Essays show ways students serve

In preparation for this year’s Catholic Schools Week celebration, the diocesan Catholic Schools Office invited all Catholic school students in grades 6-12 to participate in an essay competition to tell others how their schools “celebrate service.”
Pattie Davis, associate superintendent of schools, coordinated the project. She said this year’s CSW theme “recognizes Catholic schools’ long tradition of involving students in local and world community civic projects. For Catholic schools, service-learning has always been a key component in educating the whole child in body, mind and spirit.”
Davis said she got the idea for the diocesan-wide competition from a project done in the Archdiocese of San Antonio.
“We are proud to say that our Catholic schools are involved in over 100 service projects this year with students submitting a variety of essays on individual or entire school projects focusing on the corporal works of mercy or Catholic social justice themes,” she said. “Projects span from helping within their parish community, to local community and even global projects.”
Students received certificates for first, second and third place from each grade level. From all the first-place essays, overall first, second and third place winners were chosen. The winners were announced Jan. 15.
Jonathan Wolfe, a senior from Catholic High School in Little Rock, received the overall first-place award with his essay on the new Catholic High club “REACH” (Representing Everyone at Catholic High). REACH aims to raise $3,000 for the Water is Basic nonprofit organization, which drills wells for the people of Sudan.
Wolfe is REACH president and learned about Water is Basic through his brother, Christopher Wolfe, who attends college in Dallas where the organization is headquartered.
So far, REACH has raised $1,100 through “passing the bucket” at lunch and football games. They also sell hot chocolate and coffee on Mondays and Fridays at school and plan to have car washes in the spring, Davis explained.
The second-place overall winner was Philip Krutsch, a sixth-grade student at Christ the King in Fort Smith. Phillip’s essay explained Christ the King’s work with the Southwest Service Dog organization, which trains service dogs for people with disabilities. Students serve as assistants to the trainers through the maturing process of the dogs.
The third-place overall award went to Hanna Rehm, a ninth-grade student at St. Joseph School in Conway. Rehm’s essay focused on her involvement in the bi-annual spaghetti supper at St. Joseph Church in Center Ridge. Rehm has been volunteering along with her family for several years to prepare food for the dinner. She and others begin preparing the food a month in advance.
Davis said Rehm learned about the hard work that goes into preparing the meal, but, more importantly, learned about the joy and rewards of volunteering.
“We are very proud of the student participation in this year’s essay contest as well as their participation in service-learning,” Davis said. “Additionally, we are thankful for the work of Catholic school faculty and staff in their continuing efforts to bring student and community together for real-life learning experiences.”

Click here to return to the 2009 Catholic Schools Week section index.

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