Students, faculty and staff returned to campus on January 7 ready for more learning, faith-building and community service.
On Friday, Jan. 9th, Fr. Saenz celebrated the first on-campus Mass of 2026. He also marked the campus doors with chalk as is the Epiphany-season custom to invite God’s presence and invoke God’s blessings.
That same evening, Fr. Cruz led the FIAT! group in prayer and a variety of faith-building activities. The FIAT! Pro-life Leadership Think Tank is a youth group for Phoenix area Catholic students in grades 8-12. It focuses on pro-life leadership, faith-building activities, and community engagement. The monthly meetings are hosted at Holy Family Academy.
Under the watchful eyes of Director Lindsay Murphy and Principal Laura Graves, students continue to prepare for the Feb. 6-7 performances of The Wizard of Oz. The cast received their costumes and practiced applying stage make-up in between numerous rehearsals. The entire school is a-buzz singing “We’re off to see the Wizard” and “Ding-dong the witch is dead” in the hallways between classes. You won’t want to miss this outstanding show!
Catholic Schools Week was celebrated Jan. 26-30. This year’s nation-wide theme was “Catholic Schools: United in Faith and Community”. The senior class planned a variety of activities for the students to augment the meaningful discussions provided by faculty throughout the week during Religion classes.
Monday was “School Spirit Day”. Students were allowed to wear spirit shirts, crazy hair and wacky socks with their uniform bottoms. Upper Academy students worked at the St. Mary’s Food Bank as part of their commitment to community service. Middle School students volunteered at the Feed My Children charity.
Tuesday was “Sports Day” where students were allowed to wear a shirt of their favorite sports team with their uniform bottoms. Principal Graves treated students to a hot dog lunch using her trusty professional-grade hot dog cooker which she has used annually after importing it from her teaching days in Springfield, IL.
HFA’s 8th Annual Catholic Schools Week Bingo Game was the highlight of Wednesday’s “America Day” activities. Students were allowed to wear red, white and/or blue tops with their uniform bottoms while hoping to win a variety of prizes in the Bingo game. This is one of the students’ favorite events of the year!
Thursday was “Country or Country Club Day.” Students showed their creativity by dressing in western or “preppy era” style attire.
The week wrapped up with “Class Color Day” and the Catholic Schools Week Pep Rally. After the all-school Mass, students thanked Fr. Saenz for his spiritual guidance throughout the year with a gift basket of spiritual blessings. Then, they changed into their class color spirit wear for an exciting pep rally competition to determine winners of the coveted “Spirit Stick”. This year’s winners were: Tie between the 2nd and 4th grades for the Lower Academy, 6th grade for the Middle Academy and 9th grade for the Upper Academy. Congratulations to all the teams!
