Slideshow: Students Lead the Way at Walk for Life 2017

The annual Thomas Aquinas College pilgrimage to the Walk for Life West Coast got off to a slow start this weekend, when the buses that were supposed to help bring some 260 students to San Francisco were massively delayed. Although scheduled to depart campus after the close of classes on Friday (4:00 p.m.), three of the buses did not arrive until 7:00 p.m., and the fourth came at 6:00 a.m. the next morning!

Yet the students were undeterred. They remained upbeat and excited throughout, eager to lead Saturday’s procession through the city’s streets. Passengers on the first three buses arrived late in the night at North Beach’s Saints Peter and Paul Church in San Francisco, where the Salesian fathers graciously offered them places to sleep for a few hours before the morning’s Walk. The others met them at the Walk, arriving with only minutes to spare.

At the request of the Walk’s organizers, the College’s students once again took on volunteer positions, directing traffic and crowds, as they helped lead the way through the streets of San Francisco. Clad in their TAC sweatshirts, all prayed, sang, and peacefully called for an end to abortion alongside more than 50,000 fellow walkers. On Sunday morning, the students made the 375-mile trip back to campus, tired but grateful for the opportunity to bear witness to the Culture of Life.