Mr. Mike Jeremiah, known around Benilde-St. Margaret’s as Mr. J, grew up in southern Illinois and came to Minnesota to go to school at the University of St. Thomas in 1971. After receiving his undergrad and masters, Mr. J was hired at BSM in 1975.

Mr. J has been a friendly face at BSM for 48 years. He has experienced many new roles and been part of many different experiences during his time at the school. “My role is as campus minister, but over the years I’ve done many different things. I was in charge of the retreat program. I still am working with the liturgy program. I used to be in the classroom teaching in theology. So [I’ve done] a lot of different things here over the years,” Mr. J said.

Throughout his many roles, Mr. J grew fond of teaching the liturgy program, however his all time favorite was the retreat program. “We used to do class weekend retreats for each of the four years, and seniors would have two retreats – one in the fall and one in the spring just before graduation…We just started going Saturday morning through Sunday afternoon. We would get [a lot of students] and they were not mandatory. We would get two thirds of the class who would go on the weekends. We would have something like 150 sophomores or 150 freshmen on a weekend,” Mr. J said.

BSM has undergone many changes that Mr. J has noticed in the school, including building changes. “Facility wise, we’ve gotten a lot better. We’ve added so many different things. When I started here, we had one hallway….The north building used to be called The Residence because that’s where the Christian Brothers lived. And then that’s where the Benedictine’s lived when they were here. We definitely did not have the chapel that we have now. So in fact, the chapel has moved to different locations over the years too,” Mr. J said.

Mr. J shares advice for the student body and faculty that we should carry with us forever. “Just continue to be true to the history of this school. We can’t forget the past that helped to bring us to where we are now. So because it’s all those people who have come before us who have really helped to shape and form who we are today. And we can never forget that we have to be true to our past [and] to the foundation of our Catholic faith. [And we also need to be] true to ourselves,” Mr. J said.