Mission Week is one of the most anticipated weeks of the Rockhurst school year. It’s an opportunity for students to be reminded of the importance of serving and caring for others while giving them a chance in various friendly competitions to flex their class pride.
“I think Mission Week is so special, because… it brings all the grades together for the common purpose of donating, while also bringing competition,” senior and SGA member Brendan Bowen said.
Mission Week usually lasts longer than a calendar week, but this year, it’s spread out over parts of three weeks.
Everything began with the Mission Week kickoff assembly in the middle of the school day on Feb. 7, where the class presidents presented the charities each of their respective classes would be raising money for. After the assembly, seniors gave presentations in classrooms about the service projects where they spent the first three weeks of the semester. It served as another reminder that one of the core principles of a Catholic Jesuit education centers around serving others.
“Mission Week looks like, for me, a time to give back to all the communities that are in need,” junior class president Brendan Ortbals said.
The first event of Mission Week was Battle of the Bands the evening of Feb. 7. Student-led bands battled it out for the chance to win time in a professional recording studio. The heavy metal band Crop Circle, featuring seniors Jabari Cambridge, William Draper, Jackson Haake and Elijah Wilson, came out on top.
Next up was the annual volleyball game Feb. 10 featuring Rockhurst’s own boys team going up against the teams from Notre Dame de Sion and St. Teresa’s Academy.
Other events would have typically followed almost daily, but that’s one way this year’s Mission Week was different. Due to the possibility of the Kansas City Chiefs winning the Super Bowl on Feb. 9 and the subsequent victory parade prompting the cancellation of school one day, administrators and SGA moved the bulk of Mission Week events and activities to the next week. The lone exception was Penny Wars, which is a daily collection of coins competition, that started Feb. 13–a day later than originally scheduled, thanks to a snow day.
The result is that the bulk of Mission Week this year is taking place Feb. 18 – 21. It will include the faculty/student basketball game on Feb. 19, the Orange Chicken Tasting Contest and Trivia Night on Feb. 20, and the week culminates with the Mission Week Board Game on Feb. 21.
“My favorite event is going to be either the volleyball game or board game,” Ortbals said.
While Mission Week provides lots of opportunities for fun, student leaders also work to keep the focus where it’s meant to be.
“I feel like Mission Week is a great way to give back to those who are less fortunate than us, and I feel the ways we give to charities are in ways students find fun,” sophomore class president Tristan Batobalani said.
“I hope we do an even better job than in the past year… just with student engagement and bringing in money,” Bowen said.
“You can have fun while still giving back,” Ortbals said.
**Feb. 20 Update: Two additional snow days forced the cancellation of the Orange Chicken Contest and Trivia Night originally scheduled for Feb. 20. The faculty/student basketball game was moved to Feb. 25.
