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Christian Service Program
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CHRISTIAN SERVICE PROGRAM
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- Providence HigH ScHool viSion Statement
Recognizing that service to others is an integral part of Christian discipleship, all Providence High School students are required to give of their time and talent to service projects during each of their four years. Seniors are required to complete a minimum of 40 hours, juniors 30 hours, sophomores 20 hours, and freshmen 10 hours. It is expected that all students engage in service, both on and off campus, with agencies that provide opportunities for our students to encounter and assist persons who have various needs, such as volunteering at hospitals, convalescent homes, retirement homes, elementary schools, parish churches, or various charity agencies.
However, Providence students go well above and beyond what is required of them. Last year, students logged more than 20,000 service hours. Over the summer, students served around 12,000 hours locally and abroad. Over the four years a class has been at Providence High School, that graduating class has generally served nearly 20,000 hours. 80% of the students do more than the required hours, and at least 25% complete more than double the requirement.
“Our entire community strives to live the mission of the Sisters of Providence - to ‘reveal God’s love for all, especially the poor and vulnerable, through our compassionate service’,” reflected Director of Campus Ministry Claire Hickey. “Students and adults alike understand that being a Pioneer means we share our gifts to make the world around us a better place.”
We Care Wednesdays have become an on-campus tradition in which students can participate in outreach to patients in hospitals, moms with babies in the NICU next door at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center, expressing appreciation for students, parents, and staff, preparing seasonal gift bags for children in shelters, collecting and organizing supplies for fire, earthquake, or hurricane victims, packing lunches for local food pantries, creating gifts for animals in shelters, among other service-related activities.
During the recent devastating hurricanes, Providence High School “adopted” Incarnate Word High School, an all-girls Catholic High School located in Houston, TX. In a short amount of time, students, parents, and faculty and staff members raised $5,000. In addition, the Athletic Department donated PE t-shirts and sweatpants to the University of Houston. For the Puerto Rico hurricane relief effort, items were collected and resulted in filling eight boxes that were sent to Puerto Rico.
“The generosity of the Providence High School community never ceases to amaze me,” said Hickey. “Without a second thought, the students and adults on campus are willing to step up and assist as needed, and this was even more evident during the catastrophic hurricane season.”
The following pages (20-23) detail personal experiences from students and one faculty member as they recount recent service projects they participated in, both locally and abroad.
Photo on opposite page: Director of Campus Ministry Claire Hickey oversees one of the collections for Hurricane Relief. Students were given the opportunity to wear jeans to school in exchange for donating to the fund.
Ryan Donnelly ‘18
During my summer, I went to the Kasigau Wildlife Corridor in Kenya for two weeks. I was able to go on this trip because I applied and was chosen for the Duttenhaver Conservation Field Study Program. This program sends students all over the world to participate in environmental research through Earthwatch, an organization that creates opportunities for citizens to conduct important research with scientists. Here, I participated in an experiment attempting to solve the problem of human-elephant conflict. Human-elephant conflict is a problem throughout Africa. Elephants raid the crops of subsistence farmers (farmers who live by eating what they grow), causing the farmers to have no income and turn to unsustainable methods of generating income, such as poaching or charcoal burning (cutting down and burning trees for fuel). So, I was very excited to help with the experiment and try to solve this huge problem.
Over the course of the two weeks I was there, I helped measure fields, build fences, and set up different fences around experimental fields of crops. Once the work was complete, all that was left to do was wait for elephants to raid the fields in order to collect data. Because the experiment goes on until January 2018 and no elephants raided during the time I was there, I was not able to gather this data. My favorite part of the research was participating in transects, set paths we drove to document animal species. Going on the transects was a lot of fun, as not only did we see an incredible number of animals, but the data we recorded added to a thirty-year long research project on biodiversity in the area. Overall, I feel like this project really is going to impact lots of people. Even though we could not be there to collect data on how well the fences worked, I am hopeful that the fences will deter elephants to some degree. If the fences do work, many farmers’ lives will be impacted in such a good way, as well as the environment around them. This trip also impacted me as well, as by doing the research there I confirmed my passion for wanting to have a career as a wildlife biologist.
Stephanie Ko ‘19
For the past 11 years, I have been traveling on mission trips concentrating on Central America. This year our destination was Nicaragua. Our mission team is split into three parts: women's seminar, bible seminar, and Vacation Bible Study (VBS) for the children. My focus was with the VBS team where we helped serve village children at three different church locations. This year specifically I was able to connect with the children more because I spoke with them and was able to communicate and learn about them individually in depth. There was no language barrier and that was all thanks to the Spanish lessons I took and continue to take here at Providence! I face painted, danced, baked, cleaned, and passed out gifts for the kids. Seeing the children smile at the smallest things made my heart squeeze and I wouldn't give up that experience for anything else in the world! I love the experience and I can't wait to serve again this coming summer!
Keely Savitt ‘19
This summer, I spent three weeks at my aunt’s house in Refrath, Germany. After I read the book, Shooting Kabul, and watched the documentary, My Homeland, which described a family who escaped the war-torn city of Aleppo to start a new life in Germany, I was very interested in meeting refugee families in Germany. My aunt, who is very active in organizing help for refugees, told me that I could volunteer at her local church to help with the refugee children’s summer program.
One of my responsibilities was to supervise and engage about 12 children ranging between eight and 16 years of age in fun pool activities. Most of the children couldn’t swim, especially the girls. Since women are not allowed to show themselves in a bathing suit in Syria, they never got the chance to learn how to swim. In addition to engaging in pool activities with the refugee children, I also got a chance to play lots of other sports with them. Something interesting that I learned while we were playing sports was that many of the refugee kids were not allowed to drink water during the day, since it was Ramadan for them. I quickly learned that Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, and is observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting. They were only allowed to eat and drink before dawn and after sunset. I loved spending time with the refugee kids that fled to my aunt’s hometown. Not only did I enjoy learning about their culture and their lives, I was also happy to be a part of something that allowed them to act and feel like kids again.
This past summer, I had the opportunity to go on a service trip to the island of Tortola in the British Virgin Islands with Visions Service Adventures for 21 days. The main focus of the trip was to engage in community service each day. The projects we worked on were building storage for the Red Cross building, painting and building animal cages for the Humane Society, building planters for the local retirement home, and building benches for the community center. One of my favorite activities that I was blessed to be able to do was to help out in swimming classes for challenged adults. Besides doing service work we had responsibilities around our house. We had to take care of cleaning, buying any supplies at the store and making all meals except for dinner which was done by Miss Carol, a local woman who came to cook for us. When we had free time we were able to experience and learn things about the community. We were able to go to the local basketball court, go to local farms, go scuba diving and we were welcomed into the homes of local families for dinner. My very favorite part of the trip was being able to meet so many amazing people and spending time with the children on the island. Being able to experience such a different culture was truly beautiful and I am very grateful for the time I spent there.
Brian Markey ‘18
Keeva McNutt ‘18
This summer, I went on a once-in-a-lifetime service trip to Nepal. The trip was with a company called Global Works that organizes trips for teens that incorporate touring, service, and cultural immersion to different places around the world. On my trip, there were 18 teens and all of us were from different states. Making friends and working with people from all over the place made the trip even more rich and interesting. The trip was only 17 days, but we crammed a lot into it. The service project that our group did was to construct a bathroom for a school. This involved digging a 6’x6’x6’ hole for a septic tank, moving boulders, and building cement and brick walls. The school was on top of a mountain which we hiked up and down each day. There were also 50 or so children that were excitedly expecting our arrival at their school. Our group split up and took turns between playing games with the children and working on the project. After 10 days, our school bathroom project was done and it was time to experience Nepal. The people, the terrain, and the culture of Nepal is completely different from here. It was amazing to be in such a different place. We got to see and do some really cool stuff. A few experiences really stand out. A huge highlight was riding on an elephant through the jungle and seeing rhinoceroses and monkeys up close and roaming around. I also rode an elephant into a river and it filled its trunk with water and gave me a bath! We saw many very old elaborate buildings, many with earthquake damage from a very large earthquake they suffered in the recent past. Because Nepal is the birthplace of Buddha, there were Buddhist temples in many different countries; we toured 10 of them, and I learned about many facets of Buddha’s life from many different perspectives. We visited a monastery and got to meet and have a lot of fun with young monks who do not have a lot of interaction with people outside their monastery. I feel so lucky to have gotten the chance this summer to experience a far-away place and make a small difference there; I will remember it all for a very long time.
This summer, I spent one of my three weeks in Ozark, Arkansas volunteering at the Franklin County Learning Center (FCLC), a center for people with developmental and physical disabilities, ranging from newborns to adults, but not including kids of school age. I helped the two teachers in the nursery take care of up to six babies, the two eldest being a year old. All but one of the babies were born prematurely, so the Learning Center focuses on helping them reach certain goals and objectives depending on where they are physically and developmentally. I worked eight hours a day, from seven in the morning to three-thirty in the afternoon. While working (and playing) with the babies, I came up with different ways to comfort each baby if they started crying, ways to keep them entertained while waiting on a meal, and ways to put them to sleep at nap time. All of these required a lot of patience, understanding, and the ability to improvise and think outside the box. The only thing I didn't help with was when they needed a diaper change, in which case I would call over one of the teachers and she would do it herself. I absolutely loved working with everyone at FCLC, the environment is very hospitable and welcoming, and they even gave me a goodbye gift on my last day there. I learned a lot in the short week that I was there, and I hope I learn even more if I go again next summer!
David Bird - PHS Science Teacher
Itraveled to Guatemala in early November to serve the people of San Antonio Beleju. Providence St. Joseph (PSJ) Global Partnerships is a branch of Providence working to serve the poor and vulnerable in an international capacity. PSJ Global partnerships sends medical and service teams to people in need. The people of San Antonio Beleju are nestled in the cloud forest of Guatemala, having limited resources and no medical care. The medical teams discovered three major needs for the people. There was a need for latrines, wood burning stoves with ventilation, and water cisterns. These three projects would help aid with the high rate of childhood dysentery and respiratory problems. Last year for Providence high school’s Lent drive, the school fundraised to pay for the materials needed for latrines, stoves, and cisterns. Wanting to serve the people of San Antonio Beleju, I volunteered to travel to the Guatemalan village and help build the cisterns.
The best part of the experience was getting to know the people of San Antonio Beleju. They are a beautiful people, rich in culture. I was amazed at how warmly I was welcomed into their village. The entire time I felt at home. The village has over 700 people, 122 of which are elementary aged children. The people of San Antonio Beleju are happy and playful. Everyone I met was smiling and laughing. Being able to provide them with clean water was an honor. It was incredible to see the power of the Providence High School community in action. We raised the money for the cisterns and as a representative I was able to see them completed. I have brought back photographs of the families we served. Hopefully my experience will inspire more of our community to engage in service. For my next project, I plan to help the elementary school of San Antonio Beleju. The cisterns that were built by the Providence team and me are large cement water tanks that collect rain water. The rain water runs through a filter and fills the tank. One tank holds enough clean water to support three families through the dry season. Because of these tanks, the families do not have to walk an hour down the mountain to fill buckets from the river. The filters prevent the bacterial contamination that was causing the childhood dysentery. During the time I was in Guatemala, seven tanks were built, enough to support twenty one families. The service taking place in the indigenous villages of Guatemala is an ongoing one that Providence is proud to support.
