Speaker pushes beyond the walls of the classroom

CHRISTY ROSS STAFF WRITER CLR725@CABRINI EDU

An administrator from Notre Dame University said that Catholic colleges should put the “Catholic” back in Catholic college.

On Thursday, Nov. 15, Reverend William Lies, executive director of University of Notre Dame’s Center for Social Concerns, spoke to members of the Cabrini community as well as several Notre Dame alumni.

The Hesburgh Lecture, named after the president of Notre Dame in 1983, has been around for over 20 years and is meant to “push the walls of the classroom,” at Catholic college and universities. Lies said that we should “integrate Catholic social traditions throughout the Catholic university curriculum.”

Lies began his speech with a reference to the show “Survivor.” He said how at a young

AIDS epidemic prompts everyone to be a part of the change

AIDS, page by the virus as well. This is the crisis in many parts of Africa. It is steadily worsening.

In Kenya orphaned girls are subjected to being sold into marriages by their families in exchange for economic gain. Young girls are then bound to relationships or what feel more like contracts to older men, often complete strangers, who are likely to carry the HIV/AIDS virus due to their sexual history.

Makunu, with Catholic Relief Services in Kenya, spends his days directly working with orphans and vulnerable children who have been affected by the growing virus and situations such as the impregnating of young women. He and CRS work to rebuild the broken dreams of the young generation of Kenya.

The Children Behind Project is a community-based program Makunu is currently heading in Kenya’s Niyanza Province. With the burden of HIV and large numbers of orphans emerging, this intervention program takes its roots directly in the communities where these orphaned children are living. It aims to provide anti-retroviral therapy, homebased care, community support, shelter-improvement, micro financial support, agricultural initiatives and the avoidance of the stigma placed on those infected.

Today, at 12 years old and on the brink of his teenage years, Morris is due to finish his primary schooling and is an aspiring “farming engineer.” In a community where the houses have often collapsed and schools were empty without the laughter and life of children, Morris is now living in a home that has been reno- vated to accommodate his family.

They have been given rations of cornmeal and other resources. Morris and his younger brother have also been given the proper treatment to live as healthy young man.

“Morris is a star sitting next to the bishop during the Aids Day celebration,” Makunu said.

Programs like The Child Behind Project are the reason Morris is alive today. The program rescued the impregnated girl. As a result, the wealthy man who committed the immoral act was arrested. The girl got the opportunity to finish her secondary education with a scholarship program through the American Embassy. These are the solutions that these programs are attempting to implement.

The children understand the AIDS issue that is ravaging Kenya.

“If I have no father or mother because they have died from AIDS, then I understand the magnitude of the problem,” Makunu said.

They are fully aware of the severity of this raging epidemic and the project is developing a better future for their generation and generations to come.

“The need for the projects is extremely high. That is the motivating factor,” Makunu said.

The Children Behind Project consists of volunteers who act as foster relatives and caregivers, filling the void many of the children experience after the death of both parents. These children who have the responsibility of caring for their younger siblings and running their households, see these volunteers who have been moved by the spirit of volunteerism, as parents and guides.

They are trained in the basic skills needed to survive in their villages. They are taught to grow age his father passed away leaving his mother with nine children and one on the way.

“We learned how to ‘survive’ by looking out for each other,” Lies said, “to ‘survive’ difficult times, reach out to others.”

Catholic social teachings has its own primary source of literature but it is not really shared, especially in the classroom. Lies said that far too many Catholics do not adequately understand the teachings of the Catholic Church.

Through the Center for Social Concerns, founded in 1983, students are able to come faceto-face with the poor and spend a day in their shoes. The center believes that students cannot truly appreciate or understand social teachings until they are placed in that particular situation.

A majority of the students who come into the center are not active members of the Catholic religion but want to reach out to others and start to care in ways they did not know they knew how.

The University of Notre Dame students take part in 265,000 hours of community service a year. The center has several different community service programs for the students of Notre Dame to participate in.

Through the “Summer Service Project” retreats are schedules for students to visit all different parts of the United States, as well as some international places in Latin America, Africa and Asia. The students spend eight weeks in their destination and participate in up to 40 hours of community service a week.

Lies concluded his speech by saying that he thinks students from a Catholic college or university think differently than students from another because “Catholic colleges build communities to help them ‘survive’.” their own crops for use in their homes, the techniques and abilities to create small businesses to earn money and provide for their families and other necessary responsibilities that an adult or a head of the household would normally perform. Often, they are provided with school supplies, rations of food and other necessities.

“It is in a community where we find out who we are called to be,” Lies said.

“There are some people in Africa who don’t go to school because of a lack of uniform. It’s just a dress,” Makunu said with disbelief.

“It’s a national issue. An orphan like this does not know what to do. When you provide that uniform she goes to school. She is warm and dry and she’s fine.”

Catholic Relief Services along with Makunu aim to surface the reality of this inhumane way of life that these children have been experiencing, through no fault of their own. They are bringing the message to the United States and hoping for support and advocacy.

College and university students were mentioned as playing a large role in advocacy and the act of bringing awareness to a country that only hears of the crisis but does not see it firsthand.

In 2004, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) was implemented, which allocated $15 billion to create various programs providing health care, education and prolonged life for those suffering.

“People get their lives back,” Arlene Flaherty, representative of the CRS northeast office, said in reference to the PEPFAR plan.

INTERSHIPS, page 1 how can they learn more.”

Finnegan agreed, “I believe one reason I was asked back was because I really like to learn and absorbed everything I could and I think they saw that eagerness to learn and that was something they were looking for.

Students looking to get hired by their co-op or internship employer should demonstrate that they are self-motivated, dress appropriately and act professionally. Hutchinson also warns that students should not be on email.

Being the intern that gets offered a full-time position over other interns requires that students take initiative and put in longer hours. During the average work week Finnegan spent all her free time working on projects even when she wasn’t asked. “Other interns worked just 9 a.m.- 5 p.m. I left personal business outside whereas other interns didn’t always do that,” Finnegan said.

Hutchinson said that students that she sees get hired through their co-op employer are professional, mature, reliable and offer a lot. They fit into the workplace environment and there’s a comfort zone. It’s a win-win for students and employers. If the student is a good fit as an intern, the employer doesn’t have to spend a couple of months training them.”

The Pennsylvannia Association of Colleges and Em- ployers, chose Vincent DeFruscio, a 2004 Cabrini College graduate as the 2003 PennACE Student of the Year in the Non-Technical category. DeFruscio received this award for his work at his internship with CBSNews/Newspath.

During the “Blackout of 2003” in New York City DrFruscio did what most employees let alone interns didn’t do. He stayed and worked a 24 hour shift writing, conducting interviews and producing liveshots of the blackout.

DeFruscio said “I did it like it was my job and spent every holiday at CBSNews and just focused. By working during the blackout, I was able to get experience that other interns did not and doing things interns do not get to do.”

“Showing passion for the profession will be recognized and that has to be genuine you can’t fake that,” Hutchinson said. Finnegan showed passion for the profession by learning all she could about the industry so she could talk on a professional level with her editors and bosses.

DeFruscio said that students must realize that getting the internship is not the end, you really need to cultivate a relationship.

Finnegan recommends that “you go for an internship that you are really passionate about and really immerse yourself in it. Your job will pretty much be your life so you might as well start now.”