2010/04 Marquette Journal

marquettejournal.org

April 2010 | Volume 105, Issue 8

Bringing to Life the Four Pillars of the University A Branded Student Body

The People’s Shelter

Taught to Teach Marquette Journal, April 2010 • 1

Iread the Journal.

2 • Marquette Journal, April 2010

Contents the marquette journal | April 2010

Featured

We are Service

By Sarah Krasin

Students committed to service with groups such as MARDI GRAS, Student Safety Patrol and Invisible Children share their stories...............................17 We are Leadership

By Caitlin Kavanaugh Many students serve a leadership position at some point during college. These students stand out among others and demonstrate what it really means to be leaders.............................22 We are Faith

By Joey Kimes At a Jesuit university, faith is understandably important.

Some students have found Marquette to play a large role in their faith journey.............23

marquettejournal.org

We are Excellence

19

By Rosemary Lane We asked the deans of the undergraduate colleges to select a student they felt exemplified all-around excellence at Marquette.

These excellent students show us why they deserve recognition.

April 2010 | Volume 105, Issue 8

Bringing to Life the Four Pillars of the University A Branded Student Body

The People’s Shelter

Taught to Teach Marquette Journal, april 2010 • 1

The many faces of Marquette University.

17 22 23

Photographs by Lauren Stoxen

Marquette Journal, April 2010 • 3

What’s Inside Campus Feels Philanthropy

By Marissa Evans Service isn’t about individual accomplishments. Many student organizations work as groups to serve specific causes and to dedicate time and money to help the local and global community ....................7 Building a Reputation

By Molly Gamble University Architect Tom Ganey walks through a personal playground every day — a 93-acre campus called Marquette University. Ganey talks about the pride and joy of creating architectural icons on campus.......14 Being Taught How to Teach

By Molly Newman Education majors capstone their undergraduate careers with a singlesemester student teaching job. They plan lessons night and day, and they still go to school — except they’re the ones teaching...........................21

8

The People’s Shelter

By Glenn Oviatt

Branded Eagles

By Patrick Johnson Pepsi, North Face, US Bank. Money, faith, Chicago (suburb). If “we” are Marquette, what does that make us? Students talk about brands, labels and identity on campus.

4 • Marquette Journal, April 2010

Milwaukee’s Repairers of the Breach is a daytime shelter that serves almost 150 homeless adults daily.

It is dedicated to restoring dignity among its community members and enabling the homeless to productively face their struggles and empower each other......................25

Journey Morgan Rossi

Blogs

College of Communication freshman Morgan Rossi was crowned Marquette Superstar 2010. Rossi competed in MUTV’s third annual singing competition and was voted the winner by viewer’s choice........................30

marquettejournal.org

The Marquette Journal publishes weekly blogs on many different topics, such as health, pop culture, diversity, fashion and TV. Check them out every day, only at marquettejournal.org.

find us online

2009-2010 Staff Editor-in-Chief

Sara J. Martinez Managing Editor

Patrick Johnson Features Editor

Brooke McEwen Copy Chief

Jesse Carpender Senior Reporter

Caitlin Kavanaugh Online Assistant

Joey Kimes

Features Assistant

Kevin Griffin

Promotions Director

Jacob Weisenberger Writers

Alise Buehrer Joseph Clark Marissa Evans Molly Gamble Kevin Griffin Patrick Johnson Caitlin Kavanaugh Joey Kimes Sarah Krasin Rosemary Lane Sara J. Martinez Molly Newman Glenn Oviatt

Contributors

Chief Photographer Brooke McEwen

Photographers Marissa Evans Kevin Griffin Dylan Huebner Glenn Oviatt Lauren Stoxen

Chief Designer Patrick Johnson

Designer

Sara J. Martinez

Tony DiZinno Sullivan Oakley

To advertise, call Student Media Advertising: 414-288-1738

The Marquette Journal

from the editor A s a senior in high school, if you asked me where I thought I would be as a senior in college, I never would have guessed I’d be writing my final editor’s note in my final days as an undergraduate and editor-in-chief of my college magazine.

The Journal has been such an experience. As we have grown and developed in the past few years, it wasn’t just the magazine that was establishing an identity and working to improve upon itself. I think all of those involved through each step of the way have seen a lot of personal development.

We came into our own and built an outstanding publication based on our own ideas and creativity. Our hard work was recognized this month as the Society of Professional Journalists named the Journal the Best Student Magazine in Wisconsin, Minnesota and North and South Dakota.

My pride and joy feature story from spring 2009 (“The Man, the Mission and the Moon”) earned its own blue ribbon.

I am really proud of the progress this magazine has made through the past four years, as I am proud of the personal and professional growth we have all experienced.

For this issue, we decided to recognize many students who have stood out among the crowd over the past few years and who are defining themselves at Marquette. They all seem to agree that Marquette brings out the best in them, and I think it’s true that Marquette has brought out the best in me.

This issue showcases a few names among the best of the best at Marquette. Obviously we can’t include everyone, but this is a solid sampling.

We decided to omit the College of Communication from our discussion of excellence (p. 19) because most of our staff is in the college. Judging by the teamwork and professionalism we’ve learned and practiced in Student Media, we agreed that the Journal in itself is a tangible example of excellence.

We hope you agree that you’re a part of something excellent. I could not be more proud of the work we have done this year as well as the work I’ve done the past four years. We couldn’t have done it without you, so thank you for your role in bringing our visions to fruition.

Adios, Marquette. It has been a ride.

1131 W. Wisconsin Ave. #006 Milwaukee, Wis. 53233 editor@marquettejournal.org Faculty Adviser

Dr. Steve Byers

sara.martinez@marquette.edu Marquette Journal, April 2010 • 5

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Campus Feels Philanthropy Student organizations work together to serve the community locally and globally.

Photograph by Marissa Evans

M

By Marissa Evans

ore than 250 student organizations on campus today dedicate themselves to service and philanthropy, continuing with a Jesuit ideal that has been practiced for more than 500 years.

The Society of Jesus’ founder, St. Ignatius of Loyola, wanted the Jesuits “to be free to move fast wherever they are needed,” encouraging them to help the sick and impoverished, to learn humility and to develop a love for service.

At Marquette, philanthropy varies from group to group, though a general definition accepts that it involves an unselfish concern for others, and people can serve with donations of money, property or time to those in need.

“People of cultures of color typically give back more in human resources than financially,” said Darryle Todd, coordinator of intercultural programs in the Office of Student Development. “To the Marquette community, it is more beneficial to give back by interacting with younger people, and what is more effective is intentionally giving time and of yourself rather than a check.”

For some student organizations, writing a check is a rewarding aspect of giving back.

Best Buddies Marquette focuses primarily on helping those with intellectual and developmental disabilities and hosts an annual showcase to raise funds for Best Buddies Wisconsin. Considered the group’s largest fundraising event, the community-wide Best Buddies Showcase is comprised of a fashion show, variety show and silent auction which allows the organization’s ‘buddies’ to “proudly demonstrate their talents to people whom they had never met.”

“The (2010) showcase ultimately raised $4,800 with help from our buddies, their families and the community,” said Chelsea Real, a sophomore in the College of Communication and showcase chair for BBW. “Our organization exceeded

our goal for the showcase, and we hope to continue exceeding our goal for each showcase we put on.”

While the showcase allowed the buddies to display their talents, they also were able to teach the audience about the importance of friendship. Real also believes the showcase and the organization’s mission does much more.

“As strong supporters of interacting with the community, we focus our attention closely on how we can positively impact the lives of our buddies and their role in the community,” Real said.

Aside from holding events on campus, some student organizations take a different approach to philanthropy. Marquette’s Habitat for Humanity sends a few groups of about 10 people to various parts of the country to help other Habitat chapters through the Collegiate Challenge program.

“While these events do not happen on campus, they do help develop other countries in desperate need of service and contribute the most to not only our affiliated Habitat chapters, but also our volunteers that participate,” said Joe Ladewski, a senior in the College

Hunger Clean-Up is the largest one-day service event at Marquette. Each year, nearly 2,000 students, faculty and staff volunteer to give a day’s service to the Milwaukee community. The event also raises money for a community grant to local charities. The 2010 Hunger Clean-Up on April 17 raised $21,000.

Past recipients of the community grant include the AIDS Resource Center, the Benedict Center, the Guest House and Repairers of the Breach. Hunger CleanUp participants are also encouraged to reflect on social justice issues and the lives of those they have touched through their service that day.

of Health Sciences and president of Marquette’s chapter.

The college chapter, in partnership with the city chapter, helps build homes for Milwaukee residents. Building up local communities, Ladewski said the group has been able to provide much needed help not only because of the large amount of volunteers but also because of “how much energy, enthusiasm and hard work we are able to provide.” Volunteering is “the most important means to give back to the community because it shows dedication to improving the community,” he said.

“I think that monetary donations are also very important, and community development would not be able to occur without them. But I think that sacrificing time to give back shows the true spirit of community service.”

Other organizations on campus do a combination of volunteerism and fundraising efforts. The Mc-

Cabe Hall Council volunteers at the Milwaukee Rescue Mission.

“It was an interesting and inspirational program for all those who participated,” said Jacob Fohtung, a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences and president of the McCabe Hall Council. “It transcended our primary aim, which was just to volunteer, but reminded us of our responsibility as humans to help others if we can.”

In addition to volunteering, the council raised funds for Haiti relief efforts. The council was able to help raise $500 within the residence hall. Despite this financial accomplishment, Fohtung still prefers dedicating time over money.

“The commitment and passion to help people through volunteering is more visible in a sense that you actually sacrifice your time and also yourself,” he said. mj

Marquette Journal, April 2010 • 7

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R B S

S E L G N A A E R B D n E o S s D n E h L o j N k c G i A r t a R A B D E by p D E tos o h p

n e x o st n e r u a l y b

Marquette Journal, April 2010 • 9

Campus bleeds blue and gold. There is no escaping who we are.

We have our staples: Johnston, Gesu, Cudahy, the Union and now Zilber Hall. Each building is a brand in itself. The Centennial Celebration banners show another brand, one that commemorates the women who have come before the thousands currently walking around on campus. Brands are everywhere. US Bank, Pepsi and Direct Supply are just three brands that live and breathe Marquette University.

The students who experience these brands are some of the most defining “brands” on campus.

Marquette uses these students on advertisements and publicity, as resident assistants and desk receptionists, as basketball stars and presidents, as editors and cafeteria workers. Carefully constructed and incredibly different, these students are what Marquette is built to be. They are branded eagles.

ct e f r e P . . . e r a We Over-achieving, Catholic, rich, perfectionist from a suburb of Chicago or a Wisconsinite: the description of what a Marquette student is supposed to be. Fitting the mold isn’t entirely difficult. Junior Ryan Ross and sophomore Chelsea Gasaway find being a part of this club nothing exclusive.

Finding places around campus with available seating on a Friday around 10 a.m. is nearly impossible. After wandering around the Alumni Memorial Union, Ross, a finance, economics and mathematics triple major in the College of Business Administration, and I settle for a round table in Marquette Place.

Jumping right in, Ross describes who a Marquette student is, according to people not involved in the good ole MU community, “People think that we go to Mass all the time, all because we are a Catholic school. It’s interesting that people are so narrow-minded, especially since we are actually religiously diverse.”

Religion is not the only thing Ross sees as the brand of a Marquette student. He leans forward on the table to begin a conversation about how the girls on campus are a big reason Marquette has a stereotypical reputation.

“To people (at Marquette), the girl who walks around wearing her Ugg boots, big sunglasses 10 • Marquette Journal, April 2010

and leggings as actual pants are the image this campus has,” Ross says.

In an effort to be nice, Ross stops talking about the supposed fashion statement the leggings and boots have. Instead, he moves on to the kids from “Chicago.”

“So many people say they are from Chicago, then they realize they need to correct themselves. They are from the suburbs,” says Ross.

Being branded a stereotypical student isn’t what Ross identifies as his Marquette experience. He instead chooses to get involved as the vice president of the Economics Association and will be entering into his third year as a resident assistant in Straz Tower in the fall. Ross says that his leadership and involvement is what sets him apart from the branded student, but he wanted to make it clear that he is not what his outward appearance may say.

“I have pretty robust interests, and that isn’t something you find with everyone,” Ross says.

“I’d like to think I couldn’t be defined by a few sentences or ideas. I am not from the Chicago suburbs, but then again I am from the Milwaukee ones.”

Ross was sure to add that he definitely does not “fit that ‘rich-boy’ idea.”

*** Gasaway, a student in the College of Arts & Sciences, and I met for lunch in Marquette Place. The background noise was a combination of festive international music and stories about Thursday night drunk fests. Discussing the branding of a stereotypical student didn’t seem like it would be difficult to talk about with some of the conversations going on around us.

Agreeing with Ross, Gasaway finds the stereotype to be simple. You either think we are hardcore religious or you think we study a lot and are incredibly rich, she says. She candidly spoke on how students choose to label and brand one another.

“To start, you have the groups like Greek Life. They have their brothers and sisters, their letters and then they have the big community.

The bond they have is great — the reputation, not so much,” says Gasaway. “Then people get branded by the dorms they live in. As a Cobeener (resident of Cobeen) last year, we spent a lot of time with O’Donnell. Those are your friends. Unfortunately, we got labeled as weird and nerdy, but I lived there so I can say that.”

Gasaway laughed when she brought up stories about the relationship the all-male and allfemale residence halls shared. From the black and white ball to the co-floor dates, Gasaway didn’t hide much. Around us at the table were some of her old floor mates, all of whom she lives with in Schroeder this year, and some she is living with next year. Gasaway claims the bond she and the other Cobeen girls had is why they are going into junior year still friends and living together.

Moving on to herself, Gasaway knows she gets branded as a rich, suburban white girl.

While she openly admits to being a perfectionist, something commonly associated with Marquette students, she believes that she does not fit what people may perceive her as.

“I’m not a rich girl, I take out loans just like everyone else,” Gasaway says. “While I do make time to have fun. It isn’t all library all the time, but I know how important getting a good education is.”

Gasaway doesn’t deny that Marquette students tend to come off as stuck up, sometimes over-religious and that they wear their fair share of leggings and aviator sunglasses, but judging

n n o i t o a s ic p n u m o comm h t c i er shman fre

the book by its cover isn’t the smartest way to get past the brand.

“Everyone initially judges by appearance, it’s natural. The people who choose to stick with those judgments are bad … wrong.” As Gasaway struggles to find the perfect word, she decides to look more on the positive side. “Those that change their judgments are in the right.”

ck la B . . . e r a e W lue B , e it h W d an and Gold Marquette stresses socially just teaching, service learning and diversity. According to The Princeton Review, only 20.15 percent of this campus is racially diverse. The student body composition includes 1.74 percent international students, 57 percent from out-of-state and 52.37 percent who are female.

Marquette pushes efforts to increase campus diversity by using diversity advocates and having a diversity commission as well as hosting events to promote active involvement and multiple dimensions of diversity. Marquette puts forth an effort to improve diversity, and by the numbers, it is somewhat diverse. The question is: who do we brand as diverse?

Venturing into Carpenter Tower to meet with College of Business Administration senior and facilities manager for Carpenter, Ryanne Brown was just the start of what would come to be a great conversation. From discussing old stories of the trials and tribulations of the Office of Residence Life to what it means to be the “token black girl,” Brown had no plan to hold back.

Instead, she chose to be her usual bubbly self.

As Brown walks down the stairs, she greets me with a big “hello.” We sit in a room with four chairs, a piano and a white board, complete with chemistry equations and biological models. The echo from students returning to Carpenter rings throughout the tiny space. Brown just smiles.

“Marquette students have good intentions, are smart and educated, they are social and tend to come from suburban, private schools,” Brown says.

Coming from the “actual city of Chicago,” Brown says diversity is nothing new for her, but for many of the students at Marquette, the color of someone’s skin is the only diversity they have ever known.

“It is the first thing everyone thinks of,” Brown says. “(Students of color) don’t come from the same backgrounds. … Just because they look different doesn’t mean they had to come from an inner city or another country.”

Brown rolls her eyes when she starts talking about how students are put in the “diversity” (she made sure to include air quotes) group: “People think they all know each other, when in fact they don’t.”

“They are looking to find their way to integrate themselves. We are few and far between in this world,” she says.

Brown gives herself the title of the token black girl. She feels people come to talk to her because of her strong and open personality. Because of this, she also feels that people put the entire population of black students in her hand.

“I feel like I am the go-to person for this kind of stuff. It sucks because I don’t want to speak for all the students — that isn’t who I am,” Brown says. “Everyone has their own story. I am not the representative. I’m not afraid to talk about it, but you need to have patience with the people who don’t understand rather than blowing up on them for asking questions.”

Marquette is known for having a blank canvas when it comes to its student body. With the majority of the students being white, students who are branded as “diverse” tend to fall into a very material, traditionally racial trap.

“First of all, Marquette pushing the diversity on the cover of magazines is a complete farce.

That isn’t Marquette,” says Brown.

Brown shares a story of when she first arrived on campus. In an event similar to Preview, Brown attended a multicultural student orientation. Here she was immersed in a culture she thought was like Marquette. After moving in, in August, she soon realized her orientation was not what Marquette really was.

“It has gotten better, but (Marquette) puts out a false representation,” Brown says. “Like I said, it has gotten much better, and it is Marquette Journal, April 2010 • 11

s e s c a n z ie a c r s r h e t t heal y d fredomore

soph

understandable that everything can’t change, but we have a long way to go.”

On a lighter note, Brown knows she isn’t the stereotypical Marquette girl. She gives all the credit to not wearing leggings and Uggs. After she stops laughing, Brown says she is from Chicago, which “sucks” because she becomes part of the demographic she describes as diverse.

She does consider it special, too.

“Not many people (at Marquette) can say they are from the city,” Brown says.

She also cites her skin color as a difference because she sees it more as an individual, making her her own person.

“It’s hard to say why I am actually different.

The people that I interact with daily are not used to diversity,” Brown says. “I get the stereotype.

I just have an open mind because of how I experienced it.”

We are ... d Frat Boys ans Sorostitute

It doesn’t take much to recognize a Greek on campus. The stereotypical Greek dresses in North Face, Polo and J. Crew. She strolls down 12 • Marquette Journal, April 2010

campus with Ugg boots and leggings with letters on the butt. He holds his head high, sporting aviators and boat shoes. She carries the latest in fashion as a purse or bag. He pops his collar and searches for new apps on his iPhone.

Sophomores Lizzy Spaits and Freddy Terrazas are supposed to be these students.

I met with Lizzy and Freddy on the Bridge.

She was holding study hours for her sorority, Sigma Kappa (known as Sigma Kappa Fraternity nationwide). He came because it was more convenient to interview them both together. As we sit down for the interview, Lizzy cracks a smile when I bring up what it means to be Greek.

“It’s my family, and not just my sorority. The whole organization of Greek Life is who makes me, me,” says Spaits, a student in the College of Arts & Sciences.

Terrazas, a student in the College of Health Sciences, is a member of Delta Chi Fraternity.

He believes the Marquette Greek is driven. She sees them as being service-oriented.

“We are really diverse and have a lot to offer,” says Terrazas. “We don’t just sit around and do nothing, we are active in and out of our chapter and the Marquette community.”

The Greek Life stereotype comes from a history of films like “Animal House” and stories about hazing. Spaits believes it is different at Marquette, even though she admits she falls into some of the trends.

“We are seen as being cocky, slutty, exclusive and sorostitutes,” Spaits says as she and Terrazas laugh at the word usage. She said she heard it when she went to the Milwaukee School of Engineering for a Greek leadership conference.

“At Marquette, we are dedicated to serving others, raising money for our philanthropies and, yes, we are social, but we are responsible and don’t go doing the things you see in the movies or read in the newspaper.”

As Spaits balances working on making flyers and managing study hours, her sorority sister chimes in about another stereotype the girls have.

“We always get made fun off for the letters on our butts and bags,” she says. “They are really great advertisements for us though. Who wouldn’t check them out?”

Terrazas and I look at each other as the girls begin to solidify how easy it is to fall into the Greek stereotype.

“We are seen as party animals and crazy, but we have an incredible leadership role on this campus,” Terrazas says. “Many times you don’t hear about the good things we do. Only the bad things manage to leak out to the entire campus.

This doesn’t really help our image.”

Terrazas believes that people think that because of his Fraternal affiliation, he goes out and parties all the time. He says he is “in a really good, hard major” and is extremely involved

s e c n cie s s t i & s a p art s e r y lizpzhomo so

with a lot of leadership experiences and positions.

Spaits giggles as she admits to having a lot of the stereotype in her but says she has a lot to offer that doesn’t make her what everyone wants to brand her as.

“I commit myself to service,” Spaits says.

“Serving as the service coordinator for (the National Pan-Hellenic Council), going on MARDI GRAS trips and actively pursuing new ways to get involved in non-profits and the community are huge for me.

“Unfortunately, I do kind of fit that stereotype of a Greek. I do want to say I am really funny.”

As Spaits begins to finish her statement, her friends chime in to say that she is the kind of funny that you laugh at, not with. She just rolls her eyes and goes back to creating her advertisements.

When it comes to how Spaits and Terrazas feel about others judging them, they have plenty to say.

“I say ‘screw them,’ ” says Spaits, barely able to keep a straight face through all four words.

“No ... I just think people need to realize that Greek is another adjective, not necessarily a persona. We should be approached like any other person, not as this entity that is a jerk or a bitch.”

“I think it’s easier to be ignorant than knowledgeable,” says Terrazas. “It takes two seconds

to realize what is actually going on.”

“We are a family, and being a family is huge for us. The entire community works together to break the stereotypes,” Spaits says. “After all, stereotypes are just to give people a reason to put you in a category … or a brand like we have been talking about. They shouldn’t be taken as truth. Getting to know the person is what is actually important.”

Marquette is made up of a diverse population. Each student makes up a distinct piece to a large and intricate puzzle.

They grow and shift to accommodate new additions and to fill in the spaces older pieces have left. The student at Marquette University is the school’s most defined brand. More distinct than the Pepsi machines in every building, the US Bank card in almost every pocket or the Direct Supply T-shirt in countless closets. These students are Marquette; they are the difference. They soar high in their endeavors. It is because of all of this that they truly are branded eagles. mj Marquette Journal, April 2010 • 13

Building a Reputation Every day, Tom Ganey gets to walk through his own 93-acre playground: campus.

Photograph by Lauren Stoxen

W

By Molly Gamble

hen Tom Ganey has a bad day, he knows where to go.

He walks through the sunlit lobby and the clicking turnstile, and enters the intellectual hub of Marquette: Raynor Library. While students check emails, scribble to-do lists and hit the books, Ganey just strolls and takes it all in. The library calms him, reminding him of what he’s accomplished.

“I love walking through the library during finals week,” says Ganey, leaning back in his chair and laughing. It’s 3 p.m. on a Friday afternoon. Ganey, with his thin wire-framed glasses on his nose, sits at a conference table. He takes sips from a blue mug with the Sydney Opera House on it.

Ganey is Marquette’s University Architect. He takes the idea of what needs to be built on the 93-acre campus — from the small towers on the Wisconsin Avenue median that announce you have arrived at Marquette to something as large as the Law School — and makes it reality. His budgets range from the thousands to multi-millions. He talks to people, figuring out what they want, and then selects and leads a team of architects, contractors and clients to the building’s completion.

Marquette has seen a flurry of architectural change in recent months.

McCabe Hall, the newest residence hall at 17th Street and Wisconsin Avenue, was completed in September 2009 and now houses lucky sophomores. Campus administration building Zilber Hall was finished by the start of the spring 2010 semester, and Eckstein Hall — the new Law School — is planned to be complete in July 2010.

Still, more change is underway.

On March 5, 2010, ground was broken for the Discovery Learning Complex, the new engineering building, taking over the corner of 16th Street and Wisconsin Avenue and planned for August 2011 completion.

Tom Ganey designed the new Law School building, Eckstein Hall. The building is still under construction with completion anticipated for July 2010.

With that sort of pace, it’s no wonder that Ganey is falling asleep by 8:30 p.m. every night. He lives in an 1857 stone farmhouse that he and his wife, Karen, completely renovated and doubled in size. He says the work is endless — the home will never be completely finished because his wife, too, is an architect, and they are always starting new projects.

“We seem to collaborate well on many things. We’ve lived in three homes, which we have ripped apart and put back together. The design and work has been shared by both of us,” Karen Ganey said.

Tom met Karen in an elevator at his first job. To this day, Ganey rides that elevator whenever he passes the building and calls his wife to tell her that he’s in their elevator. The Ganeys have three children: Karl, Clara and Ryan. Their photos adorn Tom’s office walls and he jokes that, on every family vacation, the kids say all they do is architectural tours.

It seems impossible for a man

14 • Marquette Journal, April 2010

as busy as Ganey to not bring his work home with him, yet he seems to have struck a balance. He loves going out to eat at Coquette Café in The Third Ward. He enjoys golf (trying to hit the course every weekend when weather permits), reading (he wants to read the biography of every U.S. President — so far he’s gotten through 15 but took a break at James K. Polk) and bike riding with his wife.

“Our family is a very integral part of his life, and I am really important, and how can he shower me with praise if he is busy writing emails? He can’t,” says Karen.

“So he rarely brings home that sort of work. He does talk about work with me. I look at the design of things because I like to and I’m nosy. I think he values my input. I have a different take on things.”

Relationships from the ground up

Ganey grew up in Rogers Park, a neighborhood on the north side of Chicago. As a kid, he had a

fascination with the carpentry work that took place within his home and the construction of expressways around it — his initial glimpses at structural design. He has worked at Marquette for 15 years now, although not continuously. There was a gap in between 1993 and now — but he has been working here full time since 1998.

While Ganey is quick to talk architecture (his favorites include Louis Sullivan, a mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright, and the Rookery building in Chicago), he won’t name his favorite building on campus. He says his favorite is the next one, “the one in his mind.” But his anecdote about walking through the library when he feels stressed or down hints that Raynor Library may be the darling of Ganey’s architectural children, and deservedly so. After all, the always-busy library, located right in the center of campus, changed students’ daily lives for the better.

Going to the library is no longer seen as a chore, a dreaded task, a

trip to the dungeon. Rather, it has become a social activity and a comfortable routine that many students find themselves performing out of second nature.

“When you go to Raynor, you know you can retreat to the basement or a quiet floor in Memorial when you really need to get work done,” said Clare Nowogrocki, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences. “But when you’re in need of a break, the Bridge is perfect for catching up with the newest Rolling Stone or coffee and gossip with a friend. The combo of work and hanging out is perfect.”

Within the last three years, Ganey has fallen into his own comfortable routine. Late on Friday afternoons, he is usually the last to leave his office, located in the Service Building on campus. As he turns off lights and gets his things together, he feels a great sense accomplishment and warmth — a sensation that may sound oddly

has hosted 12 students, and Ganey remembers them all. He glances up at the ceiling and recites 12 names, counting them off on his fingers.

He knows where every one of them now resides and what work they have since taken up. “Working with students is my favorite part of my job,” says Ganey. “We really get to know one another.”

Laura Hagan, an administrative assistant in the Office of the University Architect, works closely with Tom and helps organize his schedule. “He has built a high level of trust and respect between him and all those who work with him.

He keeps things in perspective and is able to see humor in the ordinary,” Hagan said.

Ganey doesn’t fit many preconceptions that people may hold about architects. First of all, he can’t draw very well. He will tell you this himself. Second of all, he’s not the least bit arrogant. He finds humor in the ordinary and takes a

hand to his mouth and does exactly what he says he does most: listens.

The consultant begins her presentation, comparing her findings to other schools. She says that it’s normal for fitness centers to be crowded during the rush hours between 3 and 6 p.m. What is not normal, though, is for tour guides to detour the Rec Center when guiding potential students around campus. While they show off Gesu, Joan of Arc or even Cudahy, tour guides steer clear of the windowless Rec Center to avoid awkward comments from guests.

MUSG representatives, some of them tour guides, immediately chime in on this finding. One student, who has been a tour guide for four years, says that he deliberately avoids the Rec Center and doesn’t even get in trouble with his boss for detouring anymore.

“After seeing Raynor, Zilber, McCabe, people are expecting a lot more,” says Henry Thomas,

It’s quite a different image from the crowded, rushed, use-it-orlose-it atmosphere of the current Rec Center. After all, 80 percent of Marquette students participate in recreational sports and exercise at Marquette — a number that is remarkably high compared to other universities. Another representative brings up the point that our fitness facilities simply don’t look like those of a Big East school with a strong athletics program.

All the while, Ganey sits patiently and actively listens — not just to be polite and not because he’s thinking of what to say next. When a student calls him Mr. Ganey, he rubs his forehead and interrupts him, saying, “It’s Tom. It’s Tom. Please. I feel old enough as it is.”

His wife, Karen, knows her husband has a good ear. “Tom listens well, and to solve problems, an architect must have this ability.

Again, the good architects listen.

Quite a few do not,” she says.

“Working with students is my favorite part of my job. We really get to know one another.” simple yet may be absent from many people’s workdays.

When Raynor Library was dedicated on Oct. 1, 2001, Ganey felt “bulletproof.” From the blissful joy and sense of achievement, though, comes a brief stage of grieving.

Ganey calls it an emotional letdown, or just a sense of missing — much like a father feels that first weekend after sending a child off to college.

“We use the buildings, but the ‘team’ is disbanded and never quite the same,” Ganey says. Still, he has perspective on his grieving. “Really, I guess it’s a nice problem to have,” he says, noting that things could be much worse if it were the opposite — if there was no completion to grieve.

As task-oriented as he may be, with projects constantly ending and beginning, Ganey is not a taskmaster. He says he is neither an A nor B personality, but rather a hybrid. He values the interpersonal relationships and friendships he develops over projects. Eleven years ago, he instituted the architectural coop program, allowing engineering students to work alongside him for a year and gain valuable real-world opportunities to apply to their engineering curriculum.

Since its inception, the program

genuine interest in other people, particularly students.

“We are doing good and important work, but we shouldn’t lose sight of things,” Ganey says.

“Some of the work students do is more important work than our building projects.”

Raising Expectations

“Come on in! There’s plenty of food here. We got two pizzas,” Ganey says. In a conference room in the AMU, Ganey rearranges pizza boxes and tidies up a table touting salad, breadsticks and soda. It’s a Monday evening and time for one of his many meetings of the day — this time to discuss plans for a new student recreation center.

Ganey sits at the conference table, wearing a light blue button down shirt with a red tie. Eight members of MUSG seat themselves around two consultants who were brought to Marquette to conduct a study on potential renovation plans. Their plane landed at 10:15 a.m., and they have been at work planning and discussing the renovations ever since, with the clock now striking 6:45.

As Ganey opens dialogue for students and the consultants, (“Welcome! This is your study!”), he sits back in his chair, lifts his

a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences. “And then they’re like, ‘Well, that was kind of a downgrade from Gesu!’ ” Like a parent whose children were brought up in conversation, Ganey’s ears perk up and he leans forward in his chair. “Wait. Now that’s interesting! From Raynor and Zilber, you think we’ve raised expectations?” His forehead is perplexed as he looks around the conference table.

It brings up an interesting point.

Along with libraries, law schools and dormitories, Ganey has also built high expectations — of students, staff and even out-of-towners who stroll campus for tours on sunny weekend afternoons. He’s never met them, and they don’t know him, yet there are unspoken anticipations nonetheless.

Ganey now faces the possibility of people shying away from buildings that, still functional, may not resemble pristine castles like Raynor. Now students expect natural light just as much as they anticipate a meal plan. MUSG representatives dish out ideas of a wellness center — somewhere calming with lavish sunlight streaming in, shining on students as they meditate, do yoga and practice physical therapy for sports-related injuries.

His job is more than drafting or planning or putting up walls. First, he has to knock walls down, opening up avenues for communication with the students who will utilize the building. He asks them whether a new fitness facility would modify student behavior. More frankly, would students drink less on weekends? He wants to know if fitness and exercise has anything to do with socializing and being seen. He wants to know if the Rec offers students enough opportunities to stay active. His work involves more than blueprints.

When the meeting concludes, Ganey thanks the students for voicing their expectations and thoughts.

The plans for a new rec center will be re-addressed in the fall of 2010.

In the meantime, more studies will be held and more meetings conducted. He will listen carefully and make plans for a building that will be of use to students and staff in the years to come. There may be some stressful days in between, but if all goes well, those moments will be nothing that a visit to the library won’t fix. mj

Marquette Journal, April 2010 • 15

S E L F

a g n i d n l i o i u B ndat u o F

16 • Marquette Journal, April 2010

An exploration of the four pillars of Marquette’s mission statement and what they mean to a few exemplary students.

By Sarah Krasin, Rosemary Lane, Molly Newman, Caitlin Kavanaugh and Joey Kimes Photographs by Brooke McEwen

ervice

we are

S

Although 85 to 90 percent of Marquette graduates consistently report having done some type of service during their college years, Dean of Students Stephanie Quade tries to look beyond the numbers.

Quade said Marquette actively tries to establish an environment where students expect service will be a part of their lives. Service on campus operates as a “three-legged stool,” Quade said, incorporating service learning, Campus Ministry and the Office of Student Development’s Center for Community Service.

“I’ve always seen (the administration’s) responsibility as setting up a menu and encouraging students to choose from that,” Quade said.

“But whatever the point of entry, it’s the student’s responsibility to walk through the door.”

Quade said she sees many students initially get involved in small, directed ways, such as participating in the Urban Connection program during freshman orientation or donating money to their Greek organization’s philanthropy.

“What we’re really trying to do is get people to look beyond themselves,” Quade said. “However you get in is fine, but what we don’t want is people leaving at that same level.”

A Growing Connection

When sophomore Maggie Brueggen arrived at Marquette, she was already familiar with the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. A previous high school service trip to New Orleans meant she already had a passion for the city, and Brueggen signed up for her first MARDIS GRAS trip during winter break of her freshman year.

Six MARDIS GRAS trips later, Brueggen is the vice president of the organization and says her desire to perform service is as strong as ever.

Although she admits it’s difficult to not be home during school breaks, Brueggen said the relationships she formed in New Orleans are what inspire her to return.

“It’s what helped make (New Orleans) part of my life,” said Brueggen, a student in the College of Business Administration. “I met these people that I have such a deep love and passion for, and they’re so close to me that I don’t know how I couldn’t go down and help them.”

MARDIS GRAS grew in popularity after its first trip in 2006, Brueggen said, and current trips average about 70 participants. The groups assist several community organizations involved with relief work, but the organization also focuses on the Jesuit value of reflection.

“You can come down and put up drywall all week and leave and not feel any connection,” Brueggen said. “But it’s when you put your heart into the experience and actually reflect on that which can really help solidify the experience for people.”

Reflecting on the Journey

By Sarah Krasin

When Chris Jeske was approached to design the Marquette Center for Peacemaking website his sophomore year, he participated in the

Center’s non-violence training and “was pretty much hooked.”

“The Center has really shaped my understanding of service,” said Jeske, a senior in the College of Business Administration. “Non-violence is not just standing up in the face of injustice, it’s something you can do every day just in the way you interact with others.”

Jeske said that, for him, service is about building relationships and believing that everyone has a unique story to share. After receiving a Szymczak Student Peacemaking Fellowship last year, Jeske returned to his hometown of Kirkwood, Mo., to make a documentary centering on a racially motivated shooting at the Kirkwood City Hall in 2008.

“I decided that making a documentary was something I could do to help me personally understand what happened and how it influenced me,” Jeske said. “I was able to go out and interview members of the community who I otherwise wouldn’t have been able to interact with, using the medium of film to share their stories with others.”

Jeske said that through building relationships with a variety of people, he has come to embrace the fact that everyone is coming from different places.

“It’s not about saying you need to come to the place I am in my journey, it’s recognizing you’re in a different place in your journey and moving forward from there,” Jeske said.

To Serve and Protect

As the only full-time employee of the Department of Public Safety’s Student Safety Programs, Sgt. Dan Kolosovsky gives credit to his student employees for moving the program forward.

“I feel like I’m more the cheerleader because (the students) are the resident experts in what they’re doing,” Kolosovsky said. “But then of course they go and graduate on me.”

According to Kolosovsky, SSP operates under five imperatives which serve as constants in a program with a constantly changing staff. The imperatives include values such as professionalism and teamwork, and Kolosovsky said they are consistently adopted by universities emulating Marquette’s safety programs.

Jason Stich, a senior in the College of Engineering and an SSP supervisor, is one of the 80 to 100 students employed at any given time by SSP. He said even though students aren’t always appreciative of the services SSP provides, most employees take pride in the fact that they help keep campus secure.

“I can’t say that we do much else but keep people safe, but that’s a big part of cura personalis,” Stich said. “We’re simply one pillar in the university’s effort.”

Kolosovsky believes students best serve other students because they understand the everyday pressures of balancing school and other commitments. When a backpack is stolen in the real world, Kolosovsky said, it’s not seen as a seriMarquette Journal, April 2010 • 17

year at Lake Forest College in Illinois. When Klein transferred to Marquette in fall 2007, she was surprised that Invisible Children didn’t have a presence on campus.

Klein promised herself she would take a semester to get acclimated before she took action.

But after only a few weeks, she found herself learning as much as she could about the organization and filling out paperwork to begin a Marquette chapter.

“I didn’t see it coming,” Klein said. “The cause dug a hole in my heart and kind of camped out.”

Klein said since Invisible Children works for such an “intense” cause, people often get intimidated and wonder how their actions can make a difference. Because of this, Marquette’s chapter has always maintained a “go big or go home” mentality, Klein said.

“I think (Marquette students) push each other and hold each other to a high standard of service,” Klein said. “It really makes me love Marquette, especially as a transfer student.”

Klein said she hopes her future career path includes service. Her tentative post-graduate plans include moving to San Diego, Calif. and interning at the Invisible Children headquarters.

But Klein knows one thing is certain: She will eventually travel to Africa and witness the cause she is working for first-hand.

“If you have a passion, you don’t question it,” Klein said. “I trust God enough.”

The Marquette impact

(clockwise) Kerstin Klein, Chris Jeske and Vince Howard have devoted time and passion to various causes during their time at Marquette.

ous offense. But when a backpack is stolen on a college campus, he knows students understand that could mean losing an entire semester of work.

“We have people who can commiserate with that,” Kolosovsky said. “These are people who can really relate to what a student is going through, through the good times and the bad times.”

A global spirit

In the Nyanga township of Cape Town, South Africa, junior Laura Oakley experiences plenty of highs and lows.

Through Marquette’s service learning program in South Africa, Oakley spends two days each week working in one of the poorest and most dangerous parts of Cape Town. She teaches reading and math to primary school students, but Oakley said she often struggles with the language barrier and lack of classroom resources.

“It’s a really different experience for me because the teacher basically just said, ‘Here you go,’ and left me in a room with 45 seventh graders,” said Oakley, a student in the College of Arts & Sciences.

Regardless of the difficulties she faces at her 18 • Marquette Journal, April 2010

service site, Oakley said she is starting to develop a sense of “ubuntu.” The African philosophy focuses on being part of a global community, and Oakley said ubuntu’s values connect easily with Marquette’s Jesuit identity.

“I need to be able to function in a world that is not perfect while maintaining my vision of the world as it should be,” Oakley said. “Although we are diverse, we are all neighbors in a global community.”

Although her friends joke about her going to South Africa to “save the world,” Oakley said she tries to focus on the connection she forms with individual students.

“To know that just one student has smiled wider or breathed easier because I spent my day with them is enough of an impact on me,” Oakley said.

Discovering a Passion

Kerstin Klein, a senior in the College of Communication, has never visited Africa. But that hasn’t stopped her from working to improve the lives of several Ugandan children.

Klein learned about Invisible Children, an organization that works to end the use of child soldiers in Northern Uganda, during her freshman

One Saturday morning each April, about 2,000 Marquette students participate in the university’s largest one-day service project.

Vince Howard, one of the co-coordinators for the 2010 Hunger Clean-Up, said the event has evolved from a one-day event into a quasi-student organization. According to Howard, a senior in the College of Business Administration, about 50 students make up the planning teams that coordinate fundraising events and facilitate all details the day of the event.

But the bigger picture is educating the Marquette community about issues of hunger and homelessness in Milwaukee, Howard said.

Volunteers were assigned to 67 work sites last year, and groups completed tasks ranging from picking up trash to stocking food pantries.

“We do important work,” Howard said.

“Even though those tasks seem simplistic, just the fact that the community sees that we want to take that step, we want to do some good and we want to give up ourselves to the community is important.”

Howard said it’s no small feat for a college student to wake up early on a Saturday morning.

Although students can take time for other organizations when it fits into their schedule, Hunger Clean-Up participants are waking up early and truly “being (there) for others,” Howard said.

“Even if they don’t realize it, even just by going out and being a visible representative of the university and the student body, they are leading other people toward better things,” Howard said. mj

xcellence

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We asked the deans of every college to select one student they thought exemplified “excellence” at Marquette. Little did we know we would find students not only heavily involved in leadership positions and their studies, but also a teaching assistant who dissects cadavers, a women’s volleyball announcer, a French horn player, a confirmation leader, two resident assistants, and an employee at a Hispanic walk-in clinic.

They may be a motley crew, but one thing was for sure, these students are indeed excellent. Each student leader has passionately and humbly served Marquette’s community and friends. Co-workers reiterated how these students are “men and women for others.”

We’re proud to announce these excellent student leaders. Don’t get too jealous…

Dissecting Life

By Rosemary Lane

When Monica Herron was little, she wrote a story about a girl with heart disease. Herron knew little about heart disease, so she went to the library to investigate.

“That was my first spark of interest,” said Herron, a senior in the College of Health Sciences.

Herron never finished her book, but she did gain a devoted interest in medicine, becoming a teacher’s assistant in gross anatomy and histology for two years and serving as the College of Health Sciences’ representative from the Physician’s Assistant program.

As the gross anatomy TA, Herron helps students dissect cadavers (they start with the butt, which is less shocking than a hand or face, she says) and has helped four of the five students she taught become TA’s themselves.

“For me it’s more than teaching people anatomy, it’s about being a good role model for your students,” she said.

Junior Eric W. Anderson, who was one of Herron’s students, is now a TA himself.

“She’s not a robot who just answers questions,” Anderson said. “She’ll talk to you, she’s a real person. She’s someone out of the classroom.”

Though devoted to her studies — friend and alumna Lindsay Fiori said Herron tapes her notes and diagrams to the wall and studies while standing — Herron is just as passionate outside the classroom.

She leads an 11th grade youth group at Mary Queen of Heaven Parish in West Allis, led “Marquette Experience” retreats and played intramural her softball her junior and senior year.

“She’s dedicated to all different aspects of her life and seems to be able to juggle it all without letting anything slide, which I think is a rare quality in people,” Fiori said.

The soon-to-be-graduate hopes to work in rural family practice or pediatric cardio-vascular surgery. “I’m from St. Paul, but I guess I like the boonies,” she said.

“I really like people and I think I have an ability to understand their disease process,” she said.

From the Heart

Shazia Ali hopes to pursue medicine. The senior is double majoring in biology and biomedical sciences, and switched to the College of Health Sciences this semester from Arts & Sciences. Ali discovered her passion for medicine while working at the Lutheran Granville Women’s Clinic last summer, where one patient in particular struck her.

A retired Milwaukee Public Schools elementary teacher who had lost her health care entered with congestive heart failure on Ali’s second day at the clinic.

“She was so positive and grateful for the help she received, I was absolutely blown away by her,” Ali said. “At the end of the session she said, ‘I’ve been helped by angels today,’ and I was helping her. I felt really touched.”

Ali’s friend and president of the Muslim Student Association, Shazeen Harunani, says Ali has a heart of gold.

She said Ali carries around a heavy backpack, which friends have tried to convince her to empty. One day, Harunani had a homework question, and Ali pulled out a binder of the previous semester’s notes. Harunani said Ali carries old notes around to help students, as well as medicine, band-aids, and anything that “would make the people around her a little more comfortable,” Harunani said.

“Of course, she regards none of this as being extra weight or considers that there is a possibility to leave any of it behind — she continues to carry it all,” Harunani wrote in an e-mail.

The Wauwatosa native is also an honors student, works as a program assistant for FORWARD! in Student Development, which develops leaders on campus. She served as an MUSG senator for commuter students, the president of the Commuter Student Association and has been the vice president of the Muslim Student Association since her freshman year.

Supervisor Kate Trevey, a coordinator for student organizations and leadership in the Office of Student Development, said Arts & Sciences couldn’t have picked a better person.

“Shazia really is remarkable,” Trevey said.

“She gets involved in leadership roles not for herself but for other people. She’s always representing concerns or ideas of other people, and she does that very, very well.”

Marquette Journal, April 2010 • 19

mj

Monica Herron, senior College of Health Sciences

Going Global

Mary Catherine Smith has also served as a leader during her four years at Marquette.

Smith is the president of the Information Technology Student Organization, where she plans two major networking events every year with operations supply chain companies such as Harley-Davidson and General Electric.

“I’m kind of driven to do well and not let anyone down,” Smith said.

The Business Administration senior has also worked for GE for two summers in their Informational Management Leadership Program in Wauwatosa.

Eric Wendorff, a junior in the College of Business Administration who is on ITSO’s eboard, now works at GE too.

“When I got an internship there, she helped me a lot with the ins and outs of GE,” Wendorff said. “She’s entirely dependable, and a lot of fun too. She knows when to joke and when to get serious about work.”

On the side, Smith plays club tennis and plays the French horn in Marquette’s band.

Smith, who is majoring in IT and international business with a minor in French, graduated a year early from high school in Liberty, Mo., and jumped into activities at Marquette.

“I love college so much more than high school,” she said.

Smith, who was nominated for senior speaker, spent last spring studying abroad in Lille, France, where she took French finance and French finance law, taught in French. Smith said she hopes to continue traveling.

Boyfriend Matt Mettelman, a senior majoring in economics, said Smith always performs her best at everything — she even types up her notes four or five times before a test, he said.

“She performs her best every time to do a satisfying job the first time around so you don’t have to improve on it,” Mettelman said. “She puts forth a lot of effort in class and outside of class.”

Educating the Future about the Past

Teaching runs in Michael Hennicke’s blood.

His mom is a teacher and his dad, a social worker, teaches at Saint Louis University.

“I fought it for as long as I could. The apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree,” Hennicke said. “Education is what I’m called to do.”

The St. Louis native hopes to teach in an 20 • Marquette Journal, April 2010

Michael Walczak, junior College of Nursing

inner city, where he’s had experience. In high school, Hennicke prepared inner city youths for college at the Parkway School District College Prep Program in St. Louis.

At Marquette, he teaches U.S. history to seniors at Messmer High School. When teaching students about trench warfare, Hennicke had them build trenches with their desks, use paper as grenades and bullets, and paper flyers as airplanes.

Hennicke said he thinks he can make a big impact on inner city students.

“There are wonderful things going on in inner-city schools,” Hennicke said. “As long as I’m teaching inner-city youth, that’s all I could wish for.”

The 22-year-old is also prolific at Marquette as a leader. He’s the president of the College of Education’s Student Council, where he’s working to reopen America’s Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee.

Tina McNamara, the director of undergraduate advising in the College of Education and Hennicke’s adviser for four years, said Hennicke embodies the concept of men and women for others.

“He’s someone who stands out,” she said.

“He’s someone who definitely makes a difference, and not someone who’s seeking the spotlight, but he gets things down. He just loves Marquette, you get that sense from him.”

Hennicke is also a student tour guide.

“His passion for Marquette is palpable,” said Leah Strong, a Marquette admissions counselor and Hennicke’s supervisor. “What I like about him as an employee is he can get prospective students excited about the university, and his enthusiasm is contagious.”

Strong said Hennicke frequently high-fives and hugs others in the admissions office after a particularly good tour.

Breaking Ground

On March 5, junior Steve Lynch sat atop an excavator in front of 500 people. He maneuvered its gold-plated scoop and broke ground on the College of Engineering’s future home, the Discovery Learning Complex.

“It was an honor,” Lynch said. “Sitting in there, you could see everyone in the street and to have the opportunity to be part of a historic

event for the university.”

Lynch was nominated as the official excavator by the College of Engineering.

Lynch, an electrical and computer engineer from St. Thomas More High School in Milwaukee, sits on the electrical and computer engineering board as the junior representative, has served as a resident assistant in O’Donnell Hall for two years, and still participates in his high school’s nationwide robotics program.

Friends describe Lynch as a “quiet, funny guy,” who is very fond of his Marquette Crocs and willing to help anyone.

“He kind of goes above and beyond — he’s an RA, and that already goes above and beyond,” said Education senior Kristin Brehm, who has worked with Lynch in O’Donnell for two years. “If you need a guy to help you out, you go to Steve.”

Lynch also has announced six games for the women’s volleyball team this year. His freshmen year, Lynch was asked to emcee the Big East women’s volleyball tournament. He had pneumonia and a 100-degree fever but didn’t want to tell his bosses for fear of not getting to announce. After calling the shots, Lynch was rushed to the emergency room.

“I was sweating, but sitting on the floor of the Al McGuire Center was unbelievable,” Lynch said. “Definitely a change from a 400-person high school.”

Finding the Comfort Zone

Michael Walczak, a junior in the College of Nursing, encountered a huge change when he graduated from Marquette High School: He was one of four or five guys in the nursing school.

“At first I was intimidated,” Walczak said. “I didn’t have that comfort zone.”

Now, as a junior, Walczak said it’s not issue, even though people give him “smack” for it all the time.

“It doesn’t bother me,” he said. “You know what, it’s what I do. It’s my job, I love it!”

He said he hopes to be a nurse anesthetist because he’d be able to have a family and loves being in the operating room.

“I’m someone who likes to think on his feet, and for me, the operating room provides you with that,” he said.

Walczak works at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin on the ambulatory float staff team with hopes of becoming a nurse intern there this summer. He is currently doing a clinical at Froedtert Hospital and will be in the ICU next semester at St. Luke’s Hospital.

On the job, Walczak said he especially enjoys patient interaction. One day, he met a man who had no children, whose wife had left that day, and had pancreatic cancer, usually a fatal disease. Walczak spent his entire day with the patient and discovered the two had similarities.

“He didn’t feel like the outcast, and we related, which felt good — making an impact on a patient,” he said.

Walczak has worked as an RA in Schroeder Hall for two years and will be the facilities manager for McCormick Hall next semester. He has also been on a Global Medical Brigades Trip to Honduras and has led confirmation retreats.

After Marquette, Walczak hopes to go to Rush Medical School in Chicago. mj

Being taught how to teach Education students put excellence into practice at the front of the classroom.

I

By Molly Newman

t’s 10:45 on a Tuesday morning. While many students are just rolling out of bed for 11 a.m. classes, Anna Luberda has been awake for five hours.

Luberda is a senior and full-time student teacher in her last semester as a secondary education and history major. She teaches four freshman history classes, five days per week at Nicolet High School in Glendale.

Though she lives in a house near campus with five other students, Luberda said she spends little of her time on campus.

“I get up at 5:45 every day,” she said. “I usually leave before anyone else (in my house) is even awake.”

Education majors are required to complete one semester of student teaching to round out their classes at Marquette with real life experience, according to College of Education Dean Bill Henk. “(Student teaching is) one of the most important parts of teacher preparation because it’s where you really get to practice or refine all the knowledge and skills you’ve learned … in an authentic context,” Henk said.

In addition to the University Core of Common Studies and the teacher education program, both elementary and secondary education majors are required to complete a second major in the College of Arts & Sciences or the College of Communication, which becomes their teaching specialty.

Many of the education classes involve completing field experience, observing, and ultimately teaching, up to 100 hours of classes in a range of socioeconomic environments and grade levels before entering the student teaching semester.

Student teachers must also attend a weekly seminar grouped by subject focus on campus and submit a series of formal lesson plans in order to earn their 12 credits for the semester of teaching. The seminar adviser observes the student teachers in action once a month and grades their efforts pass/fail for the course.

While some students are able to complete both the College of Education requirements and a semester of student teaching in four years, it commonly takes four and a half or five years to finish an education degree.

“What’s happened over time is, the requirements from the state, they’ve really ratcheted them up,” Henk said.

Henk said his own undergraduate field experience with a seventh grade boy who read at a second grade level helped him realize he wanted to become a reading specialist. His cooperating teacher served as a role model, trusting him to make mistakes so he could learn from them, he said.

Colleen Cary, a senior elementary education and Spanish major, is also a student teacher. She said her cooperating teacher helps guide her through teaching the coursework in a way the students are used to, while integrating strategies she’s learned at Marquette.

Cary teaches one class every non-special subject at Lincoln Avenue Elementary School in Milwaukee. She observed the class for two weeks, then took over one subject at a time from the teacher.

After eight weeks, Cary took over all the subjects.

She has used strategies like guided reading to help students work their way through chapter books and collaborative learning, in which each student has a role within the group setting. Both create a cohesive, easy-to-manage classroom environment, she said.

“I would say from the elementary program I felt very well prepared with the number of different field experiences we’ve had early on from our education sequence,” Cary said.

Cary said those field experiences and student teaching have helped her learn about the real-life aspects of teaching, like the challenges of teaching in an urban neighborhood.

“Teaching in an urban environment can be very challenging but can also be extremely rewarding,” she said. “There’s a lot of factors you have to take into account — like what’s going on at home — that can affect a student’s performance.”

Cary said student teachers aren’t paid for their full-time work — in fact, students continue to pay tuition to student teach. Though

Michael Hennicke, a senior in the College of Education, student teaches U.S. History at Messmer High School. When he graduates, Hennicke hopes to find work at another inner-city school.

it’s a reduced $5,800 cost for the semester, since student teachers are discouraged from holding another job, Cary said it can be a financial strain.

Mike Hennicke, a senior secondary education and history major, student teaches four periods of U.S. History at Messmer High School in Milwaukee. He said a big part of gaining respect as a student teacher is by not acting like one.

“As long as you kind of set the tone and establish the fact that you are the teacher, not just a student teacher a few years older than them … as long as you can hold that down — because a lot of the students will try to test you the first few days — you’ll be fine,” he said.

Hennicke, also the College of Education student council president, said he is at Messmer from 7:30 a.m. until after-school tutoring is completed, and he is in the pro-

cess of forming a girls’ club soccer team at the school.

He said he has formed professional friendships with about five other student teachers at Messmer, since they have so much in common.

Luberda said she is now friends with another Marquette student who teaches at Nicolet, since she spends the whole school day there, from 7:23 a.m. to 2:23 p.m., plus extra detention time.

“I feel like I’m never on campus, so it’s nice because we have exactly the same schedule,” she said.

Instead of doing homework, Luberda said she spends her evenings grading papers and preparing lesson plans for the week ahead. Then, she goes to bed hours before her roommates — again. mj

Marquette Journal, April 2010 • 21

eadership

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“The test of leadership is not to put greatness into humanity, but to elicit it, for the greatness is already there.” — James Buchanan, 15th President of the United States.

The difference between a leader and a follower is within the spirit. Good leadership inspires people to unabashedly step forward and impact the world. Good leadership enhances the strengths of others and primes them to be all that they can be. At Marquette, leadership takes on a student-oriented role; one that seeks to nourish the student population and to help that spark of leadership in all of us turn into a consuming fire. The following students take their leadership roles to heart.

Finding the Energy in Life

If you ran into Kate Feeney, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences, on the street, chances are she’d be smiling. She’s friendly and dependable and works hard in the Office of Student Development, where she’s served a number of positions: Late Night Program Assistant, Orientation Planning Team and currently an Office Assistant in the LEAD Center.

“I’m so passionate about Marquette and Marquette pride and everything about Marquette,” Feeney said. “I’m such a nerd.”

But what’s nerdy to her is admirable to others.

Kathyrn Randich, a junior in the College of Communication who works with Feeney, respects her enthusiasm and drive to help others.

“Kate is a good leader because she is willing to put herself out there. She is a great go-to person, whether it’s questions or concerns or just simply help,” Randich said.

Recently, Feeney has been presented with a student affairs leadership award for her achievements, no doubt a result of her intense passion for the university and its students. She loves telling fresh ears about Marquette, and she relishes in the opportunity to explain to each student ways they can get involved in their community.

For Feeney, the best part about her job is feeding off of the new students’ energy, an energy she strives to empower by emphasizing each student’s strengths. This fall, Feeney plans to continue her journey of student service in graduate school by studying student affairs.

“I’ve met so many great people who are student affair professionals. I want to be like them and make a difference in people’s lives.”

Residential Success

By Cailtin Kavanaugh 22 • Marquette Journal, April 2010

John Ebben, a resident assistant in Straz Tower and soon-to-be med student, cites his biggest role model as his mother. “She has sacrificed a lot for me and for our family. She is the person that I can always trust, and I know that she always loves me.”

It is her dedication and sacrifice that continues to inspire Ebben in his daily life, which these days, means juggling quite the load: class, staff meetings, addressing student issues, posting advertisements for campus events, coordinating programs — but none of this matters to him if the students aren’t engaged.

“I hope that all of these programs and activities help my residents to feel more comfortable at Marquette and have inspired them to incorporate service into their lives,” Ebben says.

Renee Wiedenhoeft, residence hall director of Straz Tower, says that this concern for student’s well being is evident in Ebben. “His work speaks for itself — he has an ability to connect with a variety of residents, to truly listen to the concerns of others, and act from a place of care and concern for the community,” Wiedenhoeft says.

Whether Ebben is spending an afternoon helping the Urban Ecology Center or planning a fun and stress-free dinner for students on his floor, engaging with others is what he knows best. Wiedenhoeft attributes this to his keen ability to tune into and to serve the needs of others.

“That is truly the hallmark of a great RA — a person who can see the need of the community, and from there, guide his or her work to meet that end,” Ebben says.

Bridging the Gap

As the secretary for the Gay/Straight Alliance, Melissa Condon takes her work very seriously, whether she’s orchestrating events or taking notes — but one of her biggest struggles is helping people to understand what the group is really about.

“The GSA is not only a place where members of the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) community gather and hang out; it is a place where accepting people come together,” she says, “and that includes members of the LGBT community, as well as allies.”

These “allies” are people like Condon, who wish to spread a message of peace and understanding about the LGBT community, as well as fight for their equal rights.

Since joining the group her freshman year, she has vigorously helped spread the word.

“Now, the majority of my close friends are either involved in the GSA, or I have encouraged to become involved in the GSA,” she says.

“I would not have it any other way.”

Despite all the work Condon has poured into the organization, she hopes that one day it won’t be necessary. “It is the ultimate goal of the organization to create an environment where people are more accepting of other’s sexuality, and if there comes a day when a GSA is no longer needed, I will be happy.”

Melissa Condon, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences and secretary for the Gay/Straight Alliance, wants to create an environment where everyone is accepted and treated equally.

Until that day arrives, Condon proves to hold a strong passion for her cause and distributes her energy between PURE Dance Marquette, the College of Arts & Sciences Student Council, coaching a dance team, serving on the Core Curriculum Review Committee as a student representative and — when there’s time — baking, reading and writing poetry.

Communicating with a Purpose

Everything about Lauren Lakomek is laid back and inviting — including her office. The tight space is adorned with a cozy couch, blueand beige-painted walls and matching paper lanterns. She’s lively and outgoing (her best friend’s dad sums her up as “an experience”), but all of this doesn’t mean she’s not serious

aith

we are

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By Joey Kimes

Unlike the other pillars that make up Marquette’s mission statement, faith is developed and lived out mainly internally. Regardless, students at Marquette are making sure to fully embody this pillar, and their passion is easily seen throughout campus.

As depicted in its mission statement, Marquette is “committed to the unfettered pursuit of truth under the mutually illuminating power of human intelligence and Christian faith.” It further explains that the university is “devoted to the cultivation of our religious character.”

What does this mean to a Marquette student?

“To me, faith means believing in something despite the fact that there is no proof for it,” said Chris Stewart, a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences.

Faith can’t be proven. People simply believe in a higher power to shed knowledge and guidance upon them. The true beauty of this conviction is that — no matter who someone is, where he or she came from or what aspirations he or

about what she’s doing.

As the communication vice president for Marquette Student Government, she has multiple responsibilities — delegating tasks, creating posters and writing press releases — but she’s never afraid to step up for the student body and address its needs.

Henry Thomas, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences and former president of MUSG, describes Lakomek as one of the most unique people he’s ever worked with. “When it comes to her work ethic, she is a very hard worker,” Thomas says. “She takes her work personally and understands the importance of accomplishing her tasks for the week, because it not only affects her but affects the student population.”

Lakomek, in turn, truly enjoys her work with student government. “Every day’s a happy day working with MUSG,” she says. “I am not even kidding when I say that. I love coming into this office every day.”

Lakomek says that she can’t take credit for her work by herself. “A leader can’t just do things by themselves; they need a team of people to take you there to get to an end goal,” she says. Teamwork is as essential as dedication, passion and hard work, but Lakomek reminds us of another important aspect: “You have to have fun while doing it.”

In a way, the entire world is a team, just like MUSG. We’re all a part of the relay race of life, all running to reach our dreams. Leaders like these are necessary because they pass on the baton, transferring their passion to others and reminding them that they’re not alone. mj

she has for life — faith remains with everyone and is something that everyone seems to internally understand.

A Deeper Mission

With resources across campus to help students delve further into the intrinsic powers of faith, many students see this pillar as one of the more rewarding ones to identify with.

Campus Ministry is one of the staples on campus and a consistent place for students to go to express their faith. If you’ve stopped by Campus Ministry at all this year, you may have run into Megan Miller working at the front desk.

Miller, a senior in the College of Health Sciences, was selected as the student within Campus Ministry that most exemplified the pillar of faith at Marquette.

“She is a student worker who got immersed in the heart and soul of Campus Ministry by getting involved with the programs,” said Susan Marquette Journal, April 2010 • 23

Niemi, an administrative secretary for Campus Ministry.

Niemi said Miller got involved with Campus Ministry because she was looking for a job to finance her education. But once at Campus Ministry, she dove into its programs such as retreats, IMAP Belize and Midnight Run. Now, this passion has spread to others.

“Megan reaches out to others by verbally trying to draw them in to retreats and others programs, as well as trying to interact with all students,” Niemi said.

Faith is living out God’s word and connecting to others in your mission, Miller said.

“It’s the simple moments where the connection is really felt,” she said. “Like when you’re leading a small group, and someone says what is on your mind. Words don’t make you realize that this is what you were called to do, but times like this do.”

One of Miller’s greatest strengths, according to Niemi, is her care for not only herself, but for others, which is why she described Miller as a “compassionate woman for others.”

“Megan is a magnet to the human story of others and has the ability to magnify the importance of others,” Niemi said. “For example, she went on the IMAP Belize trip where they spent 24 • Marquette Journal, April 2010

all day digging three-foot trenches in mud. Even after that, she still was able to share a special moment with a child.”

The Power Within

Although Marquette is a Jesuit institution, faith is shown throughout campus by numerous students and organizations, regardless of denomination. One such organization like this is the Muslim Student Association.

“Marquette is faith based and has a secular education,” Lillian Figg-Franzoi said. “And recognizing those who celebrate faith in daily life and the diversity of those practicing is amazing, in the broader sense.”

Figg-Franzoi, a junior in the College of Arts & Sciences, is one of the members of this organization that exemplifies a deep understanding of faith.

“Life is a difficult struggle to go through, and we have to take it one day at a time,” Figg-Franzoi said. “Faith is something that we live out all of the time with every action of every day.”

Shazia Ali, a senior in the College in the Arts & Sciences and vice president of the Muslim Student Association, said that Figg-Franzoi is exactly that type of person. Ali said that FiggFranzoi “lives out each day with a beautiful

Megan Miller (above), a senior in the College of Health Sciences, has devoted a large part of her Marquette experience to Campus Ministry.

Lillian Figg-Franzoi, a junior in the College of Arts & Sciences, celebrates her faith as a member of the Muslim Student Association.

spirit and deep humility,” and she gives to and helps others without limits while accepting them for who they are.

“These traits are simply who Lillian is,” Ali said. “I saw them the first day I met her, but at the same time, she has grown a great deal in this past year. She works to develop her faith and has a drive to learn. Whether about religion and the history behind it or current affairs, she has a hunger for knowledge, for truth.”

Figg-Franzoi’s search for truth stems directly from how she defines faith.

“The word in Islam is ‘iman,’ ” she said. “It means to have a trust in ultimate truth, justice, peace and goodness and living in line with that.

Actions, words and intentions are all in line with a greater purpose.”

“Lillian is inspirational,” Ali said. “She instills in others a desire to ask questions about their faith, to learn more, and to always stay true to what they believe in. mj

The People’s Shelter Repairers of the Breach serves Milwaukee’s homeless community daily with the goal of restoring dignity to its community members and helping them to help others.

By Glenn Oviatt Photographs by Glenn Oviatt

“Praise the Lord, it’s good to see you!” someone exclaims as a woman walks through the front door of the Repairers of the Breach homeless shelter.

Her name is Dorothy Jackson, the former manager of the shelter, and she has come to gather members of the Breach choir for the Saturday afternoon rehearsal next door in the clinic.

Through her thick-framed glasses, Dorothy smiles lovingly at the dozens of people who sit in rows of chairs along the tiled floor, finishing their lunch on white Styrofoam plates. For some, this may be their only meal of the day.

The smell of chicken noodle soup from the Crock-Pots in the pantry lingers in the air. Except for a few plastic forks clicking against plates, the room is quiet, and Dorothy makes her announcement in a soft but clear voice.

“Hello everyone. Once you finish your meals, choir rehearsal will take place next door in the clinic. Anyone can come if they’re interested.”

With another smile, she turns, and her black dress sways as she walks out the door.

In the back room of the clinic at 1335 W. Vliet St., old examination tables are pushed to the walls, and a semicircle of blue chairs faces an electronic piano.

Some ceiling panels are cracked and stained, and the paint on the wall peels like old, dry skin.

In a short time, 12 members join Dorothy in the clinic and take their seats in the semicircle according to their vocal range.

Eagerness fills the room as several voices read through the day’s songs, practicing the lyrics and warming up their voices.

A tall middle-aged man wearing a gray suit jacket with tan dress pants sings in a quivering tenor reminiscent of Elvis Presley. His salt-andpepper hair is curled back into a wave, and his lip snarls as he mouths out the words on the page in front of him.

At the piano stands Arlene Skwierawski, a renowned Milwaukee music instructor who worked with inner city youth during the 1967 civil disorder.

Arlene looks down at her sheet music, and her fingers begin to flutter across the keys.

The choir sits erect and falls silent, watching for conductor and local musician K.C. Williams to begin singing.

K.C. is animated, exaggerating each word with his mouth and signaling each change in tone with his hands. His dark eyes glow as he moves from person to person, listening to their voice match his.

Prompted by his motions, the small choir comes alive in song and previously quiet voices sing with confidence.

Marquette Journal, April 2010 • 25

Four members of the Repairers of the Breach choir perform at the Reel Poverty Film Festival on April 15 at the Union Sports Annex. They sang with the Gold ‘N Blues later that night.

Photograph courtesy Sullivan Oakley They begin with the traditional form of “Go Tell it on the Mountain.”

Go tell it on the mountain, Over the hills and everywhere, Go tell it on the mountain, that Jesus Christ is born.

Then K.C. motions to Arlene, and her fingers flutter faster, like tiny beating wings. The music unfolds into a bluesy beat that awakens the choir. Their feet tap as they sing, and the music seems to flow through their bodies and fill the rest of the room.

Go, and tell it on the mountain Go now!

And tell it on the mountain Go! And tell it on the mountain That Jesus— That Jesus— That Jesus Christ is born!

As they sing, the choir grows comfortable with the words, looking up from their pages toward one another. From across the ends of the semicircle, the sopranos and the tenors exchange glances as if sharing a secret only they know and understand. They nod, smile and sing louder, perhaps acknowledging that the secret is meant for all to hear.

26 • Marquette Journal, April 2010

Homeless Helping the Homeless

Tony Lee, the late co-founder of Repairers of the Breach, believed in the homeless.

“Not only do homeless people have the solutions to homelessness, they are the solutions,” he said in 1989 when he began the newspaper that would eventually expand to develop a headquarters that is now Milwaukee’s only daytime homeless shelter.

Lee was a Vietnam War veteran who returned from the war homeless and addicted to heroin. A life-changing encounter with another homeless person encouraged him to break his addiction and repair his life. From then until his death in 1996, Lee dedicated himself to creating a means for homeless people to communicate and reach out to each other.

Based on the grassroots idea that the homeless can lead and empower each other, Repairers of the Breach developed a model of service to the homeless that hadn’t been tried in Milwaukee before.

Additionally, the shelter sustains itself through private funding and donations and has never relied on the government for aid.

It is purely the people’s shelter, something Repairers of the Breach Executive Director MacCanon Brown is deeply proud of.

Open from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Saturday, the shelter serves between 130 to 150 homeless adults each day and considers them members of their community, rather than mere clients.

This approach prevails throughout the orga-

nization, helping to restore the human dignity of the entire community while enabling the homeless to better face their struggles and work their way back to mainstream society.

In the living room of the shelter, Repairers of the Breach offers free classes on résumé building, job interviews and personal development.

Following their motto of the “homeless helping the homeless,” many volunteers at the shelter were previously homeless or are currently working their way out of homeless situations.

According to the organization’s website, every month 15 to 25 homeless members make significant improvements toward securing employment and housing, entering treatment programs, reaching new levels of education or finding greater family reunification.

In fall 2009, Repairers of the Breach began a campaign to raise $640,000 as the final part of a $2 million effort to renovate and expand the shelter. Just after the New Year, the shelter began construction to add an elevator, stairs and a sunroom and make repairs to the unusable apartments on the second and third floors.

The expansion will allow the shelter to use this space to provide more room for services like women’s groups, clothing distribution, educational classes and drug rehabilitation.

Even through the construction in the cold winter months, the shelter continues its programs in the cramped first floor storefronts.

And each week, three to five members find housing, jobs or both: evidence of breaches being repaired.

Photograph courtesy Repairers of the Breach Clean Clothes, Clean Dignity

Through the cracks in the floorboards, the choir sings its secrets to the basement of the shelter.

It is just past 1 p.m. on a frigid Saturday in October, and guests are still making the short, squeaky march down the basement stairs to get clothing and toiletries.

At the foot of the stairs, an old man named Percy reclines in a chair, handing out clear plastic bags to guests, lightly tapping his toe and singing an old blues tune under his breath.

Behind him, several volunteers from the shelter and Marquette sit at three long tables with neat rows of donated bras, underwear, T-shirts, trial-sized shampoo, soap, body wash, razor blades and shaving cream.

In the other basement room is a rack full of men’s and women’s shoes, some lightly worn, while others are left without shoelaces. There are long metal poles full of clothes dangling from hangers, and a twisted pile of unused hangers sticks out in the far corner of the room.

A fluorescent light above the racks of women’s shirts and pants winks on and off as the voices of the Breach choir faintly radiate through the floorboards in the ceiling.

When the “Boston Store” officially opens at noon, many guests make their way through the clothing racks hanging from the ceiling and exposed pipes.

MacCanon Brown arrives just after noon and makes her way through the basement, greeting the guests, workers and volunteers.

“I can’t find 31’s,” a man says, thumbing through a rack of jeans hanging from a metal pole. He pulls out a pair, takes it off the hanger and unfolds it over his legs.

Brown stops and leans on her cane, looking over at the man. She tells him to keep looking, and he will find the pair he needs.

She turns away to say hello to a woman resting on a folding chair beside a broken electric organ, and the man exclaims: “Hey! 31’s! I found them!”

Brown turns back to him and beams.

“Well, praise the Lord,” she says, lifting up her free hand to the ceiling.

Brown then walks to a locked wooden door with the word “Shop,” scrawled on its body in faded black lettering. After searching for the correct key as she leans her cane against the wall, Brown opens the door to a small musty room with boxes and black bags filling the floor.

In the back, there is a tall stack of sleeping bags donated to the shelter to give out to the homeless during the winter.

With help from a couple of volunteers, Brown produces three boxes full of unopened packages of socks, underwear and white undershirts.

Although there is only enough for just four socks, two shirts and two pairs of underwear per person, guests come with excitement wrapped around their fingers as they clutch the clear plastic bags to carry their clothes.

Brown says it is very important for the homeless to have nice clothes. It helps maintain a sense of their dignity.

She speaks of a time when a group of directors from a Chicago homeless shelter came to Repairers of the Breach for a tour. Upon seeing only clean people wearing nice clothing, they asked where the homeless were.

Homeless people, they said, weren’t supposed to be like this — equals, that is.

Still Hungry for More

MacCanon Brown is no stranger to struggle.

Almost 20 years ago, Brown found herself alone after leaving her home state of Iowa, in search of a more fulfilling life in Milwaukee.

When in Milwaukee, Brown tried to live as an artist and intellectual, holding a small job to pay her bills. However, she also tried to avoid community — something she needed to grow spiritually.

After a few months, Brown had less and less money to spend on food and was barely scraping by on the little money she made. In desperation, she started going to the community meals held at St. Benedict the Moor’s at 1015 N. 9th St. All of a sudden, she was vulnerable and very nearly homeless.

During the evening meals, Brown found the community she thought she didn’t need —ß with the poor, the homeless and the church volunteers providing the meals.

There she met Father Chester, a leader at St. Benedict’s who, according to Brown, later said “something came over him” the moment he met her. From that point on, Father Chester took Marquette Journal, April 2010 • 27

Repairers of the Breach has moved three times before finding its permanent residence at 1335 W. Vliet St. It is currently undergoing a $2 million construction project to renovate and expand the shelter.

28 • Marquette Journal, April 2010

Brown to the homeless shelters across Milwaukee almost daily.

As Father Chester, who has since passed away, continued to reveal to her the state of the impoverished and homeless in Milwaukee, Brown said she began to “feel something in her bones,” too.

Brown recalls thanking God for sparing her from homelessness during her time of financial struggle and asking him to use her in any way to help the poor and homeless in Milwaukee.

She never could have foretold how God would lead her to where she is today.

With a passion for the homeless growing within her, Brown received a scholarship to the Benedict Institute of Milwaukee from Father Chester. There she took a class focused on urban ministry, fostering her growth as a spiritual leader.

Where God led her in 1990 was a small newspaper led by a mere 12 people that focused on telling the stories of Milwaukee’s homeless and formerly homeless. The paper heard of her past experience as a writer and reporter in Iowa and asked her to join.

The name of that small paper was “Repairers of the Breach.”

Mary Maley, former president of the Repairers of the Breach board, said the paper had only $50 in its account when it began in 1989.

“From then on, it was a walk of faith. Week by week, month by month, we built this organization,” Brown said.

Soon after joining, Brown became president and editor of the newspaper.

With her help, Tony Lee’s vision of creating a shelter governed by the homeless became a reality in 1994. The shelter took its name from the

newspaper.

Although Lee passed away not long after the shelter became reality, Repairers of the Breach continues to pursue Lee’s mission to provide a place for the homeless to govern themselves and to be encouraged and enabled.

However, the shelter has met much opposition along the way.

Since the shelter first opened, it has moved three times before it finally found a home at 1335 W. Vliet St. In each place, Brown said neighbors complained that the homeless brought crime and drugs to their neighborhoods.

Faced with no place to go, the shelter received its current building as an anonymous donation.

“Our people are stigmatized and misunderstood,” Brown said. “We also have challenges of crisis. In any one day, you will find people who are in any kind of crisis.”

However, Brown counters external opposition and internal crisis in much the same way: she invites people in.

Brown said she invites the opponents of the shelter to visit and see exactly what they are doing for the city’s impoverished and homeless.

For Brown, who converted to Catholicism before joining Repairers of the Breach, her faith remains central to her life, and she continues to seek God through all she does.

“I say my search is not over,” Brown said.

“I’m still hungry for more.”

Brown said her dream for the future of Repairers of the Breach is that it could expand to other cities where help is needed.

For herself, Brown hopes to become a part of the daily miracles that take place at the shelter as they bring people into empowerment — even in the midst of crisis and adversity.

“My life is woven into the homeless and theirs is woven into mine,” Brown said. “I’m, down deep, happy.”

Courage in Scripture

Derrick stands just inside the clinic door, watching passersby through the glass on a frigid November afternoon. Tightly woven braids peer out from a brown skullcap as he turns his head back to the clinic.

Only 10 minutes earlier, Praise Temple, a group from the shelter that meets every Saturday for Bible study in the medical center, meets to study scripture and pray together.

For Derrick, there was a time he thought that God forgot all about him.

Last year, at age 45, he lived with his mother and brother in a neighborhood infested with crime and drug dealing. Adamant about leaving for a safer place to live, his mother left for a new home, but only took his brother.

That decision left Derrick homeless and struggling to find a job to support himself.

Soon after, he began living at the Milwaukee Rescue Mission and attending Praise Temple at Repairers of the Breach.

Raised Lutheran, Derrick found courage from scripture and his fellow Christians.

At the shelter, he met MacCanon Brown and immediately began to do small things for her, such as taking out the trash and cleaning the floors. In return, he says Brown did a beautiful job of assisting him — he was able to have clean

Derrick came to Repairers of the Breach last year, homeless and jobless. He says he found strength in God and community at Repairers, and the blessings started to flow.

clothes and toiletries like soap, after-shave and cologne.

The blessings started to flow, Derrick says.

“My faith kept growing stronger as God moved in my life.” His brown eyes are peaceful while his hands clench to imitate his strengthening faith.

All people face struggles, and the Devil, he says, will find a way to squeeze into your heart if you leave the door open.

He says what you have to do is guard the door and keep it shut to the Intruder.

At the shelter, his job is just that: a gatekeeper.

Five to six days per week, Derrick monitors the door of the medical clinic, keeping any intruders out of the building.

From the money he’s made at his job since last March, Derrick now has his own home.

And he’s engaged.

In the future, Derrick plans to marry his fiancée and to continue “loving and praising God” all he can.

“I’m living,” he says with a wide smile.

Filling the Cracks

After an afternoon session of GED preparation, a small group of students and tutors ascend the stairs from the basement in a chorus of wooden creaks.

It is 3:45 p.m. and the first floor storefront is devoid of the constant voices and movements of the workers and guests. All the empty chairs have been pushed to one wall, with some metal chairs folded and stacked into rows leaning against the bathroom door.

The lights have been shut off, but the sun still peers through the front windows as if to make

sure every last detail has been tended to before the shelter closes for the night.

Two of the guards wearing blue jackets —ß both named John — mop the black and white tiles of the empty floor.

The group walks out the front door and into the watchful eyes of the sun. The winter air rushes into their faces.

It will be a cold night tonight.

Outside the shelter, the cracks in the sidewalk continue their slow meditated reach as they try to wrap their spindly fingers around the buildings.

With a quick goodbye, some guests turn toward the city to catch a bus near the highway.

Others walk two blocks South to the Guest House or toward the Milwaukee Rescue Mission, where they will likely spend the night.

Still others will spend the night on the streets, wrapped in blankets with their belongings in bags beside their heads. Their struggles continue, and for many, their struggles continue in silence and isolation like quiet, deepening cracks.

Yet, even as those cracks deepen, Repairers of the Breach continues to kneel in patient prayers for change. mj

Marquette Journal, April 2010 • 29

Journey Photograph

Name: Morgan Rossi Age: 18 Year of Graduation: 2013 College: Communication Major: Corporate Communication Minors: Marketing, Philosophy, Music Campus activities: Gold 'N Blues (coed a cappella singing group), Liturgical Choir, Church Cantor

My Journey

I am this year’s Marquette Superstar — so yes, I’m kind of a big deal (kidding).

Anyway, after about a month of stressful and exhilarating competition, it seems my hard work finally paid off.

I auditioned for MUTV’s annual singing competition because it sounded super fun.

A good friend of mine originally informed me of the audition and said she thought I would be a perfect candidate. I tried out, not thinking too much about it. I had no idea whether I would make the initial cut, so I just tried to have fun.

For my audition I sang “Some Kind of Wonderful,” which had been stuck in my head all week. It was in my range, and I knew I could have a lot of fun with it and make it my own. So right before I walked in, I decided to use it as my audition song.

I love performing and singing for people, so the judges weren’t too intimidating.

They must have liked me because I made the initial cut of 12 people. I try to grasp any chance to sing on campus, so I couldn't wait to do what I love every Tuesday for the following six weeks.

After I found out I made the cut, I received the next week’s possible song list.

Uh oh. Every week, the round would have a theme (like on “American Idol”), and with the theme, there was a designated list of songs that we had to choose from.

Here’s the thing, I have a very miniscule repertoire when it comes to songs that I feel confident performing.

All singers have their ‘go-to’ songs, or the songs that you pull out of nowhere to sing if someone asks you to perform on the spot. The difference between most other singers and myself is that most people have a very long list of ‘go-to’ songs, where my list consists of very, very few choices.

I was so nervous to skim the first song list, but to my complete and utter surprise, I lucked out. It turns out that both the first

30 • Marquette Journal, April 2010

by

Dylan Huebner

AND second rounds offered one of my “go-to” songs. What are the odds?

The third round was definitely the hardest because I had to break out of my box.

I sang Maroon 5’s “She Will Be Loved.”

It was by far my worst performance because I was so nervous to sing a song that I wasn’t used to.

Luckily, the voters didn’t think it was too terrible because it got me through to the finals.

I was so shocked I made it all the way to the last round, and very excited that I was going to be able to perform to a live audience. I would much rather sing to people sitting in front of me so I can see their reactions rather than sing to a camera.

Needless to say, I was pumped about the live performance, for which the six finalists could choose our own songs.

It was a no-brainer for me — I wanted to pick a song that I thought everyone would enjoy, but most of all, I wanted to choose a song that would be meaningful to the audience.

Gladys Knight’s “You’re the Best Thing That’s Ever Happened to Me” reminds me of all the wonderful people I’ve met at Marquette so far, even though I’m only a freshman.

College has this mixed-up way of throwing a whole mess of people into the same jumble and hoping that they’ll come out alive. Everyone soon finds out that the best way to do that is to learn to groove with each other. Even though no one is used to starting over, making new friends and lasting relationships is what pushes students through the hard times and allows them to savor the good times.

College is certainly a journey itself, but the lyrics reassure us that as long as we have each other, we’ll make it through with smiles on our faces in the end.

I sang, “If anyone, should ever write, my life story, for whatever reasons there might be, you'd be there, between each line of pain and glory, cause you’re the best thing that ever happened to me.”

I hoped that when the students heard this song in the finale, it would impact them the same way the song always impacts me.

In the end, I was named the 2010 Marquette Superstar. I can’t wait to be a voter next year and to help someone else become a Marquette Superstar

A special thanks to everyone who voted and was able to help me make my journey to: Marquette Superstar!

The roads I took to get there

I guess my love for singing all started when I was in second grade. I used to be obsessed with “The Wizard of Oz,” mostly because I loved “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”

I secretly watched that part of the movie over and over again until I memorized all of the words and then decided on a whim to sing it in my school’s talent show.

It was in that moment on stage for the first time that I realized how much I loved performing. High school was when I really started getting serious about vocal performance, and I started taking private voice lessons.

I’ve been able to travel all over the world because of my involvement with different choirs and have been fortunate enough to have the chance sing at the White House, the Vatican and the Joffrey Ballet as well as compete in a world-renowned classical competition in Italy.

I love singing so much, I even contemplated auditioning for college music programs, but fate brought me to Marquette instead.

Continuing the journey

I love singing. I always will. It’s not just a hobby to me, but it has truly become a part of my identity. I couldn’t imagine life without it. Whether it’s singing in church, staying involved with various choirs, or maybe even auditioning for next year’s “American Idol,” I know that I’ll keep this passion in my life forever. mj

Marquette Journal, April 2010 • 31

! r a e y t a e r g s l a a n r fi o f n s o k n k c a Th ood lu G Love, proud to be ...

Best Student Magazine Society of Professional Journalists 2009 Mark of Excellence Awards, Region 6

first place Sara J. Martinez, “The Man, the Mission and the Moon” Jesse Carpender, “Spectrum” blog

second place

third place

Alex Engler, “Labeled” Patrick Johnson, “Popular Opinion” blog

Joey Kimes, “A Golden History” Alise Buehrer, “A’s List” blog

32 • Marquette Journal, April 2010