Service trip centers on education

By RENEE WEBB, Globe editor
July 14, 2005

Seven women with ties to the Diocese of Sioux City and a woman religious from Dubuque participated in a service project at Okolona, Miss. from June 19 to 25. They spent a week teaching summer school activities to students through the EXCEL Program.

One of the women to participate in the trip was Kathy Lennon, a parishioner at Blessed Sacrament Church in Sioux City and former technology coordinator at Blessed Sacrament.

Lennon explained that the EXCEL Program is headed up by five sisters, two being Presentation Sisters. She mentioned that the vocal music teacher at Mater Dei School, Sister Julie Tebbe, is a Presentation sister and she had raised awareness about the service opportunity.

Volunteers on this trip specifically ministered to 24 school-age children ranging from kindergarten to seventh-grade, helping them brush up on various academic subjects.

Another woman who participated in the service trip was Pam Schermerhorn, K-8 counselor for the Catholic Schools of Sioux City.

"Every week they have different groups come down to do summer programs," she said. "The school system there has become such that the richer people take their children to private schools, so it's the lower income students in the (public) school. The education is not real strong."

They were informed that the EXCEL Program was started to help supplement the children's education. The EXCEL Program is multi-faceted, though, they added. Other components of the program serve adults and senior citizens in various capacities. The women also pointed out that the building in which the programming is housed has become a community center of sorts, a true focal point of the small, Southern town.

No longer working for the school system, Lennon mentioned that for her it provided a "kid fix. I no longer work with children in my present job, so this gave me an opportunity to get back in the classroom-type setting."

Schermerhorn explained that the four areas that were offered during their week were technology, art, vocal music and musical instruments. Each week centers on different subject areas. Those who head up the program at the local level, determine what the subject areas of focus are for the week largely based on the background of the volunteers.

The guidance counselor offered some one-on-one math tutoring and incorporated some of her guidance materials into the week such as the respect cheer.

Lennon described it as a rewarding experience.

"The children are like sponges, anything you do for them they just absorb," she said.

Schermerhorn said the children were very grateful to them, expressing this in words and thank-you cards.

"You do create a bond with them even in a short week," she said. "It was a very rewarding and humbling experience - very heartwarming," she said. "Hopefully they learned something from us and know that there are good people out there who want to help."

The week culminated with a program on Friday, June 24. The children played kazoos and recorders, sang, posted their artwork and made invitations for the event on computers. This way all of the skills they acquired during the week were utilized.

It was an eye opening experience for the women. Lennon said 22 of the 24 students were black. Living in a predominantly white community, she pointed out that she had never really paid close attention to their materials. The storybooks they brought along featured white children and the dolls they took with them were white.

"When you are working in a community where you are the minority, you don't realize how much society is geared toward middle-class, white, Anglo-Saxon people," she said.

They also realized how this town of about 3,000 people was quite economically depressed. Lennon said that even though Sioux City is a much larger community, there is no part of the city that compares with the impoverished conditions in many parts of Okolona.

This new knowledge created a sense of gratefulness in the women.

Schermerhorn said she would definitely like to participate in the trip again. Along with sharing gifts with children, there was time to build friendships with others on the trip.

Others who were part of this group were Sandy Kotalik, Sioux City; Julie Hoss, Sioux City; Patti Boyle, South Sioux City, Neb.; Beth Kisch, Lehigh; Jenece Kisch, Lehigh and Sister Marie Barth of Dubuque. Various church groups and individuals donated funds for the trips. The remaining money was given to the program.