I have spent 27 summers at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel with sunny days filled with planning, meetings, ordering, moving materials,scrubbing, and renovating. Even in the midst of remembering all that work, this summer surely "takes the cake" so to speak! As the end of July approaches I do not think I can find one corner of the campus that is not in some state of upheaval! All this chaos, of course, will be resolved before our students return. It is important to focus on the upheaval as a means to the end of providing an even more positive Carmel experience for our kids. Let me share two big changes that seem, at last, to be coming together.
The first is the very exciting reconstruction of our web site. We will still be located at olmcmd.org but the current parish part of the site will be on a separate but linked domain of parisholmcmd.org. Tom Rose, our Director of Institutional Advancement, and I have been meeting all summer with the owners of VIM Interactive, Pete Karabetis and Steve Fickus. These guys really know their stuff! Not only have they done sites for several of the schools under the Johns Hopkins umbrella, several local companies, and currently campaigning politicians, they are alumni of Mt. Carmel High School!
I am always so elated when our kids do well and these men are achieving SUCCESS with more than a capital S! It is very exciting and heart warming for me for these alums to be giving back ot our school in such a generous way. They are literally transforming our current rather static site to reflect the vibrancy of our programs, our commitment to kids, and the new Early Childhood thorugh grade twelve configuration of our school. At every level there is a plethora of information for current members of the community and for those searching for a great school for their children. The site will be easy to navigate, information rich, and pleasing to the eye. Pete and Steve have been patient with my lack of expertise in this area and I am so grateful for their help. After going through this astoundingly detailed process (and learning lots about information architecture and analysis of content!),I understand why web design is costly. Our new site will launch on September 1 (fingers crossed) and be ready for the new recruiting season as well as the beginning of school. Please take a look--It is going to be great! This renovation of the web site is a crucial part of our effort to meet people where they are in today's fast paced, information rich society. Thank you to VIM Interactive and to alums with a desire to give back!
The second project has to do with our library. Up until a few weeks ago, there was an under-utilized library in the elementary building and another library/media center in the the high school. Both areas needed attention and it seemed a good idea to combine them into one fabulous library/media/ learning area for our kids. Little did I realize at the time that idea was uttered, how work intensive it would be. Literally several thousand books needed to be relocated in order to paint, moved again in order to put down carpeting, and then reorganized according to a very speciifc organizational code. I rue the day Dewey invented that system! Thank goodnes for the many hours or service given by our high school students who cleaned, moved books, cleaned some more and then moved books again!
Given all that moving around , I think we have created something great. There is a reading room for younger children which houses their collection. There is one media room filled with brand new PC's and another quiet work room with reference materials and computers. All these smaller rooms are off the main library which is now bright, open and inviting. This resource space is one which "invites" students to work at learning. It is bright, clean, and (fingers crossed) will be ready for business when school starts. There is an Open House to see the new library on August 29 from 11:00a.m.-1:00 p.m. in the high school. Please come see the results of a good idea and lots of hard work!
These are two of the many initiatives that we have taken on this summer but they are two that are coming together! I hope you take a look at both and that you come to agree that all this work is really a labor of love which will provide great oppportunities for our kids--They deserve the best we have to give!
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
"...Shoulder high we bring you home...Townsman of a stiller town"
There are some events that make us stop and take pause in the business of life. There are some events that cause us to mull over all that has been and all that we hoped would be. And, there are some events that just seem to suck the life and breath right out of us. Yesterday was like that...
Early in the morning I got a call from our Athletic Director and as soon as I answered, I knew something was wrong. He tearfully told me that one of our students, John Crowder, had been gunned down in the streets of Baltimore the night before and had died from his wounds. It was and still is impossible for me to imagine that very tall, gangly kid who never stopped smiling, stilled forever.
John always reminded me of a big pup who was all limbs and legs who had not yet quite grown into himself. And, what a "schmoozer" he was! He could charm the attendance moderator out of multiple demerits for lateness without blinking an eye--He only had to smile and come up with any lame excuse. He could make his whole lunch table of sophomore boys burst into laughter because of a face full of donut powder or making generally non-acceptable noises at the lunch table. He could illicit the admiration of a teacher for hard work done or a discussion question sincerely asked. And, he could play basketball better than most guys who were older and had more experience.. He was a "natural"--a natural, wonderful, talented kid with a wonderful future within his grasp.
And, these positves were hard won. John had no parents and was being rasied by his grandmom and his uncle. He had experienced loss more times than most adults and recognized that life had sharp edges and black holes as well as promises and hopes. But, he generally chose the positve and kept right on smiling, learning to be a good student, sharing experiences with his many friends,flirting with girls, and, of course, playing basketball.
And, then in the midst of all that promise, this athlete died young. But, in this case, there was no cheering crowd carrying him "shoulder high." Instead, there was a dark street and a passing car and bullets flying.
How is there any possible way to make sense of this kind of tragedy? Yesterday afternoon, our basketball coach gathered his team in our cafeteria to help them process what happened and try to support them in their grief. Our school is small and most of our kids describe our community as "family." So, we had our family meeting and we talked a little and cried a lot and sat quiet when no words came. I hope our boys know how deeply we share their loss and how much we ache for them. So much was lost---John himself, innocence, trust in the world's justice....What kind of world is it anyway?
In answer to that question all the negatives apply--It is a world where life means too little to too many, a world where children have guns and use them on each other, a world where it is not safe to walk back to your grandmom's house...
We grownups who have been called to work with kids, are obligated to wade through all these terrible realities. It is our job to help kids (and ourselves as well) reach some steady ground so that we can use life's tragedies to make us live out a truer version of that same world...We have to live in a way that shows that life means EVERYTHING! We have to teach our children to stay out of harm's way without living in fear. We have to show them how to treat self and others with the respect we each deserve. We have to keep them safe and build them neighborhoods that truly are safe havens. We have to do our part to make the world the way it should be. We owe it to John and to all kids who deserve the best we can offer them--the best of our world.
In time we will come to "own" and teach about this better world. Right now, we are overwhelmed by "the silent sounds no worse than cheers" and are mourning our lad who has "slipped..away." Right now, it is enough to pray--God bless you dear John and may God already be holding you in his arms.
Early in the morning I got a call from our Athletic Director and as soon as I answered, I knew something was wrong. He tearfully told me that one of our students, John Crowder, had been gunned down in the streets of Baltimore the night before and had died from his wounds. It was and still is impossible for me to imagine that very tall, gangly kid who never stopped smiling, stilled forever.
John always reminded me of a big pup who was all limbs and legs who had not yet quite grown into himself. And, what a "schmoozer" he was! He could charm the attendance moderator out of multiple demerits for lateness without blinking an eye--He only had to smile and come up with any lame excuse. He could make his whole lunch table of sophomore boys burst into laughter because of a face full of donut powder or making generally non-acceptable noises at the lunch table. He could illicit the admiration of a teacher for hard work done or a discussion question sincerely asked. And, he could play basketball better than most guys who were older and had more experience.. He was a "natural"--a natural, wonderful, talented kid with a wonderful future within his grasp.
And, these positves were hard won. John had no parents and was being rasied by his grandmom and his uncle. He had experienced loss more times than most adults and recognized that life had sharp edges and black holes as well as promises and hopes. But, he generally chose the positve and kept right on smiling, learning to be a good student, sharing experiences with his many friends,flirting with girls, and, of course, playing basketball.
And, then in the midst of all that promise, this athlete died young. But, in this case, there was no cheering crowd carrying him "shoulder high." Instead, there was a dark street and a passing car and bullets flying.
How is there any possible way to make sense of this kind of tragedy? Yesterday afternoon, our basketball coach gathered his team in our cafeteria to help them process what happened and try to support them in their grief. Our school is small and most of our kids describe our community as "family." So, we had our family meeting and we talked a little and cried a lot and sat quiet when no words came. I hope our boys know how deeply we share their loss and how much we ache for them. So much was lost---John himself, innocence, trust in the world's justice....What kind of world is it anyway?
In answer to that question all the negatives apply--It is a world where life means too little to too many, a world where children have guns and use them on each other, a world where it is not safe to walk back to your grandmom's house...
We grownups who have been called to work with kids, are obligated to wade through all these terrible realities. It is our job to help kids (and ourselves as well) reach some steady ground so that we can use life's tragedies to make us live out a truer version of that same world...We have to live in a way that shows that life means EVERYTHING! We have to teach our children to stay out of harm's way without living in fear. We have to show them how to treat self and others with the respect we each deserve. We have to keep them safe and build them neighborhoods that truly are safe havens. We have to do our part to make the world the way it should be. We owe it to John and to all kids who deserve the best we can offer them--the best of our world.
In time we will come to "own" and teach about this better world. Right now, we are overwhelmed by "the silent sounds no worse than cheers" and are mourning our lad who has "slipped..away." Right now, it is enough to pray--God bless you dear John and may God already be holding you in his arms.
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