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Academic Year Starts with Mass, Music and Barbecue

  • Mass of the Holy Spirit

    The annual Mass of the Holy Spirit on Healy Lawn marks the start of Georgetown’s academic year.

  • Rev. Gasper Lo Biondo, S.J.

    Rev. Gasper Lo Biondo, S.J., director of the Woodstock Theological Center, delivers the homily during the liturgy.

  • John J. DeGioia

    Georgetown President John J. DeGioia tells community members that the new academic year brings renewed opportunities.

  • Welcome Back Jack

    Students gather for the Welcome Back Jack BBQ on Copley Lawn and Red Square following the Mass of the Holy Spirit.

  • Welcome Back Jack

    After feasting on hot dogs and hamburgers, students wait patiently to get a “Jack is Back” T-shirt on Copley Lawn.

  • New Student Orientation

    New Student Orientation volunteers and leaders wait for students to enter campus.

  • New South Hall

    The lobby of New South Hall bustles with parents and new students Aug. 24 as move-in for the 2012-13 academic year begins.

  • Jack and J.J.

    Rev. Christopher Steck, S.J., takes Jack the Bulldog and J.J. for a walk.

  • Dorm Move-in

    Brady Baxter, left, and incoming Georgetown student Gillis Baxter (B'16), right, put together a bed in Gillis' New South Hall dorm with the help of another parent.

  • Meet and Greet

    Georgetown President John J. DeGioia greets a parent during the President’s Move-In Day Picnic at Leo J. O’Donovan Dining Hall on Aug. 25.

  • NSO Check-in

    Freshmen and transfer students receive their New Student Orientation materials during NSO Check-In at the Leavey Center.

Related

August 28, 2012 – The Georgetown community gathered on Healy Lawn today to mark the start of the academic year with the annual Mass of the Holy Spirit, followed by student a capella performances and a Welcome Back Jack BBQ on Copley Lawn.

The Mass homily, given by Rev. Gasper Lo Biondo, S.J., asked students, faculty and staff take time for contemplation, reflection and prayer during the upcoming year.

“If you do this, you will be a changed Hoya,” said Lo Biondo, director of Woodstock Theological Center. “With God’s help, you will discover in yourself a depth and a capability that you never suspected was there.”

Georgetown President John J. DeGioia told community members that the new academic year brings renewed opportunities.

“There are truths about ourselves that we seek to grasp,” he says. “If we evade and avoid them we construct blocks within ourselves. In this Catholic and Jesuit community, we seek to provide resources that enable us to work through our blocks.”

Students, faculty and staff helped themselves to hamburgers and hot dogs at the barbeque, where both university mascot Jack the Bulldog and mascot-in-training J.J. (Jack Junior) roamed among the crowd.

Related Information

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