ACE Advocates News

Students at Nativity Academy in Louisville celebrated Black History Month with a gala worthy of the heroes they were honoring. 

The February event opened with remarks from both the school's principal, Meghan Weyland, and its executive director, Sr. Paula Kleine-Kracht. Then followed a series of scenes covering key episodes of African American history. Students dressed as their favorite Black American men or women, telling stories from their beginnings in Africa to their slavery in America; from emancipation to civil rights; from the triumphs of today to the challenges of the future. Between scenes, the school’s drum corps (led by Louisville’s own River City Drum Corps) entertained the audience.

“All in all,” said the school’s principal, Meghan Weyland, “we were so proud of the students who got up in costume and spoke in front of an audience. Many were students no one expected would do so…[The credit] all goes to our PTA and Ameerah Granger, our Extended Day Program teacher.”

To learn more about this event, contact Meghan Weyland.
 

Denver: On a cold, snowy February weekend, the Denver Advocates hosted a wildly successful Happy Hour fundraiser for Ignatius Loyola Catholic School. Through cash donations, a “giving tree” of supplies, and a silent auction, the event collected $1900, almost doubling last year’s amount.

Indianapolis:   The Indy Advocates are making plans for Lent.  At St. Philip Neri Catholic school, Gary Asher writes that they will begin Fat Tuesday with the “buried Alleluia.” In this event, students process from school to church playing noisemakers and singing Alleluia while one from each classroom carries an “Alleluia” banner.  During the prayer service, students then “bury” the Alleluias in a large container covered with a purple cloth. The container is displayed in the school’s main hall until Easter Monday, when the students celebrate Christ’s resurrection by “resurrecting” the Alleluias.

Los Angeles: To beat the challenge of isolation that teachers often face, the LA Advocates began to sponsor  a Professional Learning Community (PLC) of Catholic school junior high language arts instructors.  This PLC draws members together from Long Beach, Watts, and South Central to share best practices and build curriculum through collaboration.  The PLC’s monthly meetings also help build community among these teachers as well as improve their service to the area’s needy junior high schools. Later this year, LA’s Advocates plan to launch a second PLC for religion and theology teachers from local inner city Catholic high schools. For more information on the PLC in Los Angeles, watch this video.

South Bend: At the end of February, the South Bend Advocates held their annual fundraiser for St. Adalbert’s Catholic school.  This signature event brings much-needed support to the school through donations from 50/50 tickets, a wine raffle, and a silent auction—which this year included a much-sought-after autographed photograph of Fr. Hesburgh and Martin Luther King, Jr.    

Washington, DC:   ACE Advocates in our nation’s capital held their fourth annual Trivia Night for a first-time recipient, St. Augustine Catholic School. The pre-K through 8th grade school is sponsored by St. Augustine Catholic Church, the mother church of black Catholics in the District of Columbia. It was founded four years before public education became mandatory for black children in DC.  Maureen Kurz reports that the event welcomed about 100 participants and raised just over $2,000.
 

In an address to the New York State Congress (and an interview on Fox and Friends), the Most Reverend Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, recently spoke to the benefits--both past and present--of a “solid and substantial” education provided by Catholic schools in New York and around the United States.

Archbishop Dolan’s remarks about New York's proposed budget for 2011-2012 highlighted a significant delinquency in state-approved funding to Catholic schools for programs mandated by the state. “We estimate the state’s obligation to our schools to be more than $260 million, and as a result of the state’s delinquency, our schools have been forced to raise tuition to fill the gap.  Tragically, others have had to close because our families cannot bear the burden.” His articulate and ardent remarks concluded with an appeal to justice in education such that “when you laudably move to promote education, it be for all our kids, not just those in government schools.”
 
Read Archbishop Dolan’s written remarks here or watch the interview.  Both provide a compelling case for Catholic schools.

“Hope,” wrote Emily Dickinson, “is the thing with feathers/that perches in the soul/and sings the songs/without the words/and never stops at all.”

 And sometimes hope is the person with an ACE t-shirt, and all the people s/he brings into the movement to support Catholic schools.  One example: Sarah Grey and her band of Denver Advocates, who on a cold, snowy February weekend hosted a wildly successful Happy Hour fundraiser for Ignatius Loyola Catholic School.

Transitioning gracefully from a full workday to fundraiser prep, Sarah arrived at the venue with arms full of baskets and balloons and all manner of event décor.  Lindsay Fitzpatrick carried in her own carful of supplies, and with a little help, the two began to hang photos of the Loyola kids, lay out table cloths, and arrange auction items. They hung a “giving tree” with red construction paper advertising myriad donation items, from colored pencils to games to clocks, and placed a small basket at the door so folks could throw in cash contributions.  Kathy Steinlage brought the finishing touch—ACE Advocates flyers to place on each table.

At the end of the night, the event raised $1900, almost doubling last year’s amount, and providing another reminder that the Spirit drives this movement, singing the songs without the words, and never stopping at all.  
 

Denver ACE Advocates celebrate the success of their Happy Hour Fundraiser