The Grande Project

The Grande Project St. Louis University High Class of 2021 “When the Gospel grows little feet.”

THE GRANDE PROJECT The Grande Project was borne from necessity. Faced with shuttered service agencies around St. Louis during the COVID-19 pandemic, Campus Ministry faced a choice: cancel Senior Project for the Class of 2021, or design an alternative. We chose the latter.

Embracing imperfection over nothing, we got to work. Knowing the power of direct service in disturbing a self-centered aura among our students, we created an alternative project that challenged seniors to safely engage with an outside, marginalized population in a time when so many students have been forced to isolate or withdraw.

Anchoring the project with the virtual Ignatian Family Teach-in For Justice in October 2020, and a weeklong Grande Project intensive and seminars in January 2021, we trusted ever more fully that the Lord would work through our best efforts with His love and grace in order to reconcile, heal, and strengthen the students in their vocations. This is a project generated and sustained by that spirit of hopeful trust.

Named after Fr. Rutilio Grande, SJ, Martyr of the Church and friend of Archbishop Oscar Romero, the Grande Project is an advocacy project with these four goals: • Demonstrate care and concern for a marginalized population; • Listen to those living the experience, to those on the frontline, to Catholic Tradition, to their heart, to their conscience, and to their own experience; • Exercise their God-given privilege (gifts, talents, and opportunities) to give voice to the voiceless by becoming an engaged advocate in today’s world; with the ultimate goal of: • Awakening seniors’ God-given ability to bring about a more loving and equitable world.

St. Oscar Romero, pray for us.

We are very proud of how all our seniors adapted in these challenging circumstances. This attached issue highlights 10 medal-winning projects that emerged after three rounds of adjudication: first from faculty & staff project advisors, then by the Campus Ministry Grande Project organizers, and finally by a four-person panel consisting of members of the SLUH Board of Trustees. To the 62 project advisors and numerous other presenters, we send our humble thanks for working with the seniors on the ground level. To the board, our sincere gratitude goes to Mary Reedy, Mark Mantovani, Anja Schmelter, and John Wunderlich, not only for their time, but also for their generous and good nature.

Before we present the ten medal-winning projects, we’d also like to commend the 22 other “Honorable Mention” projects that rose to the level of Board review.

Honorable Mentions • Oliver Allen

• Andrew Munie

• Luke Altier

• Sean Quinn

• Tad Banker & Franco Schmidt

• Eric Richars

• Brendan Byrne & Sam Kleffner

• Tyler Ridgway

• John Doan

• Bobby Rizzo & Maurice Safar

• Noah Apprill-Sokol & Andrei Chura

• Anthony Roukoz & Adam Wolfe

• Carter Fortman

• Jacob Sprock

• Ben Geldmacher

• Tim Torrez

• Kevin Hickey

• Matthew Van Vooran

• Jack McClelland

• Sam Tarter & Drew Walters

• Sam Megown & Jake Noonan

• Ben Walsh

GRANDE PROJECT MEDAL WINNER

Thomas Binek

Topic: The Death Penalty Audience: State and National Elected Officials Format: A podcast entitled, “A Matter of Life and Death”

Feedback from project advisor: “I’m really glad I had the chance to listen to your podcast. I’ve never before heard the story of a child of someone killed on death row. That was a very powerful interview, and I was especially impressed by the natural way you dialogued with your guest. It would have been easy just to ask questions and let her speak, but, true to your podcast’s title, you carry on a very organic interview with compassion and poise.”

Quote from Thomas’s introduction: “I’m hoping to bring awareness to the death penalty, as it violates the most fundamental human right: the right to life.”

Click here to listen to Thomas’s podcast

GRANDE PROJECT MEDAL WINNER

Charles Janson

Topic: Education Audience: Inner-city students Format: Math Fact Help and Resource Compilation

Feedback from project advisor: “Charles has been very excited and passionate about this project from the beginning of the process. I suggested that he do the first lesson very well as opposed to completing all lessons at a lesser level. He brings his own experience to the project and his enthusiasm is evident.

Great job with creativity.”

Quote from Charles’s introduction: “Since I was a sophomore in high school, I have tutored inner-city students from low-income grade schools in core subjects such as reading and mathematics. Over those three years, I realized that many students did not have an efficient understanding of math facts, which made more complex mathematical topics extremely difficult and pushed students away from the subject altogether. In fact, according to a study that observed inner-city public schools across the country, less than 10 percent of all high school students enrolled in advanced-math classes each year in 29 of the 50 cities. I believe that the reason for this low-enrollment in advanced math-classes is because these students never achieved math fact fluency, or in other words, they never gained the ability to quickly and accurately recall the answer to basic math facts.”

Click here to view Charles’s Math Fact Help and Resource Compilation

GRANDE PROJECT MEDAL WINNER

Patrick Gannon & Erald Murati Topic: Migration Justice Audience: Peers & Fellow Seniors Format: Podcast

Patrick Gannon

Erald Murati

Feedback from project advisor: “A masterful & engaging format for showcasing the unique challenges both our SLUH Muslims and St. Louis-area Hispanics currently face. Erald & Patrick have a gift of humility and charm that puts their guests at ease and compels them to share their stories and the complexities of their experiences. Both young men asked compelling questions and validated their guests’ points and their position with legitimate sources and statistics.”

Quotes from Patrick & Erald’s podcast: “The Church itself is also working to humanize this issue. Pope Francis said, in an address for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees, that it is necessary to respond to the globalization of migration with a globalization of charity and cooperation, in such a way to make the conditions of migrants more humane.”

“This issue needs to be responded to with compassion, no matter what. Immigrants and refugees are human beings, and we are called to love, no matter what.”

Click here to listen to Patrick & Erald’s podcast

GRANDE PROJECT MEDAL WINNER

Graham Johnson

Topic: Abortion Audience: Peers & Fellow Seniors Format: Persuasive Video

Feedback from project advisor: “Graham worked hard to not simplify the issue into two binary choices, showing empathy and thoughtfulness beyond typical high school boys on the issue. He framed his argument as a defense of the 1% rather than villainizing the 99%. As his advisor and someone with similarly complicated feelings on the issue, I was impressed with Graham’s ability to see beyond black and white.”

Quotes from Graham’s video: “I was able to get in touch with someone who had had an abortion. Hearing about her experience completely brought me out of my comfort zone, as I imagine it would for most high school seniors.”

“Despite being taught my entire life that abortion has never been the option, I completely understand that a high schooler my age could feel so trapped and turn to the only thing that people are telling her she can do.”

“I am pro-life, but people often forget that this is more than a poltical debate. These are peoples’ lives and livelihoods at stake.”

Click here to view Graham’s persuasive video

GRANDE PROJECT MEDAL WINNER

Michael Krausz

Topic: Ecological Justice Audience: Local Elected Officials Format: Presentation on the Bridgeton and West Lake Landfills Feedback from project advisor: “There are many things ‘out there’ that we live with everyday that can become forgotten. This is one of those issues. Environmental justice for populations that don’t seem to have a voice is extremely important. At the very least you have brought this issue to your own forefront because as a citizen of St. Louis we need to embrace our history, with all of its success and all of its ugliness.”

Closing reflections from Michael’s presentation: “How can I personally continue to advocate for those who are victims of environmental injustice, especially those living near the Bridgeton and West Lake Landfills?

Are there any other prevalent community issues in St. Louis I can create awareness for?”

Click here to view Michael’s presentation

GRANDE PROJECT MEDAL WINNER

Corey Lyles

Topic: Racial Justice Audience: State Officials Format: Scripts of Letters

Feedback from project advisor: “Very well informed and presented to advocate the issues that need to bring into attention from the government. Schools with enough funding and resources are necessary to reduce the racial inequality in education. Congrats on your big success and achievement because of your hard work.”

Quote from Corey’s letter: “In St. Louis specifically, the problem of funding for public schools is exacerbated by residential segregation in the city and county; it is very strongly correlated with race, and it translates to a palpable gap in availability of opportunity and quality of education. Race is inextricably linked with class in a city like St. Louis, and this fact compounded with the current property tax-based funding system means that public schools like the one in my district (Hazelwood Central High School) are underfunded.”

Click here to read the scripts of Corey’s letters

GRANDE PROJECT MEDAL WINNER

Ben McCabe & Alex Tarlas Topic: Mental Health Audience: Peers & Fellow Seniors Format: Website

Ben McCabe

Alex Tarlas

Feedback from Grande Project organizer: “Ben and Alex have designed a site with magnificent mental health resources. It contains a wealth of information and well-researched claims. The topic of mental health is so important for today’s students, and they have done well to anonymously gather and present the experiences of many of their peers. This pair should feel very proud of what they have done.”

Introduction on Ben & Alex’s website: “Welcome to our website for the Grande Project of 2021. We are Ben McCabe and Alex Tarlas and we have created this website to improve the communication and awareness of mental health issues in teens, with our main focus in high school students. We believe that this specific group of the population is not advocated enough for and therefore we are pursuing to change that. Our research is done to serve as a communication system for students, teachers, counselors, and parents. We are both friends with many people who struggle with anxiety and depression and have noticed most of our peers dealing with the same issues. We want to bring these issues into the light and inform people how to help.”

Click here to view Ben and Alex’s website

GRANDE PROJECT MEDAL WINNER

Drew Shelton

Topic: Mental Health Format: Art Creations and Explanatory Video

Feedback from Grande Project organizers: Drew went above and beyond, teaching us what this experimental project could be about. Inspired by personal experience, he presented and empathasized with the suffering of others in a way far beyond his years. The art pieces below presents a glimpse into a project that took on more meaning and depth than could ever be adequately explained here.

GRANDE PROJECT MEDAL WINNER

Carter Spence

Topic: Abortion Audience: Faith Community Format: Rhetorical Essay Feedback from member of the SLUH Board of Trustees: “This was an excellent submission that was the strongest in terms of civil discourse of any of the projects I reviewed. He not only addressed the issue of those who chose to abort Down syndrome babies, but he did so with great compassion and deference to the complexity of the issue. I think it speaks very highly of our faculty that they would make this one of the criteria used to judge the submissions. It seems that our society has lost this ability - we not only have become very polarized, but quite intractable in our viewpoints.”

Quotes from Carter’s introduction: “When the Declaration of Human Rights was adopted in 1948, 48 nations vowed to never repeat the atrocities that contributed to World War II, to reject the “barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind.” Yet even today, we see uniquely disguised forms of genocide and eugenics plaguing our society. Babies diagnosed with Down syndrome prior to birth are aborted at shockingly high rates in European countries, a trend that has carried over to the United States, as well. After serving at camps, events, and in classrooms with children with Down syndrome and other disabilities, I know that these people do not deserve the stigma that surrounds them. I have had my mind and heart opened by children with disabilities, and I firmly believe that they have the right to life.”

Click here to read Carter’s rhetorical essay

GRANDE PROJECT MEDAL WINNER

Grant Sussman

Topic: Racial Justice Audience: Peers & Fellow Seniors Format: Rhetorical Essay

Feedback from project advisor: “Grant did a great job! He solidly demonstrated credibility through the breadth of his research and interviews that supported his thesis. He opened my eyes to the many injustices that Hispanics in America face, appealed to my logic in his arguments, and fully engaged me in his rationale and justification for how to influence and abate these injustices.

His strong awareness of the numerous injustices faced by Hispanics were strongly articulated.

He had a solid differentiation in interview subjects and their experiences with three firsthand accounts that supports his thesis. And, he reached solid deductions with good supporting arguments.”

Quote from Grant’s conclusion: “Regardless of where and why one decides to advocate, one must listen. This is crucial for any change. After one listens, whether to those from the oppressed population or experts on the injustices this population faces, or anyone else with something important to say, they are much more able to make change.”

Click here to read Grant’s rhetorical essay

It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.

The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.

Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.

No statement says all that could be said.

No prayer fully expresses our faith.

No confession brings perfection.

No pastoral visit brings wholeness.

No program accomplishes the Church’s mission.

No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about.

We plant the seeds that one day will grow.

We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.

We lay foundations that will need further development.

We provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.

This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.

It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.

We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.

We are prophets of a future that is not our own.

Amen.