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Breaking the high school stereotype
By Arthur Jones
NCR Staff
Its going to be a bad hair week for 15 seniors-to-be from
Lexington Catholic High School in Kentucky.
But the benefits will outweigh the lack of hair dryers. In late
June theyre spending six days in the Bronx with the Missionaries of
Charity, sleeping in the homeless shelters for men and women, and also doing
without Game Boys and cellular phones.
They wont make much of a dent in humanitys problems,
but its a faith experience, a learning experience and an example to
younger students.
Everyones focusing [because of the recent high school
shootings] on whats wrong with American high school kids, said Fr.
James Sichko, Lexingtons chaplain and co-campus minister, who dreamed up
the program. This shows a different side.
This small delegation to the Bronx -- Lexington Catholic already
has a summer outreach experience in Belize -- is typical of programs in many of
the nations 1,350 Catholic high schools where students are typically
middle-to-upper middle class.
Cotter High School, on the banks of the Mississippi in Winona,
Minn., is six years into similar programs. By the end of this summer, 66 of
Cotters 390 students will have had cross-cultural ministry
experience in a New York City homeless shelter, said Cotter principal
Jeanne-Marie Faller, building houses in Colorado, working on a Native American
reservation, or teaching English to children and repainting a church in Mexico
-- and raising $32,000 to pay for it.
Thats a lot of apple pies, said Faller.
And car washes. Cotter High also runs an annual exchange program
with Northern Ireland students. Students from St. Dominics Catholic High
in Lewiston, Maine, have already concluded their outreach. Its an option
in the fourth quarter involvement program built into their senior
year.
They focus on Mound Bayou, Miss.
The outreach, in its second year, is the joint creation of teacher
Jeff Dee and principal Michael Welch. Welch worked in Mississippi for a year,
and St. Dominics linked up with Christian Brother Tom Geraghty in Mound
Bayou, one of the poorest all-black municipalities in the country. What St.
Dominics students did last year was clean up the mess left after a freak
ice storm destroyed the roof of the St. Vincent de Paul recreation hall that is
part of Geraghtys outreach to the local community.
This year -- the same week that two high school students in
Littleton, Colo., went down in infamy -- St. Dominics students went back
to the recreation hall to chip the tiles off the buildings floor as the
new roof was readied. Before the trip started, though, they raised almost
$11,000 to pay for it. Lexington students were luckier. They each had to find
only $250 because Delta Airlines kicked in with cheap tickets ($150 round-trip
instead of $400).
Other bonuses: New York Cardinal John OConnor has invited
the Lexington juniors to his residence, and another group has donated the
classic once-around-the-island New York tour boat cruise.
Lots of American high school students of all faiths do volunteer
work. The spiritual dimension is an important component for the Catholic
students.
Usually there is a commissioning program before the students set
off.
Daily in Mound Bayou theres a service led by one of the
adult advisers. Everyone goes to Mass at a local church. Lexington students
have had a more in-depth spiritual approach, said Sichko. While working with
the Missionaries of Charity in Jenkins, Ky., the Bronx group has been praying
together weekly. Once in the Bronx there will be daily Mass and a daily holy
hour.
Sichko, who has been ordained a year, said, Were
working together on spirituality and mission. At the afternoon briefings
Im asking them, Where is God in the midst of this?
Sichko said he wants the students to use the experience to
evangelize the other students during their senior year.
The spirituality part, said Cotter principal Faller,
is very important in terms of understanding others. Theyre being
exposed to other beliefs, theyre learning the reasons some people are
poorer than they are -- and some of our students are not very wealthy. The
spiritual component is essential to the exposure they get to reality and
life.
Given the heightened attention the nation is paying to high school
students as part of the Littleton shootings ripple effect, how do
Cotters kids measure up?
Faller, previously a principal in New York, replied, These
are very good kids. Excellent parents. Ive never been in a school where
parents have had so must investment in their childrens
education.
Are the students self-disciplined and willing to work?
Theyre a piece of cake compared to New York, said Faller.
Hey, dont tell them I said that! she added.
Only the
essentials |
What constitutes teenage deprivation?
The what not to bring list for Lexington
Catholic High School students on mission experience in the Bronx
might sum it up:
No makeup, perfume/cologne, jewelry, watches, cameras,
electronic devices (such as Game Boys, hair dryers, curling irons, cellular
phones), purses, wallets, tank tops, shorts, medicine (such as Tylenol or
aspirin), games, alcohol, drugs, any kind of food, no books other than
spiritual reading (which must be approved).
OK to go:
One uniform; two work outfits (anything you dont
mind getting dirty); underwear, shoes, socks, picture ID (those over 18);
money/travelers checks (chaperon will keep); toothpaste, deodorant,
essentials; medicine (given to chaperon with instructions); journal (notebook),
one pen or pencil. |
National Catholic Reporter, June 18,
1999
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