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'Go make a difference'
Catholic schools begin year with excitement, changes
By Ambria Hammel, ahammel@catholicsun.org
August 21, 2008
When Catholic schools throughout the diocese reconvened this month, many had a slightly new look thanks to summer upgrades.
Other changes weren’t as tangible, but will be noticed nonetheless. For example, students at Seton Catholic High School in Chandler have come to expect a new “theme,” or area of concentration, each year based on a charism embodied by school patroness St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. This year, they’ll focus on “determination.”
“It is when we have the courage to declare our faith in Christ that we then use determination to live our faith through our daily lives,” said Patricia Collins, principal.
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton may have been courageous to talk about Catholic education, but Collins said it was her determination that made it a reality in America.
The students got a firsthand account of how determination guides people through the impossible Aug. 13.
Benjamin Ajak, one of the Lost Boys of Sudan, visited English classes to share his story of survival. Ajak, now in his 20s, escaped his war-torn country at the age of 5 and recounted the ordeal in a book every Seton student read over the summer.
Students at St. Theresa School will spend the year doing various activities focused around the theme “Go Make a Difference.”
Principal Sr. Patricia Gehling, SSND, said they’ll often sing the song by the same name at Mass. The hope is for students and staff to realize their potential in effecting change in themselves, their classmates, their communities and in the world, Sr. Patricia said.
Students at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Tempe are hoping to make a difference in the lives of their peers. The student council is hosting the campus’ annual back-to-school supply drive through Aug. 29.
Donors already filled a few boxes that will be given to St. Peter’s Mission School in Bapchule.
Matthew Tucker, student council president, visited the mission school earlier this month to drop off last year’s unclaimed lost and found items.
“It’s kind of depressing,” Tucker said of the school on the Gila River Indian Reservation. It’s often a struggle for the students to meet basic needs.
“She is very, very thankful for anything you give her,” Tucker said of Sr. Mary Martha Carpenter, who runs St. Peter. He dropped off six or seven bags of clothes. They’ll be used as birthday presents and for emergencies.
Campus facelifts
Second-graders at St. Thomas the Apostle School will strive to make a difference on the planet through the classroom’s new “Ready, Set, Go Green” program. It was their teacher’s idea.
Robin Perko got tired of seeing kids throwing away water bottles almost daily in years past. She ordered a water filtration system for the classroom and secured a discount on a classroom set of water bottles they’ll use for the year.
“It seems like we’re overusing” as a society, Perko said. “We’re stewards of His creation and we need to be respectful of that.”
Perko hopes to install fans to complement the school’s air conditioning and plans to rely more on natural lighting for the classroom, which she said is better for learning.
Students at Bourgade Catholic High School are seeing a bit more natural light this year, too. Only theirs has some color to it.
The class of 2008 funded the installation of the chapel’s first stained glass window.
“It just adds a whole different dimension to the chapel,” said Sr. Christi Laudolff, CSA. Powers Brothers Stained Glass, who also outfitted the Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary with windows for their new convent near the Xavier College Preparatory campus, designed the window.
The Bourgade chapel features 12 strategically-placed rectangles forming a central cross as well as beveled crosses made of clear glass within the design.
Sr. Christi said administrators plan to convert the chapel’s remaining windows to stained glass as funds become available. They already have a design in mind.
St. Gregory School is still raising funds to pay off the cost of the artificial turf installed on the preschool playground this summer. Becky Mosher, the preschool’s director, saw a need for the turf after unsuccessful attempts to grow grass.
“It was always dusty, muddy and didn’t look very pleasant,” Mosher said.
The community at St. Theresa School used its funding from the annual auction to give a key part of campus a facelift.
Parent volunteers renovated the 50-year-old ramada where the students’ week begins and ends in prayer. Parent volunteers spent part of the summer designing, re-building and painting it.
Lisa Lumbard, past president of the Parent Teacher Organization, said the ramada is much more inviting now.
A concrete stage replaced the weathered wooden one built as an overflow space for weekend Masses. It is also handicapped accessible, features a brick walkway, better lighting and sound systems and ceiling fans. It will be dedicated Oct. 1, the feast day of St. Thérèse of Lisieux.
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