the students to enjoy. This year Mr. Avila found that going with popular activities was the best option for the Braves. Avila explained that after the mass there were going to be a lot of fun activities for the Braves to take part in such as inflatables, a velcro wall, human foosball which the freshman loved and a few other sports going on around on the field and even gaming in the Learning Commence room. Something new that happened was  Mr. Mestas hosting a flag football game for all grade levels to join in.

 “It was a cool thing all in all being the fact that it’s my last Saint John Bosco Feast Day as a high school student and being able to get away from school and hang out with my friends and just mess around was cool,” said Senior Luis Guiterrez.

After the Mass, the Braves were happy to be given free Porto’s pastries. We spoke to some students and they seemed to enjoy themselves after the Mass.