Thanksgiving and Disney

Last week, I traveled to Disney World with about 130 of my closest friends. A team of chaperones and I spent a few days with the Class of 2025 on their Senior Class trip. This student trip is an annual rite of passage for the seniors – a capstone experience for the graduating class. The seniors created memories that will last a lifetime. Trips like these are very Augustinian. They deepen healthy social interactions and strengthen our relationship with God and neighbor. There’s also a high degree of unitas.

An Austin Prep education is about forming the whole student and class trips such as these provide experiences not found in any book or classroom. And many years from now, the Class of 2025, like the graduating classes before them, will have fond memories they will share with lifetime friends and, someday, stroll down memory lane at Austin Prep alumni gatherings.

As a community, we should be proud of the Class of 2025. I suspect it’s not a revelation that traveling with an entire class of students has some potential for a hiccup or two. Austin Prep’s Class of 2025, however, exemplified our Augustinian values of veritas, unitas, and caritas. They conducted themselves with the grace, charm, and cooperation that should be the standard for any group of high school teenagers.

There’s one moment in particular that stands out. Part of the Disney itinerary each year for the Senior Class is a private dinner and viewing of the fireworks show over the lagoon in EPCOT. One of the servers approached me during dinner as I was speaking with the tour operator and asked, “are you in charge?” My general experience is that when questions like that are asked, what follows next is often problematic and I thought to myself “oh no.” After I responded yes, the server began speaking in a way that was a bit dramatic, emphasizing each word: “Can…we…just…talk…about…?”

When she reached this point, the server paused for an extra few seconds and I began to brace myself. She finally finished her thought with “…how well behaved and respectful these students are. I can’t believe how good these kids are. We have student dinners like this all the time and the wait staff are always treated badly. Your students have been so good to us. Whatever you’re doing, keep doing it. God bless you.” At the end of the night, the food service manager expressed his thanks on behalf of the entire food service staff. Unquestionably, the Class of 2025 exemplified our Augustinian virtues, and it was obvious.

Although Thanksgiving is not quite here, we have been preparing for a busy December at Austin Prep. Advent begins on Sunday and the next three weeks will be filled with a burst of Austin Prep traditions – Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker which will involve about 200 students this year, our campus tree lighting, door decorating, a Christmas drive to support families in need, and Lessons and Carols to name a few. These traditions reflect the importance of our faith and our commitment to Christmas. I hope to see you at many of these events.

We’ve had a terrific start to the 2024-2025 academic year. And as we transition from the month of Thanksgiving to the start of the Church’s liturgical season of Advent, let’s pause and give thanks for the gift of Austin Prep’s mission, for our community which gives it meaning, and our faith-filled journey in the footsteps of Saint Augustine which helps bring it to fulfillment.

From my family to yours, Happy Thanksgiving!