"Like everything else in this hellhole, they did a totally half-assed job of updating it. I mean, who builds a pool in the middle of an old church?"
"You're joking," Luce said.
"I wish." Penn rolled her eyes. "Every summer, the headmaster gets it in his little mind to try and stick me with the task of redecorating this place. He won't admit it, but all the God stuff really freaks him out," she said. "Problem is, even if I did feel like pitching in, I'd have no idea what to do with all this junk, or even how to clear it out without offending, like, everyone and God." (6.29-31)
This interaction between Penn and Luce does a great job of showing the mentality the school has for religion, even though it does offer a religion class. Penn's confession that the headmaster gets freaked out by the state of the gym shows that the respect the Sword & Cross staff feels for the school's religious background is about as enthusiastic as Penn's non-enthusiasm about cleaning the church-nasium.
"Dad died two years ago," Penn said quietly. "They got as far as sticking me with the decaying old Headmaster Udell as my legal guardian, but, uh, hey never really got around to hiring a replacement for Dad."
"I'm sorry," Luce said, lowering her voice, too. So someone else here knew what it was like to go through a major loss. (2.133)
Even though not all the students have suffered the same way that Luce has, they have definitely suffered. Penn is a great example, because her loss is a personal one, not something that she was in control of, like Luce. This further proves that Penn is a fantastic person to know, and that Luce is lucky to have her in her life—and not only because she brought Luce shampoo in her meatloaf-y time of need.