Recently, students, faculty and staff celebrated the day dedicated to our school’s namesake: Saint Viator Day.

“The idea of Viator Day came about because, first of all I’m a Viatorian, and it is a very special day for all Viatorians. Fr. Corey and I were thinking of a way to make this a more special day for the whole school,” said Campus Minister Br. John Eustice.

According to Br. Eustice, the idea came from the Viatorian Youth Congress, which is where kids from Viatorian institutions around the country come together during the summer and learn what it means to be a Viatorian. They wanted to try and make Saint Viator a “convention center” for one day.

“Saint Viator Day exhibits the pride we have being Catholic,” said junior Claudia Russo.

During Saint Viator day students did not attend classes and did not have homework. Instead, they learned more about Saint Viator and attended workshops that they had previously selected in their English classes. There were a wide variety of workshops to choose from this year, focusing on music, art, service, spirituality and more.

“Last year, since it was our first time doing it, we wanted to keep the workshop choices limited so we did it successfully,” said Br. Eustice, “We learned from last year and were able to give the students more workshops to choose from.”

Some of the same workshops from last year were offered this time, including guided meditation and involving spirituality. According to Br. Eustice, some of the new workshops were art spirituality (making your own decade rosary) and, borrowing from the eastern religious traditions, “Zentangles,” which was led by art teacher Mr. Matt Gruenfeld.

“I’m excited because there are more workshops to choose from,” said junior Miriam Varvara.

“Some other workshops [covered] Viatorian values in the business world, and the youngest Viatorian and one of our senior Viatorians [talked] about what it is like being a Viatorian,” said Br. Eustice.

“It’s great that we got to help out people outside of our school by making blankets for them or writing letters to them,” said junior Amani Rihani.

Saint Viator day began with a presentation by a keynote speaker, attended by all students. Last year’s keynote speaker was former football player Jarrett Payton, son of Walter Payton, who is an alumnus of Saint Viator High School. This year’s speaker was Mr. John Aiello ’86, an entrepreneur and one of Saint Viator’s Distinguished Alumni.

“We wanted to get a graduate from this school who can show the community here that Viatorian values will help throughout life,” said Br. Eustice.

After this, students returned to their homerooms and then went to their selected workshops. The day ended with an all-school mass.

Some of the new freshmen were also excited to see what their first Saint Viator Day would be like.

“I’m excited to experience it,” said freshman Emma Abrahamian.