#sfxjcap2016. In October this hashtag began appearing in Instagram as students, faculty and staff of Jesuit schools in Asia Pacific posted photographs of themselves and their friends in front of the Educate Magis map in their schools. The photos were entries to the St Francis Xavier Global Network Instagram Competition.
Educate Magis is an online community that connects educators from more than 2,000 Jesuit and Ignatian schools all over the world and the map shows the rich diversity and wide reach of the global network of Jesuit schools.
“The diversity and creativity of the entries provide but a glimpse of the diversity and creativity pulsing in all our schools in Asia Pacific,” said Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific Secretary for Education Fr Johnny Go SJ, who organised the Instagram competition to help strengthen the global online community of Jesuit schools.
The competition ran from October 18 to November 28, and more than 50 entries were received from 11 schools in the Asia Pacific region. Each photograph creatively conveyed the message of belongingness - amidst diversity, united by the Jesuit tradition.
Twelve finalists were chosen from among the entries and submitted to the panel of judges. The finalists came from Colegio Mateus Ricci (Macau, China), Xavier School (Manila, Philippines), Xavier University Grade School and High School (Cagayan de Oro, Philippines), St Aloysius Gonzaga College (Jakarta, Indonesia), Ateneo de Iloilo-Sta Maria School (Iloilo, Philippines), Colegio de Santo Inacio de Loiola (Kasait, Timor-Leste), Sacred Heart School – Ateneo de Cebu (Cebu, Philippines), Saint Aloysius College Junior School (Sydney, Australia) and Saint Ignatius’ College, Riverview (Sydney, Australia).
The panel of judges was composed of Fr Jose Mesa SJ, Education Secretary for the International Commission on the Apostolate of Jesuit Education (ICAJE); JCAP President Fr Mark Raper SJ; Eamonn McGuiness, Community Director of Educate Magis; and student leaders from St Joseph’s Institution, a Catholic school in Singapore whose principal is Fr Adrian Danker SJ, Education Secretary of the Malaysia-Singapore Jesuit Region.
The results were announced on December 3, the Feast of St Francis Xavier: Saint Ignatius’ College, Riverview (story image) was declared the grand prize winner. The runners up were Colegio de Santo Inacio de Loiola and Xavier University Junior High School.
Special awards were given to Sacred Heart School – Ateneo de Cebu for having the most number of likes and shares, and to Colegio Mateus Ricci for submitting the most entries.
“This competition has been a great opportunity for us to celebrate the Feast of St Francis Xavier in a most meaningful way – as a network of Jesuit schools not only here in Asia Pacific, but also all over the world,” said Fr Go.
The idea for a regional Instagram competition for the Feast of St Francis Xavier was adopted by the Latin America, North America, Europe and South Asia conferences and each conference ran its own competition. Each conference had its own panel of judges and chose their own winners. Fr Go said that with the success of this collaborative project, more can be expected in the future.
