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Mayor London Breed Visits SHC
As part of an initiative to connect Sacred Heart Cathedral students with local politics, SHC was honored to host Mayor London Breed for a talk and Q&A in our new chorus room on Wednesday, April 25. Roughly 100 students, faculty, and staff were present, including representatives from the Student Council, AP Government Class, the Piro Program, the De Paul Scholar Program, and the Athletic Leadership Council.
Following a prayer and brief introductory remarks by President Melinda Lawlor Skrade, student leader CJ Reed ’19 presented the Mayor, who spoke briefly about her experience growing up in the neighborhood on Eddy and Laguna.
“I used to see the boys’ football team on a regular basis running around Jefferson Park,” she recalled. “I was like ‘Are they going to make it up that hill?’”
Breed grew up with her grandmother, who instilled in her the importance of being a positive force in the community, supporting those that had less than they did.
After graduating from Galileo High School, Breed went on to college at University of California at Davis. Back home, however, in the Western Addition, a lack of opportunity was destroying her community. This inspired her to try and work to affect change, even at a young age.
Breed told us that now, years later, even with her unimagined success in becoming mayor, she can’t stop thinking of the people who were important to her. A sister who lost life to a drug overdose. A brother who is still incarcerated. “How do we make sure that we make better decisions in this city… that we invest in young people?”
Students went on to ask questions. They asked how Mayor Breed got into politics, what her hardest challenges were during the election (unsurprising to our students, social media came up immediately), and what her plans are in approaching the homeless problem.
She spoke eloquently and warmly, often encouraged by the audience with applause, laughter, and the occasional outcry. In the end, her message was clear: get involved, get active, and don’t let anyone hold you back.
“It’s important that you know as you go through … your education here that there are various ways… of getting active that will serve San Francisco. Reaching out to your elected officials—especially your members of the Board of Supervisors- when there are projects that you support or projects that you oppose. Getting people to turn out to vote for things that are important to the city.
But ultimately, whatever your heart desires, I say just go for it. Don’t let anyone tell you what you can’t do. Because you know in (your heart) when it’s right for you, when you want to do it. Just move it forward, but have fun in the process.”