A Week to Celebrate

Putting Mission Into PracticeSchools thrive best by being true to their mission. In this article in Education Week we are reminded that in order for schools to thrive and grow, they must have a mission and to put it into practice daily.Celebrating Our SchoolsWe set aside one week a year to celebrate our schools during National Catholic Schools Week. Each school plans activities and some are  listed here.This years theme was Dividends for Life. The theme emphasizes the idea that a Catholic education pays off both now and in the future in the  areas of Knowledge, Discipline, Faith and Morals.  Schools celebrate in various ways.Events AttendedI was privileged to participate in a number of these activities which I detail below:Thursday Before Catholic Schools Week: St. Francis of Assisi school in Springfield -Teacher Kate Nolan'stechnology class. Students were creating graphics on the computer using Kidpix. While discussing the theme for the upcoming week they illustrated files on their computers.csw2 Click here to see a video of Students and their Teacher Wishing all a Happy CSWFriday Evening Kick Off: Distinguished Graduates Event - Over 700 people gathered to honor 5 graduates who have given life long service to our schools. This was a wonderful evening which included a touching video summary. Read about the honorees here.Monday: Secondary Teachers Mass with Cardinal Rigali. This was attended by over 1000 teachers and was held at the Cathedral Basilica in Philadelphia. The homily is streamed here. Later, a small group of Catholic Education staffers enjoyed a lunch of a classic  Philadelphia treat, hoagies.Tuesday: Secondary Schools Senior Athletes Mass with Bishop McFadden - This mass was attended by over 1400 athletes. Music was provided by the amazing choir from Cardinal O'Hara. The homily is streamed here focused on sportsmanship and living a life inspired by faith.Wednesday: Technology Award - I visited a Philadelphia school, Holy Innocents for a Netbook presentation to a 7th grade classroom. Getting the best technology into the hands of our students is a top priority at the Archdiocese.  There was great excitement here asthis school was just awarded a grant for technology which included 60 netbooks for students in 7th and 8th grade. This grant presentation was attended by Bishop McFadden, Superintendent Mary Rochford, State Representative John Taylor, teachers, students and office staff. The students were so excited to get these new tools for the classroom. With these tools, they could immediately access information about their support Haiti project.  In his talk to the students Bishop McFadden said this technology will help you 'to learn about the world, connect to people all over the globe and to make the world a better place.' Thursday: Convocation, Bishop McDevitt High School, Speaker,  Immaculee -  An inspirational speaker, Immaculee talked to the assembly of students and educators of her survival of the genocide in Rwanda during the 90's. Through faith and prayer she not only survived but went on to forgive her captors. She reminded students to have faith and to spend time each day giving service to the poor and disadvantaged.  Immaculee has an organization called Left to Tell where she raises money for orphans in Rwanda.Friday: View Online Technology Project - Entitled, the Catholic Schools connect schools can sign up and connect with schools  in our area, across the country and even across the world. There they could discuss the events of the week and share unique facts about their own school. Web 2.0 Technology tools such as Skype, wikis and blogs where used.  A few schools connecting with teacher Barb Gilman in Nebraska and St. Genevieve's connected with Frances Manning from Holy Family school in Australia. We encourage these connections with schools both locally and globally. We plan to connect with Catholic Schools in Australia during their Catholic School's Week in March. Kudos to our participating schools and teachers! We expect this list and these connections among schools to grow.I then visited Hallahan High School for a website training class on our newly updated Catholic Education website.A Surprise VisitWhile at Hallahan, I  heard about their surprise visit this week from Mayor Nutter. His mother had attended the school when she was young. When Hallahan students saw his car pass them on the street, they waved a friendly hello. Right then and there, he decided to  stop by the school for a quick tour and surprised principal, Mary Kirby when he walked into her office. He then took a tour of the school.All in all this was a fun and inspiring week.Then, something interesting happened that reminded me about the continuity of our schools - our present, our past and our future.A Interesting  Find From the PastOn Wednesday evening, when I was home and looking through some old photos, to my surprise,  I found insert to the Catholic Standard and Times, our local Catholic newspaper from 1961. It was a supplement detailing the installation of Cardinal John Krol as Cardinal of Philadelphia.In this paper, there was an article profiling the growth of Catholic Education in the Philadelphia Archdiocese. It starts from the beginning. In 1782 a new schoolhouse was opened at St. Mary's in Philadelphia employing 2 full-time teachers. The article continues to profile growth in schools and attendees until it's publication in 1961 when there were over 250,000 students in diocesan schools. Though the number of students in our schools is less now than it was in 1961, the dedication of many to our schools remains and is evident daily in classrooms and school communities in the 5 county area.With this being our Catholic Schools week, I found it to be a positively appropriate time to come upon this old newspaper. My mother in law, Betty Caramanico, had saved it for over 50 years before she passed last summer. The paragraph written at the end of the article though written many years ago is as true today as it was then. It states, 'The road that stretches from that two room schoolhouse at St. Mary's to our present extensive system has been traveled only at the cost of much labor and sacrifice. Yet through the grace of God and the dedication of men (and women) our children have been educated and our faith has been preserved.  Catholic Education has prospered because it is God's work. That work will continue. When our doubts and fears have long since ceased to exist, the fruits of Catholic Education will still be growing.' Whether in a Catholic system, a public school system or a private one, it is important to stay true to your school's mission and to put it into practice daily.While participating in these events, I saw dedication to Catholic Schools evident in the hearts and  minds of so many. This promise of our schools was evident in to many this week. The  'fruits' and the dividends are still growing and will grow long into the future.