Georgetown students' visit includes impromptu 5 on 5

posted on July 12, 2012

Blame it on home court advantage.

Red Cloud’s Paul “Dizzy” Trout Field House recently played host to a match-up of a different sort, as a handful of young men from Red Cloud – current students and recent grads – played an improvised game of 5 on 5 basketball against a crew from Georgetown Prep in North Bethesda, Maryland.

The game did not favor the guys from Georgetown Prep.

In the words of Lyle Jacobs ’12, the Red Cloud boys played a “murderous” game, scoring many dozens of points more than the visitors. In the laid-back spirit of the match, though, no one actually kept score. (And in defense of the crew from “Prep”, none of them are actually players for their school’s basketball team.)

The Prep group is here for a weeklong service trip to the Pine Ridge Reservation, the first of its kind for the school. They have been staying on the grounds of Our Lady of Sorrows Church in the community of Kyle, about 60 miles northeast of Red Cloud.

The primary four days of their visit have featured service work in the mornings, including working in local cemeteries, and cleaning up a local park. Their afternoons and evenings have involved local sightseeing and cultural experiences, including an interpretive talk at the Wounded Knee massacre site, and a Lakota sweatlodge ceremony.

Georgetown Preparatory School is an independent, Jesuit college preparatory school for young men (grades 9-12). Of the 480 students, approximately 100 are residents. They come to the school from around the U.S. and throughout the world.

Founded in 1789 by America's first Catholic bishop, Prep is the nation's oldest Jesuit school and the only Jesuit boarding school. The school maintains a strong focus on serving those less fortunate, which is exemplified by the active community service program in which all students are involved.