In the curriculum, calisthenics

Lined up in formation, moving in rhythm to the directions of the teacher who was trained in physical education by the military, students coordinated their movements: bends, jumps and twists. These exercises not only helped improve balance, agility and coordination, but also promoted mutual collaboration, discipline and teamwork.

Training Diploma in Physical Education, Sister Agnes Alma. 1932

SNJM Study Plan, Mother Véronique-du-Crucifix, [1857]

The emphasis on exercise and health in the full development of students is not a new concern. Indeed, already at the beginning of the Congregation, Mother Véronique du Crucifix wrote in the SNJM Study Plan: “physical education must precede or rather accompany domestic, moral and religious education from which it is inseparable.”

Academy of the Holy Names, Rome, New York. 1951
SNJM

Pensionnat de St-Lambert. [196-?]. Credit: Photo R. Charpentier.

SNJM Study Plan, Mother Véronique-du-Crucifix. [1894]