The Legend of Santa Clarke
Santa Clarke addressing the student body
For the past five years, Santa Clarke has been a major component of the Jesuit Christmas celebration. But a very small group of people actually know who he is and what his origins are. Students were asked what they think about the origins of Santa Clarke.
“[I believe that]Santa Clarke manifested himself. He transcends all things secular and rules all things divine. He is the eternal breath of Christmas and shall continue to be as he patrols the chilly winter skies in his sleigh. No one man truly understands the power that Santa Clarke possesses, for no one man can truly comprehend it. To harness such power would mean the end of all things, which is the sole reason why Santa Clarke has never chosen a successor. He needs no successor, and he has no predecessor. He is time and power, personified by America’s mass consumerism and vivaciously aggressive attitude towards Christmas. In other words, you’d better watch out…”
-senior Jonathan Ulrich.
“I imagine that Santa Clarke arrived a long time ago from deep underground and shows up again every Christmas season to do two things, spread cheer and acknowledge 8th grade shadows”
-senior River Flamoe.
Santa Clarke was first asked to appear at the 2014 Food Drive Assembly by Jesuit’s very own Campus Minister, Don Clarke, who shares a last name with the famed holiday hero. Santa Clarke is contacted every year around the beginning of December by Mr. Clarke to come to Jesuit once again to jump-start the Christmas spirit.
He doesn’t arrive to Jesuit in costume though–he had a custom suit provided by the Campus Ministry office to wear during the Food Drive and the corresponding assembly.
In a statement given by Santa Clarke, he says that he has lots of fun every year playing the role at Jesuit. In the first year of his appearance the hashtag #santaclarke was created in his honor.
Within more recent years, more activity has presented itself to Santa Clarke, with him being invited to play the part of Santa in Jesuit’s 2017 play, Elf Jr., starring juniors Krish Adyta and Alannah Connolly.
When asked on his feelings of the pressure of becoming Santa Clarke, he answered that he, “has started to feel more nervous now that more and more high school students are starting to question his reality”.
He originally found it tough when he was asked to sit and listen to smaller children. But he found that the children look to him with such honesty and joy in their eyes when they tell him what their wishes are for Christmas presents.
Although he is not the one and true Santa Clause, Santa Clarke finds it profound that the children tell him what presents they want, and he does his best to deliver the word of each child’s wishes to the true Santa in the North Pole.
He shared exclusive information with the Jesuit Chronicle about the most asked for Christmas presents in which he stated, “collectible bracelets, iPhone X’s, unicorns, and way cool headphones and of course, Taylor Swift Albums”.
Santa Clarke has brought holiday cheer to Jesuit High School for the past 5 years and will continue his involvement for the many years to come, so long as students keep up their holiday spirits.
