Since 1892, St. Luke’s Society has helped local communities and charitable organizations by promoting volunteering and hosting major events on campus. 

On Sunday, October 8, the oldest club on campus hosted a sports clinic at the tennis courts. St. Luke’s now offers a free tennis clinic to local elementary and middle school students. St. Luke’s coheads Harrison Hoffman ’24, Julia Widen ’25, Anthony Hu ’25, and other experienced tennis players who are not currently members of the school’s tennis program worked together to organize and host the event. Some members of Varsity and JV Tennis also volunteered to assist the organizers with the clinic. 

The clinic was held in two different time slots, and each slot had 20 local children, all of whom had some degree of background experience with tennis. St. Luke’s hopes that they can teach the students tennis skills while having fun and getting good exercise. 

This is the first year that St. Luke’s has revamped this sports tradition which was hindered by restrictions related to the Covid pandemic, meaning that events like this could not be hosted for the past three years. 

However, St. Luke’s is now trying to bring back those same lost traditions, hoping to organize more clinics that include other sports in the future, especially lacrosse and soccer. 

Hoffman, a co-captain of Boys Varsity Soccer and Boys JV Tennis, said, “It’s just a good way to be involved in a local community and have a direct impact on local children in the community especially for people who wouldn’t have other options to take lessons in these sports; I think it’s also fun for the kids because they get to work with Hotchkiss students.” 

The clinic marked a return to many of the activities St. Luke’s provided for children in the Lakeville and Salisbury area, which had been blocked by the continuing legacy of the Covid pandemic. 

Dana, co-captain of Girls Varsity Tennis and the communication director of St. Luke’s said, “My favorite part of being in the club is getting to know more people both within the Hotchkiss community and the amazing other kids you meet outside too when you participate in these events.”