First Glances of Haiti

When the pilot of our plane to Port Au Prince told us we were in our final descent, my eyes flew to the window. Out of the small window I saw a city much like my own. That small window was not telling me an accurate story. After the quick rush through customs and a lucky rush through baggage claim, we were in a van on the streets of Haiti. I closed my eyes for a few moments to listen to all of it. There was a certain hustle and bustle like you might hear in downtown Baltimore. When you open your eyes you see something completely different. There is a truth to what you may have read about. There are demolished homes, and tent cities. However, we saw a park where there used to be tents. We saw small businesses working, even if they were working right in the hot sun. Much of my anxiety has disappeared, and has been replaced with excitement for what we will see tomorrow and in the days that follow. - - - Ryan

As our plane began its decent I looked out the window to see a microscopic view of what was to come particularly georgeous mountains and foliage. This beauty is the back drop for a what we have all have heard about ... certain chaos and devastion. We had the opportunity to hear from the Catholic Relief Services staff members who have been present in Haiti and have seen and effected a difference. Its hard to imagine it was in fact far worse just a while ago . In the midst of all this disparity are colorful buildings which give us a sense of hope. The folks at CRS shared a quote from Victor Hugo which has had me thinking all day--" Open a school,close a jail." We learned a bit about schools here. 10% of schools are public while a majority of schools are Catholic or private. Some kids never make it to school. Can't wait to visit neighborhoods tomorrow. ... Missy

Haiti is a land of contrasts--beautiful mountains and the rubble of concrete buildings that have collapsed.  Bustling people walking along streets where others are selling their wares at the streets edge.  New steel structures that will soon be buildings and areas that used to be parks where tents still provide "housing."  We met a man named David today whose heart encompasses the world.   He worked for many years in Africa and has been in Haiti since the quake.  He said that his work can be summed up in a few words--"It is about insuring the dignity of the human person."  I think that sums up alot about our faith too.  Haiti is a place that is, on one hand, crushed by the huge problems that exist...from electric to transporation to water.  On the other hand, it is a place where the world has come together to try to insure that people have not only dignity but homes and jobs and, most importantly, hope.  Tomorrow we will travel to see some of the onging development work of Catholic Relief Services.  We will leave our comfort zone behind once more.  I wonder where the day will take us?...Kathy

Three Impressions of the First Day!

Hi, this is Ryan and as I embark on this trip to Haiti there are many things flowing through my mind. I started today by being honest and telling the other members of the group that I am scared. From the sounds of it, I wasn't the only one. We spent the day listening to many different people telling us all about what CRS is doing, and in turn what we will be doing. After these meetings and a satifying meal before leaving tomorrow, I feel less scared. I still have some anxiety, but it helps to know that the others have the same anxiety and in that we will have each other to lean on during the trip. Hi everyone, this is Missy. We began today with an orientation at the Catholic Relief Services downtown. I've passed this building dozens of times and never realized how enormous it is. Today, I learned more, much more about the work of CRS. It is no wonder the building is so immense! Their work with the global church is extensive, requiring many hands and hearts to accomplish the work of peace, justice and solidarity. It was a delight to meet our delegation of other educators. We are quite diverse. Despite some anxieties and rising at 3am I think we are envigorated by what lies ahead. Our Lady of Mt. Carmel...pray for us and all who have much less than we. This is Kathy...Ryan and Missy just left to get a few hours sleep before we fly out of Baltimore early in the morning. We fly to Newark and then to Haiti. I, too, want to share a little about today. It is so hard to focus on only one impression of this day. I guess, for me, I spent the day listening but also "people watching." There are two groups of folks I met that have already inspired me--the group with whom we will travel and the presenters who work for Catholic Relief Services. We travel with educators from two other schools--one a small k-12 school on the border of Arizona and Mexico. As you can imagine, they are faced with many immigration issues since half their students live in the United States and the other half in Mexico. The other school is in New York and is an all boy's college prep high school associated with the Christian Brothers--no financal woes on their hoizon! I wondered if we had any "common ground" but was delighted to discover that we are all rooted in the same desire to serve our kids, make the world a better place, and remain focused on the mission of Catholic education. I cannot wait for the conversations that I know will happen this coming week. We will talk about kids, curriculum, technology and what is right and wrong with the world. One of the things that is right is the commitment of good people like those who journey with us. We are in great company! The next group we met are those who work for Catholic Releif Services. What an energized, faithful group of men and women whose dedication is completely focused to insure that we have a safe and positive experience and we are prepared to spread the message of social justice to those we teach and touch. Each person was joyous and inspiring in his/her own way. This trip promises to be transforming! I hope we can live up to their expectations of what needs to be done. So, in only a few hours, we will fly to a different reality. I hope that the experience makes our hearts bigger without breaking them. On a much more practical note, I hope that we all remember to drink only bottled water, take our malaria meds and look with understanding eyes on all we see!

A New Adventure and a New Vision

I have not added an installment to my blog in a very long time and today seemed to be a very good time to begin once again. A few of my colleagues and I are setting out on a new adventure tomorrow and I think that we will learn (or re-learn) some important lessons about what is important in life. Missy Lawrence, our Campus Minister, Ryan Kloetzer, one of our Lower School faculty members, and I are travelling to Haiti as part of a delegation with Catholic Relief Services. Our job is to see first hand the work that Catholic Relief Services, an international arm of the Catholic Church in America in terms of Social Justice, has done as a first responder after the terrible earthquake a few years ago. We are also going to experience the on-going work that is being done to develop the infrastructure and improve the quality of life in the long term. Once we learn about these things, we are going to write some curriculum materials for students in the United States so that they are sensitized to the needs of others, understand that as a Church we do respond, and finally find ways that they can be part of the solution to some of the huge problems faced by people in the world--poverty, homelessness, lack of education. I do not think it is a coincidence that our work begins tomorrow, July 16--the Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel! That omen seems to bode good things that may come from this experience not only for those of us who travel but also for the students we will impact. I was formed by the idealism of sixties--when young people really believed that they could make the world better and options like the Peach Corps were real. I still believe that young people have a yearning to make a positive difference and only need the tools and "conections" to do so. I hope that by sharing our experience, we can energize some people to join in the efforts to see the world with new eyes and have a vision that includes doing something positive to meet the needs of others. I am also convinced that though the needs in Haiti are great, there is a resiliency among the people that can inpsire us to be more appreciative of the many blessings we have. So, join us on our journey and keep us in your prayers. We will try, on a daily basis, to share impressions, information, and ideas so that our journey can be yours as well. So, as we say at the end of each prayer at our school--Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, Pray for us!

Touching History

Yesterday Edwin O'Brien was elevated from Archbishop of Baltimore to Cardinal in a ceremony at the Vatican. His tenure in Baltimore was short but the impact was forceful especially in the world of Catholic Schools. His stay touched us personally at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel School and so, much to our surprise, did his leaving!
We received a call last Thursday from Sean Cain, the Archdiocesan Media Director, who was in Rome for the ceremonies. He wanted to know if our students would be interested in skyping with the then Archbishop to chat about how events were going and how he was feeling at such a momentous time in his ministry. Of course, we agreed and began to select students from across the grades from kindergarten to grade twelve to represent the school. We also began to cross check equipment to be sure that we could "connect." For me, that is always the worry! I have learned over the years that you can count on students. If they know what is expected of them, they will always pull through when the pressure hits! Technology seems to be the opposite--If something can go wrong, it generally does and at the most inconvenient times!
Luck or the Lord must have been with us on Friday because our chat was as perfect as could be! Our students were great and asked some good questions, the Archbishop was in perfect form and spoke quite eloquently about his time in Baltimore and the work he tried to do, and all technology was on target. This was a great experience for our students and I know that this event will be remembered in a much more personal way because of that conversation between Rome and Middle River!
As I think of Cardinal O'Brien, though, my thoughts go not to his elevation to Cardinal but to the challenges he faced with our schools a few years ago. He arrived in Baltimore in the midst of recession with a military, "take charge and get the mission accomplished" attitude. He discovered minimal concrete plans to deal with issues and an escalating debt. He did what any military man of action would do--He took charge. He created a Schools Planning Office which did intensive information gathering and conducted countless listening sessions. He met with donors and advocates and began to carve out a plan that he beleived would allow not only survival of our schools but a renaissance for them. And then, he went to battle!
Everyone in Catholic Schools in Baltimore can still feel the sting of the decisions that flowed from the plan. Schools were closed/merged/restructured. Emotions ran high and, like it or not, change happened. Now we are a few years into the plan, still struggling with some of the phases of implementation. To be honest, I think that the jury is still out regarding the overall success of all that happened. The grand hope, of course, is that the intention comes to fruition--that the schools will thrive and continue to provide academic excellence, growth in faith, and opportunity for our students to impact their own lives and their communities in wonderful ways.
Though the final analysis will be left for those in years to come to articulate, I think it is not only fair but just to say that Cardinal O'Brien took the dilemma by the horns, fought the good fight, and forced the rest of us along for battle! In a time when inertia would have spelled our doom, he was forceful and, I think, brave. Each of us can only do what we believe we are called to do to complete the mission. Despite doubt and criticism, Cardinal O'Brien responded to the mission as he saw it and plunged forward. As he leaves Baltimore to do the work of the universal Church, we wish him well, thank him for his courage, and pray that his work yields the bounty he imagined for our children, our schools, and our Church. It seems that the work that remains is in our hands now!
God-speed Cardinal O'Brien and thank you for allowing us to touch history along with you!

The White House and Catholic Schools

Two weeks ago I got an invitation to the White House. Of course, I was surprised and wondered what was happening to generate such an impressive social event on my calendar generally clogged with appointments with parents and alums of our school. I quickly found out that the event to which I was invited was a preliminary to Catholic Schools Week and featured a panel of Catholic School leaders who had been selected because they were perceived to be "champions of change." Honored to be included in such an illustrious group, I accepted. There followed a flurry of security checks and map questing. The day finally arrived, I found the location, made it through security, and found myself among a group of about 200 educators from Maryland, Virginia, and Washington D.C. who had been invited to hear the panel.
The panel members were diverse: a senior student highy involved with service, a Jesuit priest who helped create the Critso Rey model of secondary schools for low income students, a superintendent of an urban school district, and a principal who had developed various initiatives to increase the success rate for her multi-cultural students among a few others. Each panel member had looked at challenges with creativity and shifted the status quo. Each had taken a risk, initiated some changes in how things usually were handled, and each had succeeded.
The uniting factor that I found the most interesting and important was that every single panel member had remained true to his/her mission despite the changing strategies that were employed. In every case, success was measured by an improvement in meeting the needs of students. Whether the strategy increased the probability of a student being able to enroll in a Catholic school or increased the probaility of success while they attended, the focus remained on the child....just where it should be!
During our celebration of Catholic School Week, we often look at programs, our traditions and our history of sharing our faith, excellence in academics, and the response through service to our community. In recent years, as schools struggle with economic recession, pressure from local public school systems to focus only on testing data, and the turmoil within the Church itself, there is a temptation to lose oneself in the day to day need to survive. This year as we celebrate Catholic Schools we celebrate all the "champions of change" who recognize that, at the heart of our schools, are tenets which will never change--the value of every child and the belief that he/she can succeed in both school and life, the necessity to share an old faith with a new generation who are then inspired to serve and lead with integrity and hope, and a commitment to prepare our young people to develop a work ethic that will enable them to work toward standards of excellence in all that they do.
My trip to the White House was inspiring not because of the location but because it is always inspiring to become aware of good people doing great things for children for all the right reasons! During Catholic Schools Week, I hope you are inpsired by someone like that--our schools are filled with "champions of change" who remain committed to children, our faith, and the future.

Finding Balancing--The Continuing Challenge!

Now that the frenzy and flurry of Christmas is settling down a bit, I can safely say that one of the discoveries of the season for me, is that as much as things change, they really don't! I was reminded of this on New Year's Eve when I was searching for a notebook in which I was planning to write my resolutions. It is the same notebook I use each year for this activity and when it was finally located, I was rather proud of myself...until I opened it! My unique resolution method is to define a project---above and beyond the day to day activities I always complete--for each month. There are always twelve initiatives that I plan to do during the year that often have to do with the long term goals I have. Some of them remain from year to year--lose weight, be healthier, pray more often. Others have to do with my use of time--read at least twelve books, clean out the upstairs closets, play the piano on a regular basis. This year when I opened the book and saw last year's list, I was disappointed to see that I had not accomplished a single long term initiative from last year. Since all were worthy goals that I would still like to accomplish, I changed the date on the top of the page and returned to my television to watch the ball drop to signal the beginning of 2012.
The more I thought about this situation, though, the more I realized it was all about finding balance in life between the nitty-gritty pace of everyday and the bigger goals we all would like to accomplish. For me, the day to day, took over last year and the bigger issues were neglected. I began to defend myself in my own mind--It is so busy each day, most of the tasks that I do are important, etc. The bottom line is that if we do not keep one eye and at least some energy on those bigger issues, we will miss the mark of reaching for (and maybe even accomplishing) some of the high impact, global goals that we value.
I think that the same is true of life and goals at school. The language may be different as we discuss strategic planning and curriculum initiatives as opposed to resolutions, but the outcome is the same. If we do not find ways to incorporate steps toward those bigger, long term initiatives into the work that we do each day, we will miss many opportunities.
Here is one example---At Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, the faculty and staff often discuss how to use the technology tools of today to support learning for students. We see even the youngest of our children playing Angry Birds on their parents' I-phones as they wait in restaurants or in grocery lines. Surely, technology is embedded already in these little lives! The question that remains, however, is what is the best way to incorporate new technology into the curriculum so that we can get beyond the bells and whistles to real learning? Doing our homework so that we are sure our school facilities and infrastructure can support the hardware is an important first step. Focusing on where and when to use the technology in the curriculum is a next step--Where can we get the biggest bang for the big bucks that new technology costs? Finally, are we sure that our teachers have the professional development to use the tools effectively?
I am tremendously excited about how we responded to these challenges at our school! This month we are launching a tablet pilot program at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel School. With the help of a partnership with Verizon, we have updated our infra-stucture, purchased a classroom set of Droid tablets, and trained the teachers at all levels in our science department to use them. The applications for the tablets are tremendous--everything from the virtual dissection of frogs to an astronomy application which is literally out of this world! During the next semester, our students across the grades will have the opportunity to use the tablets for something much greater than games. They will be able to stretch their learning and their imaginations with the assistance of new technology and under the guidance of trained faculty. I cannot wait to observe the learning that takes place.
My point, going back to balancing, is that the global initiatives--the educational dreams--we have must be integrated into the small steps of every day so that these bigger goals can be accomplished. Putting our educational resolutions on hold until we "get to them" after our day to day issues are complete, will not work. We will be left looking at our list of dreams without any accomplished as I did on New Year's Eve. Balancing the day to day with the dreams we have for tomorrow must be at the top or all of our resolutions lists!
So, at school, we will begin with the tablet pilot program which will grow to include teaching our children in new and wonderful ways. As time passes, there will be more tablets, more students using them, and applications which will dazzle and delight. At home, there will be more reading and piano playing so that next year, I can generate a truly new list of dreams to accomplish! Good luck keeping your resolutions and working toward your dreams,too! May we learn to balance all the goals we have--big and small!

Glimpses of Joy!

Today I experienced some glimpses of what "joy" looks like. I attended two Christmas Concerts at our school. One of them was for the Upper School students--grades 6-12. The second was for the Lower School students--grades K-5. As you can imagine, there were singing groups and soloists of all ages. There were five year olds with jingle bells and some older more accomlished musicians playing in our newly created instrumental groups which include strings. Some of the faculty participated as well. The music teachers shared their flute and piano talents and wonderful role modeling was evident in the cello solo played beautifully by the high school chemistry teacher. The lesson, of course, is that music touches a deep core within all of us--no matter what our other talents and interests.
I think that there must be something that is an innate part of the human design that causes us to love music. Perhaps it has something to do with the inadequacy of words to capture our feelings. Music can convey love, anger,desire and every imaginable emotion. Today it conveyed the happiness of children--ten days away from Christmas! It also showed that sharing our gifts is appreciated despite our age. In our school, which encompasses all levels of childhood, it is affirming to see the younger children look up to the teenagers for good reasons. It is touching to see the teens root for the little ones and encourage the most timid of five year old efforts. It is reassuring to see middle schoolers, generally so focused on themselves, emulate the older students and try to assist the little ones.
From a broader educational perspective, I was so gladdened to see how many of our youngsters took part in the program. We have just this year resurrected our insturmental music program and I was so happy to hear the sound of progress as they played. In an era which is so focused on technology, it is increasingly important to emphaisze the aesthetic. Children need to recognize that which is beautiful just as much as they need to learn how to do research on the web. Music touches the heart and I am so pleased that, despite the challenges of our economy, we have been able to provide an expanded Fine Arts Program for our students.
This growth is, in no small part, championed by our faculty. Dr. Jeff Bunn, our Fine Arts Chair who has dual degrees in music and business, is equally comfortable playing the piano as he is playing the Stock Market! Margaret Mackie and Lauren Elfring bring out the best in our visual artists and the addition of Liz Young, the instrumental teacher, creates a cadre of professionals who are dedicated to children and their craft. I could not be more pleased with their ability to light the creative fires that are sometimes hidden within our children!
So, as I listened to the singng and playing today, I also watched. "Joy" looks like a seven year old playing the violin, a nervous fouteen year old performing a solo without a missed note, and a junior trumpet player who carried a fledling ensemble group through its first public perfromance. Joy, looked to me--as it often does--like Our Lady of Mt. Carmel School!