Catholic Schools Week
SJA Celebrates Faith, Academics and Service
Catholic Schools Week 2012
Nora Salmon, Molly Olwig and Carolyn Heger Speak about the importance of Faith, Academics and Service
Faith by Molly Olwig ('15)
Faith is a funny thing, don’t you think? Faith is a gift from God that drives us to do crazy things like love your enemy and make sacrifices. But faith brings us to God. Our Father in Heaven loves us so much that He gives us faith to bring us to Him.
My faith is who I am. I can’t go a day without recognizing God in this world. His greatness makes me realize how much we all need and depend on Him.
I have been so blessed to come to St. Joseph’s Academy where I can freely live out my faith. Everyone here has helped me grow in my faith. Some of you may have only scratched the surface of our faith while others may have completely immersed yourselves. Either way, I pray that everyone here continues to live out your faith.
Galatians 2:20 says “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” Take up your cross and join me in this journey of faith.
Academics by Carolyn Heger ('13)
To most people, academics seem to be simply the process of learning about subjects because they either must do so or have a desire to do so. Furthermore, these same individuals typically equate academics with the grades that a person receives in his or her classes. In my opinion, however, Catholic schools encourage their students to see academics as being much more than any letter on a sheet of paper or another list of classes on a schedule. Our Catholic educational institutions, rather, push us to look at scholarship as a means through which we can utilize our God-given talents and interests to nourish our minds. By tapping into these precious gifts in each of our classes, we are able to give glory to God and to develop into the intelligent, educated young women that God is calling each of us here in this theater to be. In addition to promoting this particular outlook on academics, it is at Catholic elementary schools that young children first learn about the beliefs and rituals of the Catholic Church. For example, Catholic kindergarteners begin their religious education by looking at the most well-known Gospel stories in order to learn more about God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. A Catholic grade schooler’s foundational knowledge of God and the Church continues to grow until the time that she graduates from eighth grade. When this student enters Catholic high school, however, she is challenged by her theology teachers to re-examine the faith about which she learned in grade school and to apply Catholic beliefs to her own life. By the time of her high school graduation, this student’s Catholic school hopes that she has developed into a mature woman of faith who can practice her Catholic religion not only at Sunday Mass but on a day-to-day basis. I firmly believe that the academic mission of our own school, as well as every other Catholic high school, is to lead us toward this goal of being strong women filled with the wisdom, knowledge, and right judgment of the Holy Spirit. As I conclude this reflection, I want to leave you with a quotation from St. Thomas Aquinas that I feel captures the essence of the outlook on academics of Catholic schools ranging from grade school to the collegiate level: “We can’t have full knowledge all at once. We must start by believing; then afterwards we may be led on to master the evidence for ourselves.”
Service by Nora Salmon ('14)
Whenever I used to think of service, I inwardly groaned. Last year I dreaded having to fulfill my 10 whole hours of requirement for St. Joe, but once I actually started doing volunteer work, I actually fell in love with it. A lot of people don’t like doing service because they’re not being paid or rewarded, but that’s the exact reason I volunteer. I don’t do St. Joe serves so I’ll be mentioned in one of Mrs. Garvin’s monthly emails, or so that I will get a leadership scholarship at a college I apply to (although that would be nice). I like volunteering because I want to let people know that even if they can’t even feed themselves, there are people in the world who will step up, without being asked, and help them. It’s a humbling experience to go to a soup kitchen and see people’s faces light up when you give them the kind of food you complain about having in the cafeteria. I just ask that the next time you volunteer for something, try to put it in perspective and have a light heart as you serve others.
