Teacher in New Orleans Draws Inspiration as Students Share and Serve

If one were looking for stories of generous, caring hearts from this holiday season, ACE teacher Liz Chaten reports two from the classrooms of Saint Joan of Arc School in New Orleans.

Liz , a member of the newest cohort of teachers in ACE Teaching Fellows, has already reported two additional sources of inspiration seen in the classrooms of Saint Joan of Arc.

One is happening during the week of Jan. 7, even as Liz resumes teaching middle school language arts following the Christmas break. A group of undergraduates from Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, is visiting her inner-city school to serve as tutors for children as part of the college's Winter Break Alternative Trips initiative.

Students from Saint Anselm have been returning annually for that tradition of service since they made their first trip to New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. They're a reminder of the passion that many undergraduates around the country have for service to disadvantaged children through Catholic schools.

But Liz witnessed another case of selfless love during December—demonstrated by the children of Saint Joan of Arc themselves. As an Advent project, the children decided to conduct a fund-raising drive. Kids in pre-K through eighth grade gave up afternoon snacks or found other ways to contribute spare change into a "Christmas giving box," reports Liz. Their gifts amounted to about $600.

A couple of days before Christmas recess, leaders of the school's student council joined their principal in visiting a grocery store in a low-income part of New Orleans.

"They identified people who they thought could use some help paying for their groceries, they stood behind them in the checkout line, and then offered to pay for their food." This exercise in random acts of kindness had store patrons "so overwhelmed that they were crying," says Liz, who is part of ACE's 19th cohort of teachers in formation. "The kids got to interact with people they were helping. They were really touched by it."

The story gets better. Liz recalls that, during the two weeks of the "giving box" drive, one of her seventh-graders, whose mom makes ends meet by working two jobs, quietly kept making $1.25 contributions daily. She eventually asked him about his ability to make such donations.

"He had decided that, because he wouldn't have any other money to contribute, he would walk an hour-and-a-half back home every day instead of paying the fare for a streetcar ride," explains Liz. "He didn't even tell anybody about it. He's a very humble young man."

This Christmas story of giving, experienced during her first semester as a teacher, has impressed Liz just as it has touched the other faculty and students at St. Joan of Arc.

"What was most inspiring to me is that, as ACE teachers, we tend to think we're living very simple lifestyles and trying to sacrifice to live a life of service," she comments. "In reality, my life is so much more comfortable than all of my students. The fact that, in their discomfort and difficulties, they would go above and beyond for people they had never met was really humbling to me."

It's a lesson lived out by teachers and students, in various ways, all around the country in school communities and in the intentional faith communities of teachers in the Alliance for Catholic Education.

May these tidings of great joy—the virtuous cycle connecting gratitude and service, humility and self-giving, extend from Christmastime throughout the new year. Thanks for sharing the stories and the spirit, Liz.