Jesuit Jammin’

It’s no secret that Loyola loves their Jesuits. And a little Rambler basketball doesn’t hurt either, so why not combine the two?

Once a year during a regular season men’s basketball game the Jesuits take over for the “Jesuit Jam”. This year was my first ever Jesuit Jam, and I’m quite sad to have missed the games my freshman and sophomore years. I arrived in time to snag a free t-shirt and grab an ideal game-watching seat. The gym was chalk-full of friendly Jesuits mingling with the students, while wearing their hip Jesuit sport jackets of course.

During timeouts we played a few rounds of Jesuit trivia. The winning students won prizes and there was even a Jesuit shootout in which the winning student from Loyola’s School of Medicine won tickets to Arch Madness. (The end-of-season basketball tournament the Ramblers compete at in St. Louis.)

Loyola was facing off against University of Northern Iowa. The two teams were pretty equally yoked, which kept the game close throughout. The Ramblers did not disappoint and managed to win in the final seconds of the game–definitely the best round of LUC basketball I’ve seen so far.

The Jesuit Jam extended beyond just the court with a post-game party in the Damen Den (a conference room in the Damen Student Center). The Jesuits and students got to celebrate the victory with free pizza and pop, plus some quality bonding time. There was an ongoing game of “Jesuit Bingo”, wherein students had to do things like find Jesuits with the same birthday month, from the same hometown, or one who could do ten push-ups with them in order to complete a bingo.

The highlight of the evening was a performance by the Folkin’ Jesuits. An all Jesuit band that sings covers of pop songs at various campus events–and they always steal the show. They played everything from guitars to ukuleles to trumpets to clarinets, sang beautifully and even included a few rap breaks. Their performance of Justin Bieber’s “Love Yourself” was definitely my favorite. Pretty impressive for a group of Catholic priests.

Since freshman year, I’ve appreciated the Jesuit education Loyola offered. And getting the chance to get to know a few of the Jesuits that actually live and study here is something I highly recommend. They are a passionate group of men that love this university and the students.

So thanks for jammin’ with us, Jesuits!