Raising Awareness

CI Poverty Simulation

On January 19, Community Involvement hosted their second annual Poverty Simulation. This year, it was put on by Sacred Heart, and actual clients of Sacred Heart attended and helped.

For the first part of the event, students were given new identifications, families and situations in life. For example, one student was a 20-year-old mother and student who also had to work part-time. The simulation was broken into four fifteen-minute periods, representing a one month period. During this time, each family had to keep up with paying bills, food and childcare expenses, while also making sure children went to school and adults went to work.

Though students did not walk away knowing exactly what it is like to live in poverty, they were certainly exposed to many of the realities and daily stresses that come with a life on the fringes.

The second portion of the simulation was a reflection time in which the students were separated into groups to discuss what they had just experienced. A client from Sacred Heart was put into each group, providing their insight to the students’ real-life experiences with poverty.

CI moderator Ms. McCullough said “I found this time to be the most valuable for students since they were able to hear first-hand accounts about living in poverty.”

White For Rwanda

After learning about the conditions in Rwanda in her Social Justice class, junior Meryl Parks felt called to act. Amazingly, this one student organized and put on a mixer all by herself. Wanting to do something more than a bake sale, Parks decided a mixer would be a great fundraiser.

After planning since October of this past year, the mixer was held on December 26 at the Willow Glen Community Center. Though it may sound simple to host an event like this, all of the components that are required to put on a mixer make it sound nearly impossible for a teenager to put on.

However, Parks’ passion for her cause made her hard work all worthwhile. The attendees of the mixer proved the community’s support for Parks and her mission. The proceeds of her mixer went to St. Ignatius Secondary School in Rwanda. Parks was able to raise over $600 for the school.

Microfinance Fundraiser

One of the new clubs on campus this year, the Microfinance Club, recently held a fundraiser to put their club’s mission to work. An original event comprised entirely by the club members, this fundraiser was not your typical bake sale.

For two weeks, students were asked to bring in a dollar a day, either from their own funds or from donations from friends and family. Along with the intention of raising money, the Microfinance Club wanted to educate the Presentation community about the people they are helping.

The proceeds to their fundraiser are going towards funding scholarships for women in South Sudan. They were able to raise over $2,000 and will be able to provide five girls with school fees for a year. With the education they gain, these women are able to start their own businesses, continue their education and make money to support themselves to ultimately leave their life of poverty.

For this fundraiser, the Microfinance club is working with the organization Mercy Beyond Borders. This is the organization that will set up the scholarships for the women to go to school.

This event is very important because it is empowering women who are otherwise seen without worth. Though they are looking to make a few changes, Microfinance has plans to put this fundraiser on again next year.

 

Deck the Halls of Sacred Heart

As you enter through the back volunteer entrance of the Sacred Heart Community Service Center, you hear a faint sound. You don’t know where it’s coming from, so you decide to walk through the hallways. As you make your way towards the main foyer, the sound gets louder and louder and you start to recognize the catchy tune.

Once you arrive, there’s a crowd of men, women and children surrounding thirty girls wearing vibrant red Santa hats and familiar blue plaid skirts. These Presentation students and teachers are all smiling, laughing and singing in unison to “Feliz Navidad” while the crowd sings along and claps to the beat.

This year, Presentation’s Community Involvement Club hosted their second-annual Christmas Caroling event at Sacred Heart. Their mission was to kick off the holiday season by singing Christmas songs to the clients of Sacred Heart and making festive crafts with the children in the Homework Club.

“Whenever we go to Sacred Heart we always try to underscore their three main values: dignity, compassion and respect,” says one of C.I.’s club moderators, Mrs. Foley. “This event is a little more fun because it’s going to be working with kids. We try to encourage the students who are participating to pay attention, listen, get to know the kids and to see what interesting conversations can come out of that.”

On the way to the event, many of the C.I. participants were anxious and excited to sing their hearts out to the clients being served. They couldn’t wait as they quickly put on their Santa hats, reindeer antlers and elf hats.
“I’m really excited to sing and spread joy and Christmas cheer for all to hear,” said freshman Nicole Freitas, who was one of many first-time participants in this event. There were also new faces at Sacred Heart, such as junior Katy Chiswell, who said, “This is my first time here and I don’t know what to really expect. But I’m really looking forward to it.”

As the students arrived, they lined up side-by-side and started caroling to “Jingle Bells”, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and the “Twelve Days of Christmas” outside of the main lobby. At the same time, some of the students handed out baked goods to the crowd. Everyone in the audience was smiling, singing and seemed to enjoy the musical entertainment while waiting in line.

Soon after, the Pres students collaborated with the kids in the Homework Club and helped make fun activities with them. Some of the crafts included making a reindeer using an outline of one’s foot and hands, a holiday wreath, a star and a personal Christmas card. The students were able to bond with the children by motivating them to be creative, talk with them on a one-to-one level and build new friendships.

“You just learn how to communicate with kids well and get to know them, because it’s a different experience from just helping people without knowing who they are,” said senior Natalie Royle. “But when you’re here at Sacred Heart, you really get to know the kids’ personalities and it’s a great experience.”

Participation in this event was much higher for this second year. “The turn-out was really great and a lot more people attended than last year,” said junior Ariana Cvitanic, a CI officer who helped organize the event. “During the activities, the girls seemed to enjoy themselves more than the little kids. It was also a great time singing because the more people we had, the louder we were and it seemed to make a big difference in lighting up the mood in the room. It was really cool seeing the people in line clapping and cheering with us.”

At the end of the event, C.I. was able to donate their time, effort and vocal chords to the community and truly give back during this season of giving.

Evening of Awareness

“Things are to be used and people are to be loved, but the problem in today’s world is that people are used and things are loved.”

At Evening of Awareness on January 27, I reflected on this quote while watching a fabulous presentation by senior Regina Chau about the Presentation CI trip to Zambia last summer. Seven different speakers put on presentations about trips they had gone on or programs they had participated in that made a difference in the world, which was appropriate as the evening’s theme was “the power of students to affect change.”

The evening was put on by CI and was hosted by junior Katja Kane-Foempe and seniors Anne Marie Tran and Kerynne Tejada. The night ran smoothly with seven different presenters, each representing a different trip or program that had worked to make a difference. These included the San Jose and San Francisco Urban Plunges, the trip to Zambia, the Casa de Clara program, the sophomore service trip to West Oakland/SF, the Global Women’s Issues class members talking about issues facing women around world, and the SOA trip to Georgia.

The presentations were impressive, well put together and, most of all, very thought-provoking. The night started out with a fantastic speech by Sacred Heart representative Todd Banks. He spoke of freedom fighters and how we all have the power and call to change someone’s life, if not change the world. “Tomorrow, if not today, you’re going to change the world,” he said. Banks also talked about how these programs and trips were the first steps in doing just that. These were the programs that changed people’s lives, and the trips that brought awareness to injustices in the world.

Banks also noted that social injustices can be changed with small steps. “Sometimes the answer is simple,” he said, “so listen and they’ll tell you what they need.” Sometimes it is not a large-scale food drive that is necessary, but just a loaf of bread out of your own kitchen, or a jacket out of your closet. He closed by encouraging the audience to “be the freedom fighter God has created you to be.”

After such inspiration from Banks, we split up into different classrooms to watch different presentations we had signed up for. Senior Mary Clare Bernal shared her experience in the San Francisco Urban Plunge in one of these first presentations, with an outstanding PowerPoint on the different places her group had visited. She spoke of visiting with the poor in a soup kitchen the first day, and how it changed her whole perspective on poverty and social issues such as this.

“They’re just like us,” she said, “but with different circumstances.” Her group stayed with the Presentation sisters in San Francisco and spent the trip visiting and working in many different places in San Francisco. They visited the Tenderloin Children’s playground, which is a safe place for the children of the area to hang out rather than just being on the streets, and a place called The Lantern, where they taught ESL classes. When Bernal finished her presentation, we made valentines to be sent to the children at the Tenderloin.

After a juice and cookies break, the next presentation I visited was about Zambia, which was put on by senior Regina Chau. She spoke of the incredible poverty in the areas she visited, and how impressive it was that these people still had hope. The group visited an orphanage, and she talked about how, even there, all the children were very happy with hopes for the future and were glad to see her group. They had “the biggest smiles on their faces,” she said. Even in such difficult positions, people worked hard to get by and live well.

The group visited schools that had been put together for kids whose parents had been lost to AIDS, where the whole school was run by volunteers. They had to raise their own money, and worked hard to do so. The group stayed with Presentation sisters and visited several schools, a community center, an orphanage, a hospice, and many other places during their visit.

After the second presentation, everyone returned to the theater and broke up into groups to decorate a piece of fabric for a patchwork quilt and to reflect on the real meaning of the presentations of the evening. We talked about the different presentations we had gone to and the different places or programs they had worked with, and how all of these things work to bring hope to such difficult situations. Sometimes all that is needed is a ray of hope to give someone the courage to help a situation, and all of us have the power to bring about that ray of hope.

Urban Plunge 2009

Before leaving on Urban Plunge on Sept. 24, each of the eight participating Pres students was given a reading packet.  On the front, it said, “I was hungry and you gave me food; thirsty and you gave me drink; a stranger and you welcomed me; naked and you clothed me; sick and you cared for me; in prison and you visited me.”  This passage from the gospel of Matthew now holds new meaning for each of us.  After attending this homelessness immersion program, we were able to gain new insights and experiences about poverty in our own backyard.  But even more special was the opportunity we were given to encounter God in each of the people we met.

Thursday:

On Sept. 24, we drove to the Presentation Sisters Motherhouse in San Francisco.  This is where we made our home for the next few days, enjoying the hospitality of the sisters.  As we made our way to the bus stop, excited to begin our “urban plunge,” we glimpsed a sign on the way out the door.  “Not Words But Deeds” would reappear several times on our trip.

We took public transportation to the Tenderloin, where we headed to St. Anthony’s Foundation.  It was almost impossible to believe that we were still in San Francisco; it seemed like we were a whole world away.

Waiting in line for a meal alongside the homeless people was a new and unique experience.  We ate lunch in the dining hall, meeting new people and visiting with the homeless.  It was different encountering poverty but not serving a meal; we were truly in solidarity with the others.

After lunch, we walked over to the Presentation Senior Community to sing karaoke with members of the Adult Day Health Program.  Although our singing skills were, well, less than professional, we all enjoyed performing together and bringing joy to some of the seniors.

Visiting the Tenderloin Children’s Playground was also a special experience for each of us.  This playground provides a place for children in the Tenderloin to come after school or during the day and just be kids.  In addition to a playground, there was also a garden, guitar lessons and arts and crafts.  We were all touched when the woman who supervises the playground told us about finding what God has planned for each of us and using our gifts and opportunities in a way that makes the world a better place.

That night, we served dinner at Glide Memorial Church.  Like St. Anthony’s, we were able to interact with the homeless, this time as volunteers.  Serving meals to the homeless had a new meaning for us, because we had seen what it’s like to receive these meals.

Friday:

One of the conveniences of driving a car is being able to sleep in and not worry about bus schedules.  This was one convenience that we had to go without, so we woke up at 4:45 a.m. to take the bus to serve breakfast to day laborers in the Mission area.  In the process, we couldn’t find our connecting bus and wandered for blocks consulting a decidedly non-Urban Plunge iPhone GPS for directions.  And it was still dark out.  Once we finally arrived to serve breakfast, we got the opportunity to practice our Spanish and brush up on our kitchen skills.  It was great being able to have this experience; everyone was appreciative and very welcoming.

Afterwards, we visited The Lantern and ate breakfast with Sr. Maire.  She told us about the program, and we all pitched in with dishes as the ESL students started to arrive.  After walking through the Mission area, we returned to The Lantern and took part in the ESL classes and babysitting some of the young children.  I was in Sr. Maire’s group with the intermediate students, and I was surprised and pleased when we were asked to tell the class about Nano Nagle.  We tried to remember everything we had heard in Religion 9, and together we pieced together the highlight’s of Nano’s life.

Turning around, we saw her picture on the wall.  I also noticed the same picture that hangs in our main office—Nano Nagle with the children of Ireland.  That night, we found the same picture at the Motherhouse.  If anything, this made me realize that Presentation High School is not just our school, but it is a part of something bigger, something that is making a real difference in the lives of people all over the world.

After the Lantern, we walked to the SAGE project, which stands for Standing Against Global Exploitation.  This program helps people leaving prostitution and human trafficking.  We were given a tour and learned more about the program.  I was shocked by what I learned about human trafficking right here in the Bay Area, but SAGE definitely provides hope.

We walked a few more blocks, and we found ourselves in front of city hall.  Once again, I was shocked that we could be so close to something so familiar, and yet seem so far away from everything we knew.  After some journaling and reflecting, and almost missing our bus, we returned to the Motherhouse once again.

Saturday:

After morning mass with the sisters, it was almost time to say our goodbyes.  But first, we ran into Sr. Judy, a former Presentation religion teacher.  We talked for a while, and she showed us a smaller, perhaps more detailed, version of the Nano Nagle banner that hangs in our gym during school masses.  If we could be reminded so much of our school throughout our time on Urban Plunge, I thought we could also be reminded of our experiences over the past days upon our return to Presentation.

The last stop we made before returning to San Jose, and our first shower in three days, was brunch at the Delancey Street Foundation Restaurant.  All of the workers at Delancey Street are ex-convicts, people who had been addicted to drugs or others who are turning their lives around.  If I hadn’t known about the restaurant, I would have assumed it was like any other.  Instead, we were fortunate to hear from some of the workers and enjoy a delicious last meal.

It’s almost impossible to articulate the experience I had on Urban Plunge.  These are the things we did and some of the lessons learned, but it goes beyond all of this.  Urban Plunge changed my awareness of homelessness and poverty, and it changed my attitude towards what we can do to cause change.  These people are just like me, and it was easier to connect with the people I encountered than I had imagined.  At Presentation, we have so many opportunities available to us, and we have the power to cause positive change in the world and to create awareness.  I truly experienced God in the people and experiences I encountered, and I hope that this awareness continues forth and creates positive change in our world.

Finding Inspiration in Africa

This summer, 12 Pres girls went to Zambia, a small, peaceful country in South-Central Africa. The first week of the service trip was spent in Livingstone with a group of six Presentation Sisters. The second, we stayed in Pemba with two sisters. While working at the schools and orphanages, I was able to learn from numerous colorful people, old and young.

 

In Livingstone, I met the most remarkable people the day I worked with caretakers at the Saint Francis Care Center. I went to a house in the community where they hold a clinic once a month for people the in neighborhood that are sick with diseases like AIDS, cancer, diabetes, and malaria. After I did warm-up exercises with the patients, we went to see the four patients that were bedridden. First, I saw a woman who was young and had many children running around her house. Her eyes were extremely sad and she did not speak. Just standing in her presence, I could feel death. It was the first time during trip that just seeing someone made me cry; I was so overwhelmed with compassion that I didn’t know how to deal with it. After I left her house, I met Martin, a 38-year-old man with a warm smile. When I first met him, I was not sure how sick he was because he looked relatively athletic and I could tell he was extremely tall despite the fact he was sitting down. He told me that he had four kids and was taking care of them while his wife was gone. Martin was extremely friendly and quick to make conversation. While we were talking, the caregiver told me that he could not walk because he had some sores on his legs; she asked him to show them to me and he did. Martin lifted the blanket that was covering his legs and exposed the sores on his legs.  All of a sudden, the wind was knocked out of me; I was so shocked to see such big, open wounds on a living person. Neither words nor pictures can describe the enormous, grotesque sores. I was so impressed with Martin’s uplifting and optimistic attitude despite his unbelievable circumstance.  He has made a lasting impression on my outlook on life. It was so inspiring to see someone whose positive attitude enabled him to see past his illness. The stark comparison between the sick woman and the sick man is only seen when looking at their attitudes. Because of Martin’s hopeful outlook on life, he seemed much more able to live his life to the fullest. From this I saw that attitude determines everything and a positive attitude can help bring you through the hardest times.

 

After the time we spent in Livingstone, the group traveled to a small, rural town called Pemba. In Pemba, we stayed with two extraordinarily inspiring Sisters: Mary Lucey and Bernadette, both retired Irish schoolteachers. They moved to Pemba 14 years ago to bring more world knowledge to the small village; the sisters were the first white people most of the town had ever seen. My favorite memory from Pemba was a talk we had with Sister Mary Lucey one night by the fire. We were all sitting around after dinner and she told us of some of her encounters while being in Africa. The stories were very interesting but the best part was at the end, when she told us, “You know, you do what you can.” After she explained her heroic efforts and the tremendous amount of work she has done in Pemba, she simply said that she tries her hardest to do what she can and in the end of the day, that pays off the most. This quote has stayed with me since the trip because it is such a good way to view our abilities here on Earth. Her insight on life has given me new hope in the endeavors I take. It doesn’t matter how much you do but the intensity and how much of yourself you give to it.

 

The sisters serve as inspiration to all Pres girls because of how much of their lives they have given to the people of Pemba. There are sisters just like Mary Lucey and Bernadette all over the world; the Presentation community is truly international!

New Opportunities on Campus

When you were a little girl, your parents used to drill into your mind the importance of grades, especially when it comes to getting into college. Unless you were a star athlete, they would be your best chance at getting into college—all you had to do was do well in school, and you would get into college with ease. Right?

 

Wrong. Although grades and test scores are important for colleges, they also look for what you do outside of the classroom—your extracurricular activities. But what if you don’t know what to do for your extracurricular? Luckily, Pres can help. Here at Presentation, there are numerous opportunities to get involved, whether through a club or through volunteer work. From Club Day to the CI Faire, the Pres community gets a chance to offer up various opportunities for students seeking to get involved with something—and to live up to our school motto, “Not words but deeds.” No matter what your interests are, there’s always something for everyone.

 

At Presentation’s annual Club Day, both new students and returning ones alike have the opportunity to see the multitude of clubs Pres offers and find the one or ones that interest them most. When determining which clubs you want to be a part of, it’s good to keep in mind that we have a variety of clubs here that cover many different aspects of our everyday lives, from hobbies to social issues to academic clubs.

 

SADD, which stands for Students Against Destructive Decisions, is one of the clubs that deals with issues that students are faced with in our society. “We try to guide the students through high school, because there’s a lot of hard decisions they have to go through,” said SADD officer Grace Armstrong, 12. SADD not only discusses issues that directly affect students’ lives, but they also try to offer up good alternatives to bad choices, helping students have fun while avoiding bad choices that could negatively affect the rest of their lives.

 

Another club to consider is the Science Club, moderated by Mrs. Kissane. The club’s goal is to show students that science is enjoyable and to encourage students to get more involved in the field of science. The activities offered are hands-on, allowing students to see science principles in action while creating something, whether gold pennies or candles, that they can take home and enjoy. All of the experiments performed in the club are relatively simple and easy to do, so no extensive knowledge of science is required.

 

In addition to the many clubs offered here at Pres, the Community Involvement (CI) Club also helps coordinate numerous volunteer opportunities for students. Most notably, their annual CI Faire allows students to look at various organizations’ booths and see whether or not they would be interested in volunteering there. According to Ms. Russo, the Community Involvement Director, there were 80 total organizations invited to attend the event, 50 of which were invited for the first time.

 

Clearly, Pres has lots to offer its students in terms of extracurricular activities. From getting involved at clubs here at Pres to working to serve the local community, there is something out there for everyone. Whatever your talents may be, there is an outlet out there somewhere that will enable you to share them for the betterment of society. So the next time you’re worried about being well-rounded enough at college, remember: there’s plenty of opportunities here to boost your application. And more importantly, getting involved in something and giving of your talents and time will allow you to live out the motto on which Presentation was founded: “Not words but deeds.”