Global Experiences...Local Impact

Reprinted from Traditions, Winter 2016-2017
March 3, 2017

The long tradition of excellence at Cretin-Derham Hall is focused not only on individual development and academic progress, but also on the critical need to think and act like a global citizen.

“No one at CDH can go through a school day without a sense of our dear neighbor,” explained Mona Passman, Principal.

“We hope to help our students understand their responsibility to their sisters and brothers around the world,” noted Passman. “That understanding comes from several sources: daily prayer, knowing the classmate in the desk next to them, working with a youngster at a field work site, or sharing a meal with a family in another country.”

For many, the idea of providing experiences to enhance a student’s global perspective might seem to
imply that travel is involved. While those opportunities do exist, and are encouraged where possible, the experience for each and every student at CDH is centered on creating a ‘global perspective’ on campus.

Of course, teachers across the curriculum aim to make learning reflect a broad and diverse perspective, as well as current events. In addition, CDH goes further by expanding the students’ worldview by requiring experiential learning for seniors as a capstone to their learning.

Service Learning Embedded into Curriculum

Seniors can choose one of the following religion courses: Senior Seminar, Spectrum, or Philosophy and Theology/Social Justice. A unique element of these courses is the service requirement. Students are matched with a service site which they visit weekly during the school day, all year long.

Students spend one day a week throughout the academic year working at sites around the Twin Cities that serve those who are in need of attention or assistance. Students might serve at a school like the Twin Cities International School, where Somali children are learning to speak English, or a the Listening House in downtown St. Paul, where adults who live on the streets are offered a refuge and a variety of services. While seniors give generously of their time and energy at their sites, they soon
recognize that they are the real recipients. Through their yearlong experiences, they develop a depth of understanding and appreciation of ‘the dear neighbor’ through the development of significant relationships. In this, they come to understand that they possess a profound capacity and responsibility to impact the lives of fellow human beings in positive ways.

In fact, this year, CDH students work at dozens of different service sites every year through curriculum requirements alone.

”The fact our students have these authentic experiences in our community significantly enhances their classroom learning, “explained Peter Gleich, Senior Seminar team faculty member. “When we talk about making sense of the world through literature or our faith, for instance,” he continued, “the CDH students share their own stories in light of what they have learned while at their service site, and their understanding of themselves, one another and our larger world is greatly expanded.”

A key component of this program is the need for each student to not only go outside their comfort zone, but to really grow in understanding another person’s experience that may be very different from their own.

“Many of our students are quite hesitant, and often nervous, about working with young immigrant students when there is a big language barrier,” said Gleich. “The growth comes over time, as the students start to establish a sense of trust in their relationships. This is real-world stuff.”

Senior John Kocourek, a Senior Seminar student who serves at Benjamin E. Mays IB World School in St. Paul, believes his experience in his assigned classroom has taught him a very important lesson, “Kids always look at the positives in any negative situation, and that is a very important mindset to have in life,” reflected John. The opportunity to ‘serve the dear neighbor’ is not limited to coursework.

He and a group of friends additionally commit to serving at the Dorothy Day Center on some weekends where his eyes are truly opened to the challenges of poverty and homelessness right in our city.

International Students Enrich the Fiber of CDH

While international students have often chosen to attend CDH in past years, either through a year-long exchange program or a short-term immersion program, CDH welcomed ten international students this year, which is a significant increase over previous years.

These students intend to attend for the duration of their high school years and graduate from CDH.

All 10 international students (seven from Vietnam, two from China and one from Korea) live with a host family who has a connection to CDH, many who have a current student at CDH, but this is not a requirement.

Tony Leseman ’01, who coordinates the international student program, noted that the main reason students from other countries choose CDH is for our size and location in the heart of Saint Paul. “As the largest private school in Minnesota, the students are attracted to the variety of classes and activities we offer,” noted Leseman.

The students have adequate English language skills in order to be successful at CDH. In addition to our students who welcome them and help them integrate into the CDH culture, the success of this program can also be attributed to the teachers who have gone out of their way to support our international students as they transition in and outside the classroom.

“All our students at CDH benefit from the presence of international students at CDH,” explained Leseman. “This is a true community perspective of different cultures and background.”

Nhi (Mimi) Huynh, a current senior from Vietnam, started at CDH this past fall and joined the dance performance team and is in the Solidarity Club, an organization that celebrates ethnicities. She recognizes how important it is to learn from each other – lifestyles, cultures, and the most important of all, how to treat others with respect. “I really like the unity we have here at CDH, and the diversity,” Mimi reflected. “It is a great community to meet new people and to experience different things.”

In addition to the international students, CDH also hosts shorter visits from students from other counties. This year, 17 girls from Strathearn School, Belfast Northern Ireland stayed with CDH
host families for over a week, toured the Twin Cities area and spent time at CDH participating in the American high school experience, including normal classes as well as a Friday night football game and the school musical. The CDH students not only hosted their visit, many friendships were forged that last long after the visit ended.

Justice Trips Challenge Perspectives

With six Justice Education Trips and one cultural immersion trip offered to students this year, many CDH students may be able to expand their global perspective outside their home community – and this offers an opportunity that can also be life-changing.

“Our goal with our Justice Education Trips is simple – provide a chance for students to discover themselves and those they meet along the way in the context of social justice,” explained Becki Medellin, Coordinator of Justice Education at CDH.

Several years ago, CDH outlined our goals for these travel programs, and with every trip, no matter what the location or the focus of the trip, our students are given unique opportunities to:

• Recognize their privilege and the responsibility which that privilege brings.
• Understand that, as brothers and sisters, we are called by the Gospel to work with others and work for justice.
• Return with a renewed enthusiasm to serve their own community and the world.
• Learn the difference between charity and justice.
• Understand more clearly the demands of prayer, service, leadership, and simple living.

This year, the Justice Education trips offered include: Peru, Red Lake Indian Reservation, El Otro Lado (immigration issues in Arizona/Mexico), Civil Rights (Atlanta, Georgia plus Selma, Montgomery and Birmingham, Alabama), Camden, New Jersey, and Guatemala. In addition, for the first time, a cultural immersion trip to Cuba is offered.

Medellin points out that these trips are not vacation learning, and often, they may not even be focused on service. “We are really striving to listen and accompany the people in those places so we better understand our global neighbor, who are often struggling in ways we would not normally understand.”

She tells the story of the student who believed he was linguistically and culturally prepared for travel to Venezuela but who would later say that the most impactful thing that he did was to spend time simply playing with kids. “Our CDH students understand the world differently when they start to know the individual person and his or her story, even when playing baseball in a dirt field…in a way that may not completely come together in a classroom.”

Global Citizens Have Local Impact

While there are many programs at CDH to enrich a student’s global experience, Principal Mona Passman points out that the first place we build respect and understanding is at home. “One of the CDH values that is a foundation for so much of what we do here is that of Diversity – and right here walking the halls of CDH are people with whom we share a lot in common, especially our values and our goals, but we are still quite different from each other – and that is probably our biggest teacher and certainly an asset.”

“The beauty of our diversity – in race, income, gender, faith traditions and so much more – enables each of us to support each other in our quest to grow as a stronger community,” noted Aaron Benner, Ninth Grade Dean and Diversity Coordinator. “Being a good citizen involves recognizing each other’s unique roles in our community.”

This article and more are featured in the Winter 2016-2017 issue of the CDH Magazine, Traditions.