What can be more special than experiencing the youthful energy of a high school student? Their vibrancy, their smarts, their accomplishments – all are amazing! And what is more special than our residents becoming friends with them? To see high schoolers interacting with our residents – it is life affirming to me.
Beatitudes Campus has a great reciprocal relationship with our local high school – Washington High School (WHS). WHS students, teachers and counselors come to Beatitudes Campus throughout the year. They help make the campus look festive during the holidays, they volunteer throughout the year for power of the purse, they sing for our enjoyment, they are pen pals with our residents and they help us navigate Facebook and other social media. Campus residents and staff also volunteer at the high school – attending their STEAM open house, performing Color Guard duties at their commencement, volunteering with their music groups, repairing instruments and working side-by-side with them cleaning up trash along 19th Avenue. Quite a few WHS alumni and current students work for the campus. Tena Alonzo, Kevin Morrison, Krystal Snyder and many Dining Services staff are all Washington alumni. In fact, many residents' children graduated from Washington.
One of the very special partnerships we have with Washington High School is about recognizing WHS student leaders. So many of our residents share an enduring belief in the power of education, a commitment to helping others and a sense of responsibility to the community. For the past 11 years, Beatitudes Campus residents have helped Washington High School students realize their full potential as individuals through a very special scholarship and leadership program. Every month during the school year, two outstanding students are recognized as Beatitudes Campus Students of the Month. What a privilege to honor them! The students are recognized for their scholarly achievements, community service and leadership. And, every year for the past 11 years, the Residents Council's Community Outreach Committee has raised money to honor these students for their accomplishments and promising futures.
Near the end of the school year, the 18 Beatitudes Campus Students of the Month complete a scholarship application and the Community Outreach Committee meets with Washington High School counselors to learn more about each student. Then, it's decision time for the committee! This is hard – how can one student be more deserving of a scholarship than another? The committee looks not just at academic achievement, but also at financial need and the support environment (or lack of) the students have. Lots of discussion happens and the committee votes – usually it takes several votes – to narrow down the field of 18 students. This year, the committee raised enough money to award scholarships to five students, so the decision was hard! Many thanks to Gene LeFebvre, chair of the committee, and to committee members Leroy Calbom, Jim Elliott, Sybil Eppinger, Mim Hoover and Naomi Oglesby not just for the hours of work they put in reviewing all the applications, but for having the biggest hearts for students and wanting to make life a little bit easier for them as they pursue their dreams of higher education. And many thanks to all the residents who contributed throughout the year to the Washington High School Scholarship Fund. You are making a difference in the lives of these students!
The Community Outreach Committee will recognize and celebrate the 18 Beatitudes Campus Students of the Month next week at a special luncheon with the students, their families and the WHS principal and counselors. The committee will then award the five scholarships. The luncheon has always been an inspiring time to get to know the students – lots of laughter and a few tears of joy – but mostly, we all come away from the lunch with such awe at the students' accomplishments and dreams and grateful that we could make a difference in their lives.
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