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On February 8, Malvern gave its students the day off to attend the Eagles Super Bowl victory parade in Philadelphia. What led to the decision to have off?

In the early morning of February 8, with the sun barely in the sky, millions of people began flooding onto trains and making their way towards Broad Street for the Eagles’ Super Bowl celebration.

Thanks to the administration, Malvern students had the day off, giving them the chance to experience this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Specifically, discussions between Head of School Fr. Donald Reilly, O.S.A., Assistant Head of School for Student Leadership Mr. Ron Algeo, and Assistant Head of School for Academics Mr. Patrick Sillup led to the final decision.

“I can tell you that Fr. Reilly, Mr. Sillup, and myself discussed this two weeks ago just to get some ideas and thoughts, and there was a range of thoughts and ideas,” Algeo said.

The decision to give the students a day off was made from within the administration, however other schools were factored into the decision making.

“We also had the opportunity to speak with some local peer schools: Villa Maria, Notre Dame, Shipley, a couple people from Haverford reached out,” Algeo said. “For ourselves we have a historical perspective; in 2008 when the Phillies had a parade we stayed open and I think we only had a 37% attendance rate.”

Junior Trevor Henderson attended the parade, and was impressed by the turnout. “It was really cool, all of Philadelphia coming together,” he said.

The excitement of the parade finally allowed the Super Bowl victory to set in.

“I don’t think it sunk in that they won the Super Bowl until the parade was over,” Henderson said. “I was just speechless after the game.”

Henderson cherishes being from Philly despite other fans’ thoughts on the newest Super Bowl city.

“We’re from Philly,” Henderson said. “No one likes us, we don’t care.”

Freshman Brad Corsi’s first experience with a Philly sports parade was a success. “[The parade] was amazing,” Corsi said. “It was great to see all the people of Philly and around there come together.”

Corsi was taken aback when he saw the phrase “Philly Philly” written across the sky by skywriter planes, and he hopes that one day these words will fill the sky again.

“It was great to be there with my friends,” Corsi said. “I would love to go to another.”

Freshman Trevor Lobaugh reminisced on the day and what stuck out to him the most. “[Jay] Ajayi walked by, and he was giving everyone fist pumps. It was a good time,” Lobaugh said.

Algeo said that the school has high expectations for students when they have a day off for a special event like this. “You have a responsibility as a Malvern Prep students, to be leaders,” he said. “We have students with opportunities to be leaders and the good news is, the majority of people do the right thing.”

Time will tell whether or not Malvern’s administration will give the students off for the next Philadelphia victory, but after the Eagles parade a new precedent seems to be set.

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Some Malvern students didn’t wait for the parade to celebrate with the Eagles in person—they attended the Super Bowl in Minneapolis. We spoke with a few juniors who attended the game about their once-in-a-lifetime experience at the Super Bowl.

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“Everywhere you looked, there were a ton of Eagles fans. It was just a ton of excited people ready to watch a big game. Walking out of the stadium, they had these big sky walks because it’s really cold, and they were like these indoor streets, and you walk down and there were Eagles fans just cheering, all jumping up and down. It was just so cool to see everybody freaking out. Whenever you walked by an Eagles fan you would just scream ‘Go Birds!’ and give them a high five and stuff. Also, there were a ton of Eagles fans in my section and you could hear Eagles fans all across the stadium. It felt like a home game.”

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“The overall feeling was definitely electric. There was a predominantly Eagles fanbase in the stadium. Probably like sixty-forty Eagles fans to Patriots fans. When the Patriots came out, there was a lot of booing in the stadium. A cool part of the experience was when we went to the NFL Experience at the Convention Center, but the game was the best part of the whole experience. It was the best football game I’ve ever watched in my life.”

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“The overall feeling was just insanity. The Patriots fans were kind of disgracing the Eagles fans, saying things like, ‘Why are you even here?’ It was definitely like sixty-forty Eagles fans. There was just an all around vibe of excitement with Eagles fans, where the Patriots fans thought the Eagles were definitely going to lose. My favorite part was the whole environment. Just being there was insane. It’s hard to put into words the excitement of being there and everything.”

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“There was a lot of green. A lot of Eagles fans everywhere. The one odd aspect was that they didn’t want people tailgating for the game. It was also freezing, like negative four degrees the one day. One of the coolest parts of the whole experience was the NFL Shop. It was huge. But overall, the game was awesome. It was insane.”

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“When the Eagles won, all the Philadelphia fans were just so happy. You could tell it was a big relief because it was an amazing game. Eagles fans definitely had a bond in Minneapolis. It’s us against the world. We all we got, we all we need. Also, when the Patriots ran in, they got booed. It was a home away from home game.”

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