The Plank - Features
Creative Writing Club offers an outlet for imagination
At Jesuit High School Sacramento, the Creative Writing Club offers students a place to develop their writing and share ideas with other students who enjoy storytelling and poetry.
The club was founded to give writers a shared space to create and collaborate. The club’s goal is to help students stay motivated in their creative pursuits in a busy academic environment.
Jesuit’s Favorite Sports Teams
It’s a no-brainer that students at Jesuit High School Sacramento love sports, but I wanted to conduct a schoolwide survey to get some hard numbers behind it. Students were asked to name their favorite sports team across four major leagues: NFL, NBA, MLB, & the NCAA. As expected, the top of the lists were dominated by West Coast squads, but a few national blue-bloods cracked the rankings.
Here’s the whole breakdown and what it means for the Jesuit fandom:
The resurgence of Jesuit’s Debate team
During the 2023-24 school year, Jesuit High School Sacramento restarted its Debate Club after a long absence following COVID-19. In the three years since, the team has made a strong return.
At their State Qualifier Tournament this year, the Debate Club won the Small School Sweepstakes. On April 17-19, Seth Eriki ’26, Bobby Price V ’26, and Nick Baltazar ’29 will be competing at the States competition, and later in the month, Nick and Connor Frings ’29 will be going to the National Qualifier tournament.
The emergence of AI at Jesuit
Artificial Intelligence is everywhere in the modern world: in self-driving cars, with images and videos on social media, and educational technology in and out of the classroom.
Students using AI to do their work without the teacher’s endorsement are considered to be committing an academic integrity violation, along the same line as plagiarism. Yet, many students at Jesuit High School Sacramento are still using AI to do their work for them.
Showcasing student talent
Moorings is Jesuit High School Sacramento’s very own literary and arts journal. Its mission: to be a medium of expression for Jesuit students.
“[Moorings] is a literary and arts journal, so its purpose is to showcase the work of the best student artists on campus,” said Faculty Advisor of Moorings Mr. Jeremiah Loverich. “It’s published twice a year, with art, photography, short stories, poetry.”
Coaches’ Ignatian Formation Program aims to create well-rounded student-athletes
This year, fall and winter sports athletes at Jesuit High School Sacramento may have noticed something different about how they start their seasons: an introductory mass.
For the first time in Jesuit’s history, the Marauder cross country, water polo, and football teams all gathered in the Phelan Chapel of the North American Martyrs to celebrate mass together. In October, winter sports athletes did the same, and so will spring sports athletes later this semester.
Jesuit Junior Retreat strengthens the brotherhood
At Jesuit High School Sacramento, the Junior Retreat is an opportunity for the students of the junior class to engage in meaningful reflection on their faith and the choices that they make.
The Superb Performance of “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time”
The yearly Jesuit High School Sacramento Fall Play concluded its run on Nov. 16, 2025. The play, “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time”, starred Milo Moggan ’26, the Plank’s very own Layout Chief, as Christopher Boone. His character sought to solve the murder of his neighbor’s dog, Wellington, all the while exploring his broken world through the lens of someone on the autism spectrum.
The Counter-Strike market fiasco
On Oct. 22, 2025, Valve Corporation released an update to Counter-Strike 2 that would forever change the dealings of a six-billion-dollar free market. So what is this market? Is it stocks? Is it Valve’s online video game store, Steam? It turns out it’s neither – it’s Counter-Strike skins.
In its over 11 year history, the “Counter-Strike 2” skin market reached a monumental market cap of $6 billion. Yet, after a seemingly innocent update, the total market value was cut in half to just 3 billion dollars in the course of 24 hours.
Ms. Zhu brings a new language to Jesuit
This year, Jesuit High School Sacramento introduced a new program to the World Language Department: Mandarin Chinese. Ms. Hong Zhu, the new Mandarin teacher, will teach incoming students interested in learning a non-Latin based language.
Welcoming new changes and new faces
This year, the Science department at Jesuit High School Sacramento is undergoing changes.
One of the big changes is welcoming two new teachers to the department: Ms. Nicole Thom and Mr. Bryan Heng.
Setting students up for success
This fall, Ms. Erin Van Parys joined Jesuit High School Sacramento’s faculty as the new assistant for the Academic Support Center (ASC). She previously worked with students at Visions in Education, a local charter school.
Making English accessible
This fall, two new teachers joined the ranks of the Jesuit High School Sacramento English Department: Ms. Anne-Marie Moggan and Ms. Christine Horton. Both of them bring a unique style of teaching to the campus while bringing the passion to help students become “Men for Others”.
The struggle of overcoming football injuries
Football is a physical sport, and with physicality comes injuries. For student-athletes, injuries can have a significant impact on players, forcing them to step away from their day-to-day schedule and disrupting their life as a student.
Campus Ministry starts a new chapter
Since Jesuit High School’s beginning, Campus Ministry has been guiding students along their spiritual journey on and beyond campus. This year, Campus Ministry hopes to maintain their welcoming spirit with the addition of new faces and a new look.
Ms. Faubert brings energy and passion to the class
Jesuit High School Sacramento is excited to welcome Ms. Norma Faubert to its Spanish department this year. Ms. Faubert previously worked in the Roseville School District as a translator.
Vale bene, Domine Witucki
25 years of memories made. Thousands of students taught. Latin teacher Mr. Jon Witucki has made his presence known at Jesuit High School Sacramento. With undying dedication and a wealth of knowledge, Mr. Witucki has indisputably made Jesuit a better school.
Jesuit basketball: levitating, higher than ever before
[from the Print Edition]
The Jesuit High School Sacramento basketball team took home the school’s very first basketball state title. For the first time since 1994, the Marauders made it to the state final, and they won in dominant fashion. The hard work that Head Coach Tim Kelly, the athletes, and coach staff have put forth directly led to the banner that now hangs in the Barry Gymnasium.
At the beginning of the season, one of the areas of concern was that the roster was incredibly green. However, Amaury McKinney ’25 believes the team succeeded precisely because of this inexperience.
Anything can happen if you let it
[from the Print Edition]
If you’ve stepped into Jesuit High School Sacramento’s Black Box theater this year, then maybe you’ve sensed the spirit pulsing through it. Perhaps you’ve felt the dedication of the cast and crew that transformed the building. It’s not often you find a group of people like this – a production that absorbs you through infectious passion, a team so committed that their energy becomes tangible and transcendent.
By the numbers alone, Jesuit Drama’s musical production of “Mary Poppins Jr.” is the stuff of folk legend: the show sold out eight days before opening night, a mark the Black Box hasn’t seen since Sweeney Todd in 2008.
Mr. Zielke’s final sunrise at Jesuit
“We set a new world record and it was amazingly early,” said Mr. David Zielke.
For 33 years, Mr. Zielke has been setting records as a fantastic math teacher, cross-country coach, former vice principal, and Advanced Placement coordinator. After a long career of service, Mr. Zielke will be retiring with a legacy of being a true man for others.