At 11:40 am on Friday, January 30th, a group of Sacred Heart students walked out of campus to protest ICE’s recent actions in Minneapolis, joining over 1,000 other student protestors from Menlo Atherton, Sequoia, Carlmont, Summit Prep, and other local schools. At 2:34 pm on the same day, Bo Loudon, a nineteen-year-old influencer and TPUSA ambassador, published a post on X. The post has now accumulated more than 29,000 views. The post stated, “California High School students just WALKED OUT of class to protest ICE carrying ‘F*CK TRUMP & F*CK ICE’ signs. Teachers are reportedly planning to resign after the school, Sacred Heart Schools Atherton, prompted the walkout.”
That night, podcaster Jordan Wells, self-described “Pastor, Prophet, and founder of Jordan Wells Ministries,” released another post on X repeating the claim. He also questioned, “Is THIS the Catholic Church’s idea of moral leadership? Vulgar signs, defiance, and leftist indoctrination on campus? Disgusting how our youth are being weaponized against faith and country! @USCCB—does the Church condone this as ‘Christian conduct’?” Both X posts have the same video of student protestors attached to them.
The post amassed over 85,000 views and 1,500 comments. Many of the comments disparaged Sacred Heart Prep and the students who chose to walk out, referring to the school as an “indoctrination camp,” calling for parents to disenroll their students, and using racial slurs to refer to students.
Fact Checking
These posts claim that they have a video of Sacred Heart students protesting, that teachers are going to resign, and that the school “promoted” the protest.
All three claims are factually incorrect.
SHP Principal Dr. Jennie Whitcomb said, “I have been told by our Director of Communications, whose judgment I trust completely, that the video recording is not accurate.” The video attached to both Loudon’s and Wells’s posts depicts students protesting on El Camino, and a student organizer of the protest confirmed that all of the protestors in the video are from schools other than Sacred Heart.
Interim Assistant Principal of Community Life, Mr. Brian Bell, stated that students did participate in the walkout, but “it’s misinformation to represent [that] any of our faculty are threatening to resign over what happened on Friday.”
Though no vulgar signage was witnessed on campus Bell stated that it was “a little bit demoralizing to have our students… brandishing vulgar or negative signage” off campus. He pointed out that “as soon as [students] depart from campus, our supervision concludes.”
Loudon’s claim that Sacred Heart Schools “promoted the walkout” is also wrong. Whitcomb sent an email to faculty the night before the walkout alerting them to the walkout and potential student absences. She stated, “I support students following their conscience and acting in ways that are consistent with Goal III.” Bell clarified that “that does not mean that she is saying the teachers, the students, [and] the school [are] supporting the protest and must participate.”
Whitcomb further clarified that, “I respect our students’ First Amendment rights… It’s not like I promote walkouts, but I don’t stand at the door and bar the way.” Whitcomb has not overseen any conversations behind the scenes with student organizers, though she believed that a group of students involved in Social Unity Rooted in Justice (SURJ) “have talked to the SURJ moderator… and I think she has spoken about safety.”
Whitcomb confirmed that typical attendance policies would apply to absences from the student walkout “because civil action and engagement has some consequences and our attendance policy is important for communicating that we want you here at school, but I also recognize that what you need sometimes is to be someplace else, not here.” She additionally stressed that neither the walkout on January 30th nor the upcoming walkout on February 12th are sponsored or promoted by Sacred Heart Preparatory.
Regarding attendance, Bell stated,“what we have as an expectation is that your parents and you will decide when you’ll be here. We would categorize the absence.” The school classifies absences into two categories: verified, meaning a parent alerted the school the student would be absent, and unverified. If a student has an unverified absence, it “means you didn’t tell us, or your parents didn’t tell us, and you’re just not there, our obligation is to tell your folks that you’re not present,” Bell says.
The consequences of having unverified absences, according to the SHP Family Handbook, “may include detention, privilege restriction, activity restriction, and/or conduct review.” Any work due or completed in class on the day of the absence is subject to late penalties. Students also must be present 50% of the day in order to participate in extracurricular activities and risk losing credit in their courses if they miss more than 12 periods of any one given class.
Reactions to the Posts
The post prompted several non-Sacred Heart-affiliated individuals to call the school and leave voice messages on employees’ phones. Bell reported upwards of ten calls, stating, “Unfortunately, when those calls come in, those people may have only that information from an X post, where I believe that does not represent the full story.”
Student Perspective
One student organizer of the January 30th walkout stated, in reference to Bo Loudon’s post, “I was personally really disappointed above everything else I felt. During my sophomore year, when SHP students started a TPUSA chapter here, I attended meetings. I engaged in respectful dialogue even though I didn’t align with many of the beliefs of our young conservatives…. So, I was disappointed in seeing with my own eyes that the person who posted — Bo Louden — is a representative for the organization that I somewhat advocated for. The post itself was alarming to me because it seems like, in our current political atmosphere, there are human lives at stake. Whichever side, faction, or divide you stand on — it’s disheartening to see that there are people who so blatantly push a false narrative.”
She continued, ”As an organizer, I’ve found myself reading and referring back to MLK Jr.’s warnings — how people often judge a movement by its most sensationalized moment rather than its purpose. He shared with us in his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech: ‘we must meet this conflict on the high plane of dignity and discipline,’ and that’s precisely why this walkout was planned as an act of civil disobedience. Our intention was never to instill fear or evoke violence, but to disrupt complacency and insist on dignity, due process, and recognizing humanity of immigrants and native-born citizens alike in a political climate where such principles seem abandoned.”
Regarding the comments on Wells’ posts, the student organizer stated, “The comments directed at students, calling us… demeaning slurs were vile and dehumanizing. There is nothing moral, Catholic, or principled about attacking youth for exercising their right to peaceful expression. We can disagree without lying. We can debate without degrading. And if faith or values are being invoked, they should demand honesty and respect.”
She ended her statement with the Bible verse Leviticus 19:33-34: “When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.”
Catholic Perspective
In his post, Wells asked, “Is THIS the Catholic Church’s idea of moral leadership? Vulgar signs, defiance, and leftist indoctrination on campus?”
In response to this challenge, OMCS Assistant for Pastoral Care, Father John Whitney S.J. stated, “Is this Catholicism? Is this Christian? Absolutely, it’s Christian. Absolutely, it’s the kind of thing [the Catholic Church is] teaching: to say, here’s an unjust social structure, how are we opposing it?” He discussed how students chose to make their voices heard peacefully, saying, “We are standing up and saying this is not the world we want to inhabit. I think it’s the most Catholic thing we can do.”
He remarked on Wells’ use of the word “leftist,” stating, “Christ was not hung on the cross by the Roman state because he was a leftist. He was hung on there because his vision of how people have dignity did not square with the desire of an empire to control them.” Whitney stated that Catholicism “is not a religion of the other world.”
The United States Conference of CatholicBishops published a “Special Message” on Immigration in November 2025, which stated that “we feel compelled now in this environment to raise our voices in defense of God-given human dignity. Catholic teaching exhorts nations to recognize the fundamental dignity of all persons, including immigrants. We bishops advocate for a meaningful reform of our nation’s immigration laws and procedures. Human dignity and national security are not in conflict.”
Whitney explained, “Students stood up with respect, except for the language, but they did it with respect for the institution they were in. They didn’t hurt any of the classes except by not being there. They were exactly what [the Church] would want them to be… They didn’t burn down the library or something like that. They did something that spoke with their bodies, that this is what they believe… Pope Francis said one time, ‘you pray for the poor and then you feed them.’ That’s how prayer works. You pray for justice, and then you walk out. That’s how prayer works. If you don’t put your life into that act of justice, all you are is an empty suit.”
