(COVINGTON, La.) St. Paul’s School is a community riddled with every type of person: athletes, scholars, leaders and countless more conglomerations of personalities. Despite our many differences as a student body, there is one thing we all have in common — five things, actually.

Throughout North America, the Brothers of the Lasallian Schools hold the “Five Core Principles” to high standards amongst all schools, students and faculty. These five principles — faith in the presence of God, quality education, concern for the poor and social justice, respect for all persons, and inclusive community — comprise what could be considered the honor code of the Lasallian Schools.

Founders’ Week began at St. Paul’s on Monday, Oct. 9, with over 1,000 students, faculty and parents entering the Briggs Assembly Center for a school-wide mass centered around the principle of “concern for the poor and social justice” while highlighting the principle of “faith in the presence of God.” At the beginning of mass, the traditional French song of the Brothers, “Honneur a Toi,” rang in through the speakers, followed by the harmony of deep voices of seniors to the higher pitched voices of the pre-freshman, loud enough to move anyone new to the sight of a St. Paul’s mass.

On Tuesday, “quality education” day, students were allowed to wear the college shirt of their choice. Schools of every tier, region, and focus were represented, from the expected load of purple and gold, to the one senior wearing a Carnegie-Mellon shirt.

Wednesday morning, students dispersed across campus, to six different prayer stations, from adoration to meditation. Some services were led by faculty or retired Brothers, others led by students, including seniors Hanson Stuckey and Cameron Vidal.

Thursday was highlighted by guest speaker Ben Clapper, chairman of the Louisiana Right to Life Foundation. Clapper showcased the “respect for all persons” core principle to the student body of 890. Students were treated to a special pre-screening of the movie “I Lived on Parker Avenue,”of which Clapper acted as the Executive Producer, a film focusing on the life of Jesuit graduate James Scotton, an advocate for adoption and a Pro-Life activist.

Friday capped the entire week off with loads of festivities like snowballs, Spikeball, and the annual Field Day, a competition between the five classes of St. Paul’s. Field Day was opened with the traditional Senior-Faculty volleyball game. For the 16th year in a row, the staff taught the students a lesson, winning in three sets.

Following volleyball, grade level competitions commenced, including tug-of-war, a balloon-stomping game, and the classic basketball tournament. For the past three years, the class of 2018 has owned the title of basketball champions. Featuring star players like Parker Edwards, Luke Andrews, Colin Quinlan, and Nikita Daigle, Head Coach Luc Hebert and Assistant Coach Joel Fernandes led the class of 2018 to the fourth consecutive championship victory, beating the class of 2020 in a tight, fierce game that went all the way to the buzzer.