Over spring break, Marist High School had two groups of students travel internationally. The Marist band spent 7 days in Ireland touring and performing, including marching in the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Dublin! Nine Italian students traveled to Italy in an exchange with the Marist Brothers school Istituto San Leone Magno in Rome!
Marist Band Travels to Ireland
The band had a packed 7-day itinerary filled with performances and tours. They immersed themselves in the Irish life and culture at the Gaelic Games Experience with local GAA instructors and players.
On day two, the group took a day trip to Belfast where they took a city guided tour and visited the Titanic Museum. Students then traveled to Galway City where they toured the Arts Capital of Ireland and then headed to the Cliffs of Moher. The day before St. Patrick’s Day the band toured the city of Dublin. Band Director, Mr. Andrew Creagh ’04, and Assistant Band Director, Mr. Patrick Keelan, attended the band directors and tour director parade meeting with the Lord Mayor at the Mansion House. The Lord Mayor of Dublin, Caroline Conroy, presented Mr. Creagh with a certificate of participation in the Dublin St. Patrick’s Day Parade!
On St. Patrick’s Day, the band marched in the 2023 St. Patrick’s Day Parade where they were cheered on by the city of Dublin and even Marist President Mr. Larry Tucker ’79 and Marist CFO Mr. Marion Klatka! Marist Brothers Brother Patrick McNamara and Brother Dan O’Riordan were also in the crowd. There were 14 bands in total that marched through tens of thousands of people lining the streets of Dublin.
The next day, the band traveled to Kilkenny where they marched through the town. They were greeted by the mayor of Kilkenny and the locals who came out to watch them perform. The band performed a lot of their marching music, their traditional drum circle and even the South Side Irish song! The band had a large population of the town follow them through the streets as they performed down the main street in Kilkenny escorted by the police.
Mr. Creagh said the following on the trip as a whole, “This was a GREAT trip! This was one of the most difficult trips to plan since it was our first overseas trip. The students seemed to really have a great time and I was very proud of their performances, behavior, punctuality, attitude, responsibility, and diligence throughout the entire trip. The students really stepped it up for their events and I could not be happier with how the tour went. I received many comments from people in Ireland about how well-mannered and well-behaved the students were.”
Marist Italian Language Students Travel to Italy
Marist students from the Italian language class spent 8 days in Italy as part of an exchange with Istituto San Leone Magno, which is the Marist school in Rome. They were accompanied by Ms. Alessia Zulato and Ms. Jacqueline Maggio.
For most of the trip, the Marist Chicago students were fully immersed in the Italian life and culture as they stayed with host families and shadowed the Italian students at the Marist school. They also did lots of site seeing. Just on the first day of the trip, students toured Piazza Venezia, il Vittoriano, il Campidoglio, Trevi Fountain, The Pantheon, The Fountain of the Truth, and Circo Massimo!
The kids had an awesome opportunity to go to the Vatican to attend the Pope’s audience. See photos below from this special experience:
They also visited the city of Naples where they toured Castel Dell’Ovo, Piazza del Plebiscito, Galleria Umberto I, Teatro San Carlo, and il Vomero.
Catherine Curtin ’23 attended the trip and said, “Traveling to Rome was a really exciting and unique experience. It was interesting seeing Rome and the way of life of Italians with a Roman family. This trip enhanced both my Italian language skills and knowledge of Italian culture.”
Samantha Scalise ’24 said, “Italy was a great experience because we got to see how a whole different school acted. We got to be immersed in a whole different country. The people were very nice and kind. They helped us have a great experience.”
The following students attended the trip to Italy:
