Belen Jesuit Preparatory School 50 Year Celebration “Alumni Day”

MIAMI- Throughout the 2011-12 academic year Belen Jesuit has been celebrating its’ Golden Jubilee in Miami. The celebration will culminate with “Alumni Day” on Saturday, May 5. The day is comprised of a morning torch relay from Belen’s original campus in Downtown Miami located next to Gesu Catholic Church and will continue to the school’s second site on SW 8th street at 7th Avenue, ending at the current campus on 127th Avenue.

A prayer service/ Invocation will kick off Alumni Day at Gesu Church at 8 a.m. Invited to the prayer service would be alumni that graduated from the school in Cuba and members of the first graduating class in Miami.

The entire course is an estimated 14.25 miles. Fifty groups of alumni representing each year of the school in Miami will run/jog the course. Each leg of the course is approximately π mile.

Once at the current campus field day activities will take place and a family style BBQ lunch will be offered to all participants. A time capsule, designed by Jesuit Father Pedro Cartaya, will also be buried on campus with memorabilia of the school. The daylong event will end with a Mass at the Garrido Family Plaza (central patio) at 5 p.m.

“When Belen celebrated its 150th anniversary of existence in 2004 we did a similar relay,” said Jesuit Father Pedro Suarez, President of the school. “It was such a success that we thought it would only be fitting to do a similar event for the 50th anniversary of the school in Miami. We welcome all alumni to participate and celebrate in this momentous occasion with us.”

Gesu Catholic Church is located 118 NE 2nd Street in Downtown Miami. Belen Jesuit Preparatory School is located at 500 SW 127 Avenue in Miami.

MEDIA OPPORTUNITIES: To schedule an interview with participants please contact Teresa Martinez at 786-621-4173 or email tmartinez@belenjesuit.org.

ALUMNI: For more information or if you would like to participate in this historic event, contact Mariano Loret de Mola, Executive Director of the Belen Alumni Association of Jesuit Schools from Cuba and Miami at 786.621.4667 or email alumni@belenjesuit.org.

Belen Jesuit Preparatory School <http://www.belenjesuit.org/> was founded by the Jesuits in 1854 in Havana, Cuba. In 1961, Belen and all private schools were confiscated by the new political regime. The School was re-established in Miami that same year and has grown over the last five decades. Currently the enrollment is nearly 1,500 male students in grades 6 to 12 and over 6-thousand alumni.

MEDIA ARE WELCOME.