January 28, 2009

Students build community while learning about St. Paul

By John Gleason

This week, the students of St. Vincent de Paul School in Denver are participating in their annual Faith Rally, an event that brings staff and students together to strengthen their faith and celebrate the gifts that God has given them.

The purpose of the rally, according to St. Vincent Principal Sister Mary Gertrude Blankenhagen, O.P., is to build community and to give the older students an opportunity to practice leadership. 

“It deepens the faith of students as well as the sense of community between grade levels,” she said.  “And the younger children get a chance to work with older kids they’d otherwise see only in the hall between classes.”

For the activity, the student body of 460 is divided into “communities,” with each community made up of several children from each grade with the eighth-graders in each community taking an active role in planning lessons and teaching the classes.

Rally activities include eucharistic adoration, catechesis, art, Mass, a eucharistic procession and recreation time.  Auxiliary Bishop James Conley will celebrate Mass for the students and will lead a discussion on the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The bishop said he is looking forward to his time with the students.

“I’m always reenergized by the children’s love and zeal for the Catholic faith,” Bishop Conley said. “And I always to try to challenge them to begin thinking about whether God is calling them to the priesthood or religious life.”

The theme of this year’s rally is “Walk as Children of Light.” The phrase is taken from the St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians (5:8) which states: “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.  Live as children of light.”

In anticipation of the rally, two ice-breaker assemblies were held last week to give the students an introduction to the schedule of events.  Eighth-graders Paulina Limasalle and Sam Mellentine are two of the students responsible for planning and conducting these assemblies, or classes, which focus on the conversion of St. Paul and his travels as he spread the Gospel.  Limasalle said the organization it took to prepare for the rally was a challenge.

“Learning the lessons and what we’ll be teaching the younger kids, it all took time,” she said.  “Our religion teachers were a big help but we had to remember that not all students learn the same way.  We had to make it fun.”

Mellentine agreed, saying that in order to tell the story of how Paul became a Christian, he had to be clear about what Paul did before his conversion.

“But when we talked about persecution of Christians, not all the younger kids understood the term,” he said. “So we used words like ‘mean’ or ‘bully’ and then everyone knew what was going on.”

On Friday, the second of the two ice-breaker assemblies were held.  In Rory Turra’s kindergarten class, the students watched a skit about the travels of St. Paul.  Following the presentation, students separated into work groups to participate in the craft portion of the day; constructing a boat representative of that which St. Paul took on his travels.

At one table, 5-year-old Gillian Otter was folding her paper carefully, assisted by her helper, seventh-grader Evan Mastro.  When asked how far St. Paul traveled to spread the Word of God, she was straight and to the point.

“A long way,” she said.

Admitting that she wasn’t sure if she could make such a journey, she turned to her partner to crease the fold in her boat.  Mastro said it was nice to have students of different ages in the same class.

“Some don’t understand about traveling a long way to preach,” he said.  “But all the kids know who St. Paul is.  When we have our own religion class, we discuss and answer questions.  But here it’s different.  It’s fun, there’s learning and we feel like we’re teaching, too.”

As Otter and Mastro worked on their boat, another student queried to no one in particular if anyone knew how far St. Paul traveled after his conversion.  A response from across the room—“You mean the mileage?”—sent the students into laughter.

At another table, kindergartner Catherine Crowley, 5, is carefully following instructions to fold her paper boat correctly.  Asked if it is like the one St. Paul rode in, Crowley shook her head.

“No,” she answered, “his was probably bigger.”

Sister Mary Gertrude said that watching the first- and second-graders react to the eighth- graders’ teaching was a joy.

“You know that a student may not remember something a teacher tells them, they don’t always pay attention,” she said with a laugh. “Here they feel a kinship with the older students and remember much more of what they learn.”

Mellentine and Limasalle agreed that the time spent on lesson plans and organization was well worth the effort.

“I get a sense of community when I see the students all helping each other,” Limasalle said.  “It isn’t just a learning experience for them.”

Mellentine said he felt like an adult in his teaching role about the Catholic faith.

“This rally is about connecting to our faith,” he said. “We’ll go to Mass, to adoration, we’ll discuss St. Paul’s journey.  You learn something from everybody and it feels good.”