How We Incorporated Easter Activities for School into Campus Life
Easter activities for school help Catholic students grow in faith through prayer, service, and liturgical celebration. Discover how St. Agnes Academy wove these traditions into daily campus life during Lent and Easter.
At St. Agnes Academy, our commitment to nurturing academic excellence and spiritual growth is at the heart of everything we do. We believe that Catholic education is about mastering content and forming young women in faith, purpose, and community.
Living the liturgical year on campus – from Advent to Easter and every moment in between – offers students a transformative opportunity to experience the richness of the Church’s traditions in real time, with real meaning.
As a Catholic school rooted in the Dominican tradition, we integrate prayer, worship, reflection, and service into everyday campus life. These aren’t isolated events on a calendar – they are woven into the fabric of our culture. Learn more about how we incorporate Easter activities for school into this joyous season.
What Goes Into Our Easter Calendar at St. Agnes Academy
The liturgical year provides a sacred rhythm that grounds our students and staff in the truth of the Gospel. Each season brings its own spiritual focus:
- Advent teaches us to wait in hope.
- Lent challenges us to renew and repent.
- Ordinary Time reminds us that holiness is found in daily living.
- Easter invites us into joy and renewal.
This past Lenten and Easter season, our campus ministry team, faculty, and student leaders collaborated to bring various spiritual experiences to life. These experiences engaged the mind, heart, and soul. Our approach emphasized prayer, sacrament, community, and service.
Here’s a closer look at how we incorporated specific activities into the daily life of our campus.
Mardi Gras on Shrove Tuesday: Celebrating with Purpose
We began our Lenten journey with a lively Mardi Gras celebration on Shrove Tuesday for our faculty and staff. Traditionally, a day of feasting before the fasting and reflection of Lent, Mardi Gras is the Church’s joyful prelude to Ash Wednesday.
At St. Agnes, we transformed this tradition into a community-building experience. Employees enjoyed festive decorations, delicious King Cake, beads, and upbeat music.
In some theology classrooms, students had mini celebrations while learning about the day’s liturgical significance. This was an opportunity to teach about the transition from Ordinary Time to Lent and to reflect on the purpose of sacrifice and renewal.
This blend of celebration and catechesis helped students understand that joy and holiness are not separate. Rather, joy is essential to our Catholic identity, even as we prepare to enter a penitential season.
Ash Wednesday: Marked for a Journey
The next day, our community gathered for Ash Wednesday Mass – a solemn and reflective moment to begin Lent as a unified body. Held in the chapel, the liturgy was deeply reverent. As each student, teacher, and staff member received ashes, we were reminded of our shared need for God’s mercy and the call to conversion.
Father McNeillie delivered a stirring homily on the power of repentance, emphasizing that Lent is not simply about giving things up but about turning our hearts more fully toward God. This message was relevant and inspiring for high school students navigating identity and values. Ash Wednesday set the tone for the season ahead – a journey of humility, growth, and transformation.
Daily Prayer: A Spiritual Anchor Each Morning
Prayer is a daily rhythm at St. Agnes, not just during Lent, but year-round. Our school day begins each morning with a prayer over the PA system. Whether led by a student, teacher, or campus minister, these prayers offer time to pause, reflect, and connect with God before diving into the day’s responsibilities.
During Lent, these daily prayers often reflected Easter themes of sacrifice, forgiveness, and almsgiving, helping to keep the season’s purpose top of mind. This practice cultivates a prayerful culture on campus and reminds students that God is present in significant events and every ordinary moment.
Community Time in the Chapel: Weekly Rosary and Mass
Every Thursday during community time, our students could attend Mass in the school chapel. These liturgies became beloved moments of quiet reflection, offering a spiritual reset during the week. Whether attending individually or with friends, students found peace and grounding in the Eucharist.
We also offered the Rosary during community time each week. These student-led gatherings created a peaceful space for contemplation and prayer. They also empowered students to lead their peers in faith, building confidence and community.
The consistency of these chapel gatherings – set apart from the busyness of classes – helped students see prayer as a refuge and Mass as an encounter with the living Christ. Over time, these practices shape students’ understanding of faith as something lived, not just learned.
Living Veritas: Serving with Compassion
One of the most meaningful experiences this Lent was our Living Veritas service initiative. In collaboration with the Oak Forest Foster Closet, our school community organized a two-week donation drive to collect items for foster children and families in need.
Donations poured in. The list included books, toys, hygiene products, journals, snacks, and more. The generosity of our students, parents, faculty, and staff was extraordinary.
The project culminated in an evening event where mothers and daughters assembled Easter baskets with the donated items. The atmosphere was joyful and purposeful, filled with laughter, conversation, and heartfelt intention. Living Veritas attendees lovingly arranged and included handwritten notes of encouragement and love.
The Living Veritas evening embodied our school’s Dominican mission: combining faith and action to serve the common good. Students saw the direct impact of their generosity and experienced how serving others can be a profound act of love and discipleship.
Holy Week: Sacred Stillness and Spiritual Reflection
As we approached Holy Week, the spiritual atmosphere on campus became even more contemplative. Morning PA prayers continued, offering meditations on the Passion of Christ and preparing our hearts for Easter.
On Holy Thursday, our school gathered for a special Mass commemorating the Last Supper. Following the liturgy, the chapel remained open for Eucharistic Adoration. The space, softly lit with candles and adorned with simple decor, became a sacred haven. Students were invited to spend time in silence before the Blessed Sacrament – praying, journaling, or simply resting in God’s presence.
These quiet moments of Holy Week – far from the usual pace of teenage life – allowed students to encounter God in stillness. The reverence with which they participated was a testament to the deep spiritual hunger that often lies just beneath the surface in young hearts.
The Role of the Liturgical Year in Forming Faith
The impact of celebrating the liturgical year cannot be overstated. In the fast-paced world of high school, where students are often bombarded with pressures and distractions, the Church’s seasons offer clarity, peace, and purpose. They remind us that life unfolds not just chronologically, but spiritually – and that every season has meaning.
- Advent teaches us to hope.
- Lent teaches us to repent.
- Easter teaches us to rejoice.
- Ordinary Time teaches us to be faithful in the everyday.
By living these seasons together, our students learn that faith is not confined to religion class or Sunday Mass. It is a daily, dynamic journey—a way of seeing and being in the world.
Celebrating Catholic holidays on campus gives students tangible experiences of God’s love. It forms them into women who know their faith and live it through prayer, compassion, community, and courage.
A Faith-Filled Future Through Joyous Easter Activities for School
Our Easter season was filled with joy, not just because of the celebrations, but because of the transformation that had taken place over Lent. Through prayer, service, Mass, and reflection, our students walked the path of Christ and emerged with a renewed sense of purpose and hope.
This year’s Easter activities for school were not just events but expressions of our deepest values. They invited students into a living faith that is joyful, sacrificial, and rooted in community.
As we grow as a faith community, we look forward to building upon these traditions, creating new opportunities for students to encounter God, and nurturing their growth as faith-filled leaders.
Want to learn more about how to participate in the faith-centered culture at St. Agnes? For more information on our Catholic campus life programming, contact the Director of Campus Ministry, Gabriela Karaszewski, at Gabriela.Karaszewski@st-agnes.org.
