by Brett Baligad, Senior Editor

This past Sunday, Braves and their maternal figures celebrated Bosco’s annual Mother and Son Breakfast.

As the holidays are in full swing, members of the Bosco community are not shy about welcoming the Christmas cheer. To kick off the month, the Parent Association hosted their annual Mother and Son Breakfast. The event took place at Quiet Cannon in Montebello, as it invited all Bosco students to attend a morning mass, enjoy breakfast and hear from a guest speaker. Students were accompanied by mothers, aunts and grandmothers who have impacted their lives the most. Faculty were in attendance, too, as Principal Dr. Kris Anderson and President Dr. Brian Wickstrom were in attendance with their families.

Mass began at 9 a.m. on Sunday morning. Father Ted led mass while being accompanied by a choir and band consisting of Bosco students. Fr. Ted would dedicate his Homily to the mothers in attendance, as he recollected a story about a man who donated holiday goods to a Canadian family years ago.

“Fr. Ted had a very moving Homily. It resonated deeply with me since the story took place in Alberta, Canada and my in-laws are from there,” said Mrs. Janine Mays, mother of senior Isaac Mays. “It is brutally cold in the winter time, and I can only imagine how that single mother must have felt when the man showed up with food and toys. That was a miracle on its own, and when the child asked, ‘Is that Jesus?’ That gave me chills. ‘Yes, my child, he is our Jesus.’ Jesus lives in all of us all time, not just at Christmas.”

The Homily came with perfect timing, catering to all of the mothers that sacrifice for their children along with a sense of hope during Christmas time.

Following the Mass, a catered breakfast was open to guests. While breakfast was being served, there were raffles, silent auctions and vendors. Raffles included gift baskets from notable sports teams on campus including Football, Baseball, Basketball and Esports.

“I really enjoyed the raffles. There were plenty of options to choose from,” said senior Tyler Baligad. “I actually won a basket full of baseball gear. I am excited to wear them to school.”

The silent auction was also a big hit. The most notable prizes were tickets to a Clippers game against the Bucks and a pair of signed gloves from Oscar De La Hoya. Respectively, both winners belonged to seniors Anthony Rodriguez and Mauro Meraz.

The vendors lined the back of the event center and sold a wide variety of goods that served as perfect Christmas presents for the holiday season. This included bracelets, necklaces and St. John Bosco novelties. 

The event concluded with guest speaker and alumni, Dr. Fidencio Saldaña, Class of ‘91. After Dr. Saldaña graduated from St. John Bosco, he would go on to study at Stanford University. He is currently a Dean of Students at Harvard Medical School. 

“I really enjoyed his keynote speech. He emphasized passion, family and building an image for yourself,” said Ryan Gutierrez ‘23. “I had an opportunity to speak with Dr. Saldaña, and he said he was willing to help me build connections with his colleagues in the east coast.”

Overall, there was plenty to see and do at the Mother and Son Breakfast. Whether it was sharing mass with their mothers, grandmothers and aunts, having breakfast or shopping for Christmas presents, the Mother and Son Breakfast once again showed the importance of the Brave women in students’ lives.