Remembrance, service, and some friendly competition

May Day volunteers at St. Philip.

April showers bring May flowers, but around St. Philip High School, May brings philanthropy.

It starts with May Day, which honors the memory of Tim May, St. Philip’s beloved principal who died unexpectedly in November of 2014.

This was the third year students donned their work gloves after Mass, divided into teams, and spruced up the grounds around our schools and parishes.

“Mr. May was huge on service and giving back to your community, so anything we can do for our school community honors him,” senior Hannah Pearl said. “I'm sure all of us helping out and making the grounds of our schools beautiful would have put a smile on his face.”

This May Day some students volunteered at Charitable Union, helping to sort clothes and get a jump-start on Philanthropy Week, which runs May 8-12.

Philanthropy Week is sponsored by the Battle Creek Community Foundation’s Youth Alliance Council, a 35-member grant-making committee comprised of area high school students. Hannah sits on this committee, as well as St. Philip students Emily Pearl, Sarah Guzzo, and Madi Elliot.

Every year the committee picks an organization to sponsor for Philanthropy Week. This year’s recipient is Charitable Union, which provides free clothing and household items for underprivileged people.

May Day volunteers at St. Joseph.

“It is often hard for organizations to have resources to advertise…what they do and what they need from the community,” Hannah said.

Along with citywide efforts to raise money for Charitable Union, area high schools have engaged in some friendly competition to see which school can make the biggest impact.

Hannah organized St. Philip’s efforts, which include an internal competition to see which class can collect the most donations.

The week started with a pep assembly, where, amongst the games and buzz, representatives from Charitable Union explained what the non-profit does.

“It raises awareness…instead of people just randomly giving to an organization that they have no idea about,” Hannah said.

Students are collecting clothing and Family Fare receipts, every $150,000 of which earns a $1000 for Charitable Union. There are drop-off sites for both donation types throughout the BCACS school system. Our priests also got the word out to all our Battle Creek parishes about the donation efforts. In addition, high school students can be out of dress code for a $1-a-day donation to the cause.

Philanthropy Week ends with United Way’s Youth Day of Caring on May 12. St. Philip students will return to Charitable Union to volunteer. Afterward, St. Philip will announce the winning class, and the Youth Alliance Council will announce the winning high school.

“Philanthropy is something that should be lifelong,” Hannah said. “Getting kids involved now allows them to be aware of the good you can do for your community.”

Students stand by Mr. May's tree, which was planted in his memory.

Mingling innovation with inspiration

St. Philip High School English teacher Jenny Niesen believes in self-directed learning, which is why she assigns Innovation Projects. The project can be anything, but it must root from the student's passion.

Emily Pearl, a senior in Mrs. Niesen’s AP Language class, had three main passions: soccer, faith, and food.

She chose faith.

“I wanted to do something to help others and I couldn’t think of a project that would help others in those other areas,” Emily said with a laugh. “Faith is a really an aspect of growing up.”

Like most seniors, the future was on Emily's mind. She knew where she was going to college, had an idea what she wanted to do after college, but the rest was…what?

She found peace in God's plan.

“Once you realize life is chaotic, you realize God is there and it’s in his hands,” Emily said.

Trusting God's plan isn't easy, even with a Catholic education.

“Our theology classes are really important, but they are more about the doctrine of the Catholic faith and not really how to build a lasting relationship that you can really fall back on with Christ,” Emily said.

Emily decided to create a Faith Day for students with speakers, contemporary music, and reflection. The BCACS staff liked her idea. In fact, they wanted Faith Day incorporated into Catholic Schools Week – two months earlier than Emily anticipated.

This would require innovation.

Using local resources, Emily lined up Fr. Christopher Ankley, Tri-Parish Youth Director Andrea Perry, Sara Pekar, who interns at St. Joseph Parish, and Bob Johnson, who completed a service trip to Haiti, as speakers. Ms. Pekar would lead the singing and Fr. Chris would celebrate Mass.

[l. to r.] Sara Pekar, Andrea Perry, Emily Pearl, Fr. Chris Ankley, Bob Johnson

“I’ve never seen a student totally organize an event on their own and pull it off at this level,” Kyra Rabbitt, AP History teacher, said. “I’m really proud of her.”

Faith Day took place on Wednesday of Catholic Schools Week. The theme was “Where Feet May Fail: Trusting in God's Plan”.

Emily cited Fr. Chris’ path from practicing veterinarian to parish priest as the stories she hoped to capture.

“It is an interesting perspective to hear how God’s plan for him was a little bit skewed,” Emily said. “It wasn’t an immediate thing. I think it is really important for us to hear those stories.”

Mrs. Niesen agreed, describing Ms. Pekar's presentation as “huge” because she questioned God's plan.

Students listening to Ms. Pekar's presentation.

“For students this age, it’s key, because which one of them isn’t questioning their faith all the time?” Mrs. Niesen said.

Hopefully, Faith Day helped with those questions.

“I had a few people come up to me and say, ‘Thank you. This day was really cool’,” Emily said.

Very cool indeed.

Comments, questions, have a few suggestions? Write us at BCACS.Blog@gmail.com.

The story behind "Adriana's Angels"

I discovered this story in pieces. First, there was a post on our BCACS Facebook page, thanking our children for helping our St. Vincent de Paul pantry during Christmas. I didn’t think much of it at the time. Having had three kids at St. Joe, I was well aware of food donations during school Mass. A week later, there was a special “Tiger Paw” given to Adriana Nelson in the St. Joseph Church bulletin, thanking her for suggesting a Christmas collection for the St. Vincent de Paul pantry. I wondered if these items were related, and was delighted with the answer.

Adriana Nelson, a student in Mrs. Kuenzel’s third-grade class, had a question her mother couldn’t answer.

“We give stuff on Thursdays at church, but why can’t we give stuff to the poor every day?”

The “stuff” she was referring to was the non-perishable food items St. Joseph Elementary and Middle School students bring for the St. Vincent de Paul pantry every Thursday during school Mass.

Adriana wanted to have a competition amongst the grades to see who could bring in the most food during December. The winning class would receive a prize.

Her mother took Adriana to the school’s office, where she presented her idea to the St. Joseph staff.

The staff loved it.

"When one of our students gets the courage to come to the office and ask for something like this, it just warms the heart and reaffirms that our parents, staff, and church are all working together to create amazing young people,” Jeanine Winkler, St. Joseph Elementary administrative assistant, said.

The staff decided to call the competition “Adriana’s Angels”.

From December 2 to December 16, each grade would collect as many non-perishables and toiletries for the St. Vincent de Paul pantry as they could.

When thinking about the prize, the staff decided against an “out of dress code” slip or a pizza party. Instead, they chose a simple poster, which would declare the winning class as possessing “the true Spirit of Christmas, one of service before self”.

The children embraced their goal.

Non-perishable items overwhelmed the baskets at school Mass on Thursday, and sometimes the counters in the classroom, prompting a couple classes to walk their items over to the pantry themselves.

St. Joe's tiniest Tigers delivered these pantry items personally.

Every Friday, Mrs. Winkler would announce the classroom in the lead. When it was over, Mrs. Doyle’s second grade won, bringing 98 items to the pantry. The real winners were the needy in our area. Thanks to “Adriana’s Angels”, the St. Vincent de Paul pantry received 285 items.

Adriana Nelson, the inspiration behind "Adriana's Angels"

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not prevent them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” How true. ~nlvm

Comments, questions, have a few suggestions? Write us at BCACS.Blog@gmail.com.