Saint Marcellin Joseph Benedict Champagnat (May 20, 1789 – June 6, 1840) was born in Rozet, village of Marlhes, near St. Etienne (Loire), France. He was the founder of the Marist Brothers, a religious congregation of men in the Roman Catholic Church dedicated to education.
Champagnat was ordained a priest in 1816, and was part of a group led by Jean-Claude Colin which founded the Society of Mary, also called the Marist Fathers and Brothers, a separate religious congregation to the Brothers Marcellin founded later.
The Marist Brothers, from the beginning had the goal of educating and catechize as many people as he could.
To this day, the Marist Schools exist in almost the whole world.
I go to one of these schools, and even though I AM agnostic, Champagnat is a really heroic figure to me. He fought to do what he believed was right, and worked together with others to achieve his dreams. He helped TONS of people.
June 6th is "Saint Marcellin Champagnat" day, and the week of this date is the "Champagnat week"
Now, you're probably expecting me to explain the Champagnat Week. In a day, we normally just remember and respect the figure of this day, but since it's a week, it's a whole new level.
Every year, in any Marist School, we celebrate the Champagnat week. I'm not sure if it goes like this for all the other schools, though.
Basically, each class of each grade has a color. This color is chosen by a draw.
We are all entitled with the responsibility of creating a T-shirt. We have a theme for this T-shirt, every year. This year per example, had the theme "Health and sports".
Alright, most of the time, we end up not doing anything to do with the theme.
(Game Over for you)
T-shirt of my class
Also no, we don't speak Spanish here, The whole point of a Mexican-theme on the shirt is a private joke of the class.
We had someone design the image, we all decided on the text together, and someone had to be responsible in finding a way to have someone sew the shirts.
Normally, to help pay, we look for sponsors and add their logos behind the T-shirt.
Last year's x This year's T-shirt
What's the point of this though? Well, ALL THE CLASSES IN THE SCHOOL compete for the ultimate tittle of champion.
Compete as in, sports and cultural activities.
Every time a class wins, the winner(s) of a sport gain a medal, while the class whole ears tons of points.
(I WON ATHLETICS!!! (Race))
In cultural activities, you only gain a number of points.
Grades compete with each other, but in the end the scores will be compared on all grades.
Last year, my class won the week, but I wasn't there for the picture day, and didn't get the Champagnat Week medal...
We can also gain points for donating food. Each grade can gain points by donating a kind of food, which will later be given to the poor.
Sports include Soccer, Handball, Mini-volleyball, and Athletics. Cultural Activities include Rubix Cubes, Race in the bag, 3-leg race, Balloon Popper... We also have the on-stage ones such as the artistic display with a teacher, Living Statue, and Talent Show, and we also have the Scavenger Hunt which will have everyone running around the whole school, since it gives you tons of points!
Me, today
We also have the mechanical bull, which is actually just for fun.
In short, it's a whole week, starting from Saturday, then Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and I think Thursday too. We have no classes, just games.
It's a whole lot of fun, and cheering for your class is really exciting!
Does your school have anything like this? Share with us!
Saint Marcellin Joseph Benedict Champagnat (May 20, 1789 – June 6, 1840) was born in Rozet, village of Marlhes, near St. Etienne (Loire), France. He was the founder of the Marist Brothers, a religious congregation of men in the Roman Catholic Church dedicated to education.
Champagnat was ordained a priest in 1816, and was part of a group led by Jean-Claude Colin which founded the Society of Mary, also called the Marist Fathers and Brothers, a separate religious congregation to the Brothers Marcellin founded later.
The Marist Brothers, from the beginning had the goal of educating and catechize as many people as he could.
To this day, the Marist Schools exist in almost the whole world.
I go to one of these schools, and even though I AM agnostic, Champagnat is a really heroic figure to me. He fought to do what he believed was right, and worked together with others to achieve his dreams. He helped TONS of people.
June 6th is "Saint Marcellin Champagnat" day, and the week of this date is the "Champagnat week"
Now, you're probably expecting me to explain the Champagnat Week. In a day, we normally just remember and respect the figure of this day, but since it's a week, it's a whole new level.
Every year, in any Marist School, we celebrate the Champagnat week. I'm not sure if it goes like this for all the other schools, though.
Basically, each class of each grade has a color. This color is chosen by a draw.
We are all entitled with the responsibility of creating a T-shirt. We have a theme for this T-shirt, every year. This year per example, had the theme "Health and sports".
Alright, most of the time, we end up not doing anything to do with the theme.
(Game Over for you)
T-shirt of my class
Also no, we don't speak Spanish here, The whole point of a Mexican-theme on the shirt is a private joke of the class.
We had someone design the image, we all decided on the text together, and someone had to be responsible in finding a way to have someone sew the shirts.
Normally, to help pay, we look for sponsors and add their logos behind the T-shirt.
Last year's x This year's T-shirt
What's the point of this though? Well, ALL THE CLASSES IN THE SCHOOL compete for the ultimate tittle of champion.
Compete as in, sports and cultural activities.
Every time a class wins, the winner(s) of a sport gain a medal, while the class whole ears tons of points.
(I WON ATHLETICS!!! (Race))
In cultural activities, you only gain a number of points.
Grades compete with each other, but in the end the scores will be compared on all grades.
Last year, my class won the week, but I wasn't there for the picture day, and didn't get the Champagnat Week medal...
We can also gain points for donating food. Each grade can gain points by donating a kind of food, which will later be given to the poor.
Sports include Soccer, Handball, Mini-volleyball, and Athletics. Cultural Activities include Rubix Cubes, Race in the bag, 3-leg race, Balloon Popper... We also have the on-stage ones such as the artistic display with a teacher, Living Statue, and Talent Show, and we also have the Scavenger Hunt which will have everyone running around the whole school, since it gives you tons of points!
Me, today
We also have the mechanical bull, which is actually just for fun.
In short, it's a whole week, starting from Saturday, then Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and I think Thursday too. We have no classes, just games.
It's a whole lot of fun, and cheering for your class is really exciting!
Does your school have anything like this? Share with us!