Student Activities

 Student activities programs have been a constant in American secondary schools for generations. They have been studied, lauded, criticized, cut back, and still they survive. Invariably, the question remains: Why have student activities? Are they really necessary to the fulfillment of a school’s educational mission? 

For Mullen, the answer is that student activities are absolutely necessary to our school.  There are two main reasons for this. First, it long has been the tradition of U.S. Catholic schools to inspire their students to become people of action. At the turn of the century, floods of European immigrants anxiously turned to their Church to educate their children in a new homeland.  Catholic parishes soon would create a formidable new system of schools.   These schools were at the heart of a "Catholic culture" known for its emphasis on faith, discipline, learning, and a fiery drive for acceptance and success in our society.  Thus was born the American Catholic school commitment to excellence and community involvement that endures to this day. Catholic schools are dedicated to teaching their students to be both leaders and servants, people who know how to bring the best out of both themselves and their world for the good of all. 

Second, there is the rich tradition of the Christian Schools of St. John Baptist de La Salle. Begun in 1680, Lasallian schools approach education as a holistic process. They do not define teaching strictly in terms of academic value, but always in the broader and more challenging terms of human value. De La Salle’s main concern always was for the whole child, and he viewed the students' academic, social, vocational, recreational, and spiritual needs as inseparable.  In a Lasallian school, there is no such thing as an "extra-curricular"; the correct term for student clubs and organizations is "co-curricular".  A student activities program is as vital to a Lasallian student’s education as everyday classroom instruction. It provides critical social, spiritual, and life skills that best can be met outside of the classroom setting. In addition, the student bonds created through activities become the glue in the building of community, without which a school exists as Lasallian in name only. In other words, the curricular and co-curricular must work together to create a complete learning experience because only the whole school can educate the whole child! 

And so, Mullen has as its inheritance two equally powerful legacies: the "educate for action" mandate of the Catholic school and the "educate the whole child" mandate of the Lasallian school. This is the rationale for Mullen Community Life.  The department strives to fulfill our school's mission to lead our students to "embrace God’s gift of learning, devote their lives to seeking ceaselessly for His learning, and commit themselves to using His learning in the service of others."