Holy Cross challenges you to grow

Olivia Murphy
Holy Cross High School

For many, high school is often described as the best years of one’s life, for others, the worst, but for all, high school can be interpreted as “the learning years.”

At a quick glance, high school is a time dedicated to self-growth while also planning for the future. However, at Holy Cross, high school means so much more than this.

Holy Cross is a place that has adopted the word “family.” With just under 300 teenagers making up the student body, it is needless to say Holy Cross is a small school. This is not a con, but rather a pro. Because of this, it is easy to feel the family environment with each walk down the hall. By the end of the student’s first semester of freshman year, teachers, along with upperclassmen, will know the student’s name along with the hobbies, music, art or sports the student is interested in.

With this close-knit community and the willingness of the upperclassman to help younger peers, Holy Cross is a school where it is hard to not thrive. The small class sizes do not only allow students to develop close friendships but also allow the teachers to offer one-on-one help to any student in need. Upon graduation from Holy Cross, a student does not only collect a diploma, but also gains brothers and sisters to be a part of his or her family forever.

The other idea that Holy Cross has adopted so well is the idea of “real.” The motto “Real Life. Real Learning. Real People.” is displayed throughout the school. The co-ed learning environment and the one to one technology program may be two ways that the school has adopted the idea of real, but it is not the most important. The most important display of real life, real learning, real people, is the corporate internship program. This internship program is a way for students to have different types of real life job experience along with corporate connections before they enroll in college. Students go to their assigned companies one day a week during their junior and senior year. These companies range from physical therapy offices, hospitals, banks, veterinarian hospitals, sewer treatment plants, auto shops, dentist offices, local gyms, to the local newspaper. For some students, this is a chance to work at his or her dream job at just 16 or 17-years-old.

For other students, these internships are used to discover what they are most passionate about. These two years of job experience are most helpful when deciding what to major in when you get to college — yet another way Holy Cross prepares a student for real life.

The pillar that ties all these amazing attributes together is service. The service program at Holy Cross is dedicated to sending each student on his or her own faith journey. Holy Cross understands this is different for each kid. The school has a program for everyone regardless of how fast or slow the student is growing in his or her faith. Holy Cross is dedicated to teaching students why service means so much. At Holy Cross, students learn to love service while understanding how small actions are rooted deeper than what appears on the surface. The school does this by teaching another layer of Catholic social teaching every year. By senior year, students want to pick social injustices to help and are eager to get into the community and make a difference.

At Holy Cross, it is guaranteed one will not be just another face. Students are constantly challenged to grow in every aspect of life. The kids not only grow as students, but as people, Christians, friends, leaders and dreamers. To the naked eye, Holy Cross is a small Catholic high school that sits on Dixie Highway, but when looking closely, one sees that Holy Cross is a place filled with people from all walks of life coming together to form a family that will last forever.