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Updated: October 31, 2025 @ 1:01 pm
Coronado High School is home to students of many different religions, each of which takes up a large portion of students’ lives and identities.
Coronado High School is home to students of many different religions, each of which takes up a large portion of students’ lives and identities.
Coronado High School is home to students of many different religions, each of which takes up a large portion of students’ lives and identities. As the season of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Navratri, Diwali, Mawlid al-Nabi, and other important days arrive, we’ve asked students about how religion plays a role in their lives.
“My religion [affects] my everyday life by praying the rosary and reading the Bible when I can, because it gives me confidence, renewed strength, and […] peace through hardships,” Sophomore Olivia DeSanti said. “As an athlete, I’ve struggled with feeling like I’m not good enough [but] I have learned that I am loved by God and that […] I can’t go through life without Him.” DeSanti was baptized into the Catholic Church when she was six months old and attended a Catholic school before moving to Coronado High, where she still “tries to remain an image of Jesus’s compassion and understanding.” Catholicism is one of the three major branches of Christianity, alongside Eastern Orthodoxy and Protestantism. It traces its history to Jesus Christ and the Apostles, and is made up of a detailed theology and an extensive organizational structure headed by the papacy, which is the oldest continuing absolute monarchy in the world.
Sophomore Timothy Gilbert follows a different route. “I’m an Atheist,” Gilbert said. Though not necessarily a religion itself, Atheism is defined as the lack of belief in a god or gods. “My parents never raised me [with] any religion because my mom wanted it to be my own choice, although I used to believe in God when I was very little. I thought of him like Santa or the Easter bunny, something I heard from others without thinking much about [it.]” Gilbert notes his experience as an Atheist amongst a multitude of religious students at Coronado High. “I don’t typically think about it on a daily basis. Every now and then, God is brought up in conversation[s] and people assume [that] I, or others believe. I mention that I don’t, and the conversation doesn’t go anywhere negative,” Gilbert said.
“I was born and raised in a Christian household, originally my mother being Christian, [and] my dad being Catholic, who was born again into [Christianity] when my eldest [brother], Jonathan, was born,” Sophomore Jessica Avila, a member of the Baptist community, said. Following Christianity for all of her life, she notes how she currently “practice[s] it the most [now] since I make it a part of my everyday life.” “The reminder of the Ten Commandments always have me in the healthy and right mindset to be a good person. [When] it comes to school life, it’s a bit hard because not everyone has the same values I do […] I can’t say anything though, because to everyone, their religion is the right one,” Avila said.
Junior Edie Alicandri has been practicing Judaism for her whole life. “Judaism affects my everyday life by giving me a way of connecting with other people who share my religion,” Alicandri said. “It doesn’t affect my school life very much, as not many people who go to my school practice Judaism.” She stays connected to her Jewish community by volunteering to teach children Hebrew on Sundays. Judaism is a monotheistic religion developed among the ancient Hebrew. It’s characterized by the belief in one transcendent God who appeared to Abraham, Moses, and the Hebrew prophets and by a religious life in accordance with Scriptures and rabbinic traditions.
Sophomore Ashlynn Proctor has been practicing her religion since she was born. Her parents and family share her faith as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS). LDS was founded by Joseph Smith in the United States in 1830. The Book of Mormon, published by Smith, is central to their religious theology, and the church is characterized by a unique understanding of the Godhead and an emphasis on family life. For Proctor, her religion influences her lifestyle by helping her to make decisions and keep her lifestyle clean. “In some ways, [religion] makes daily choices easier for me because I have clear standards that I want to live by,” Proctor said. “I don’t feel pressured to drink [or] do drugs because I’ve already made up my mind that I’m going to have a clean and healthy lifestyle.”
Coronado High School, as a public school, is protected under the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, which prohibits school administrators from promoting or discouraging religious expression and activities. Under federal law, students are free to practice their religion as they wish, which has helped to create religious diversity throughout our school. Not only freedom to practice individual religions, but also a broad education on different religions throughout CHS courses creates a culture that encourages freedom of religious expression for all.
VOL. 13, NO. 5 – Oct. 29, 2025
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