Hiking adventure and community service marked Gonzaga senior’s educational journey
A spring break hiking adventure he made with fellow students and his experiences during his years at Gonzaga College High School in Washington have been unforgettable journeys for Matt Podratsky.
This spring, he hiked parts of Camino Ignaciano in Spain with eight other Gonzaga seniors and three teachers, as part of an elective class that met before school to reflect on Jesuit spirituality, St. Ignatius and pilgrimages.
“The entire trail covers the 408-mile distance from St. Ignatius’ home in Loyola to the cave in Manresa in which he wrote his famous Spiritual Exercises. After months of classes, preparing both our physical and ‘spiritual’ backpacks, our group hiked the major sites for five days over spring break,” Podratsky, a member of Gonzaga’s class of 2025, said in an email interview.
He added, “It was an incredible experience to walk where Ignatius walked, visit the shrines he prayed at, and grow so close with my classmates. As we reflected on the remarkable legacy St. Ignatius had and all of the lives he has transformed to this day through Jesuit spirituality and education like with Gonzaga, it was powerful to think as a group of what type of legacy God wants of us and how we carry our Jesuit values with us after graduating.”