Everyone Welcome

Liam Galaugher

& Varen Bautista ’23

Contributors

Everyone Welcome is a mission rooted in our values of education, commitment to justice, and the Jesuit value of “youth leading in a hope filled future,” and is spearheaded by students of the Human Rights Initiative (HRI).

Our mission is to spread awareness and educate staff and students about the 2SLGBTQ+ community, the harm of homophobia and transphobia, and how we can build a more accepting school environment. We aim to dispel stereotypes, discrimination, and marginalization not only within our school community, but also in our wider St. Paul’s community.

Everyone Welcome is not a campaign but a mission. St. Paul’s takes pride in its embrace of the brotherhood, community, and inclusivity. These core values at St. Paul’s are something you may identify with as a student, and our mission is part of continuing this embrace. We do not aim to wave a rainbow flag for a shallow trend without genuine intent or context. Our mission is to demonstrate that everyone within our community—regardless of how they identify—is welcome.

Everyone Welcome was created last year to address homophobia and see changes many students hoped for in our school community. This message is the foundation of the symbol we use for Everyone Welcome, which is heavily inspired by the rainbow pride flag. The history and the symbolism of the pride flag dates back to 1979, when American artist Gilbert Baker created the first rainbow flag to symbolize strength and resilience after the Stonewall riots that took place 10 years earlier: The red represents life, orange-healing, yellow-sunlight, green-nature, blue-harmo-

The final stop of the day was at Temple Shalom, just a few minutes away from St. Paul’s. Upon entry, students had the option of wearing a Kippah. Right now, the temple is home to two separate congregations, which Rabbi Allan Finkel explained very well. Having two denominations in the ny, and violet representing spirit.

St. Paul’s High School would like to thank the Winnipeg South Sikh Centre, the Dr. Raj Pandey Hindu Centre, and Temple Shalom for welcoming us students into your places of worship and answering our questions about your faith. We would also like to extend thanks to Dr. Puchniak, Mr. Borges, Mr. Martinez, and Mr. Costa for organizing and supervising this especially important St. Paul’s experience!

St. Paul’s is a Jesuit school that aims to embody Jesuit values within the community and within our education. One value of the Jesuits which Everyone Welcome embodies is cura personalis. Meaning ‘care for the whole person’ in Latin, this value of Jesuit education emphasizes every person is a unique creation of God. Cura personalis calls for respect for diversity, and promotes holistic care for the mind, body and spirit. Taking care of the marginalized and promoting justice requires love, compassion, empathy, and understanding, all principles of the Catholic faith and Ignatian spirituality. Here at St. Paul’s, we are committed to magis, meaning ‘more’ in Latin. We encourage you to do more, take these values and see them into your own life.

You may think homophobia and transphobia doesn’t exist in our school, or, you may think it is acceptable as long as it is just a joke. But heavy discrimination does exist in our school. Just because something does not di- rectly affect you does not mean it does not exist. If you would not say something out loud in public, do not say it at school, or online. This includes homophobic slurs said in our hallways, or malicious rumours spread online or behind someone’s back. Our school community has no room for blatant ignorance, homophobic or transphobic bigotry, or disrespect for one another. The creation of a more tolerant, understanding, empathetic, and supportive school community is through you—the students. Everyone Welcome is a continuous effort to build more acceptance, understanding, and love within our school community. Let’s make everyone truly welcome at St. Paul’s.

Nathan Macdonell ’23

Contributor

This year, the Varsity Crusader Rugby Team season started early. The team was invited to travel down to St. Louis to play in St. Louis University High School’s (SLUH) second annual All-Catholic Rugby Festival. The team trained indoors at St. Paul’s and the WSF Soccer complex for weeks ahead of their departure to St. Louis.

On April 14th, the day after we arrived, we volunteered with a few SLUH students at Guardian Angel Settlement Association, a non-profit organization that helps underprivileged youth. The boys did a variety of tasks such as gardening and cleaning up classrooms. The people at Guardian

Angel loved having volunteers and the players all enjoyed helping the St. Louis community. The team was then treated with St. Louis-style pizza and toasted ravioli before getting a tour of the SLUH campus. The St. Paul’s Varsity rugby team finished off the night with an MLB game where the St. Louis Cardinals played the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Day three of the trip had our team play two tough opponents from Kansas City: St. Martins and St. James Academy. Unfortunately, the team lost both games, with the first game being a huge learning curve with some players who had just experienced their first-ever rugby game. In our second game, the team lost only in the final seconds, but proved that they deserved to be at this tournament.

Day four would be the team’s biggest test as they would finally get to play SLUH, who at that point was 2-0 in the tournament.

The team was up for the test battling hard all game, but SLUH defeated the Crusaders leaving the boys with a 0-3 record which didn’t reflect the growth the team showed over the weekend. Day five marked the end of this great trip with the team traveling back to Winnipeg eager to start their own season. The team knew that their experience at St. Louis would only make them better prepared to start their own season.

The Varsity Crusaders dominated when they came back to Winnipeg late May, going undefeated in the regular season. The team captured the city final banner after beating the Dakota Lancers. In early March at the provincial semi-finals, the team dominated Croquis Plains, winning 50-12 to punch their ticket to the provincial final. The team played the Dakota Lancers, a familiar opponent they faced a week prior. The team battled hard all game with the score always being tight, and the Crusaders triumphed over the Lancers, defeating them 27-19. This season was amazing for the Crusader Rugby program, noting that success came through hard work, comradery, and coaching.