the broadview

Page 1

the broadview

December 17, 2009

Convent of the Sacred Heart High School | San Francisco, California

Volume 14, Issue 3

3 Alumnae

turns art skills into career

6-7

Simple moves provide useful protection

INA HERLIHY | the broadview

Markeith McDaniels spent the majority of his childhood living on the street after running away from his aunt when he was 14. After attending rehab for a drug and alcohol addiction, he found a job at Glad Tidings Church.

SF youth struggle on city streets 9 Junior pursues dreams through musicals

12

Tearoom leaves customers feeling the ‘love’

Jovel Quierolo Managing Editor Luke Burton invites homeless children for dinner every Tuesday night. Over the past three years as a member of the faith-based outreach group The Outer Circle, he has met hundreds of the estimated 1,400 homeless youth living on San Francisco streets, shelters or with friends or family. “Think about the power and privilege we were born into,” said Burton. “I had a house, lots of things, and didn’t have to earn it — the same way homeless kids didn’t earn their poverty. I’ve been fortunate enough to get an education. It seems selfish not to share what we have to help others who

can’t even help themselves.” Fifteen percent of the city’s homeless youth fall between the ages of 13 and 18, according to city emergency shelter statistics. Dawn Stueckle, co-founder and the Executive Director of Sunset Youth Services, says that without normal comforts like food and shelter, homeless youth go through a state of trauma. “Things start to dissolve,” said Stueckle, whose organization evolved from a youth group that helps troubled kids with unsafe family structures. “The kids don’t feel safe. People lose the ability to make cognitive decisions when they’re in survival mode. They can’t focus at school. Wondering where their next meal is coming from or where they’re going to sleep, they are just trying to stay alive.”

This was the case with Markeith McDaniels who was born in Oakland in 1984 and grew up in San Francisco’s Hunter’s Point where he lived with an aunt after being taken away from his mother after he fell off a two-story balcony. “My mom had problems with drugs and alcohol, so we lived with my aunt,” said McDaniels. “She kept us for a long time, but she was a victim of sexual abuse and it was hard being only guy in the household. I didn’t know what to do. I ran away when I was 14.” At the time, he was a student at A.P. Giannini Middle School in the Sunset and lived in the neighborhood with a friend he met at school. “I met some really nice people,” ▶ see HOMELESS p. 2

▶ Members of the student body were recently asked to participate in small group, tape-recorded interviews with marketing PR firm Crane Brandwork. Students, faculty, parents and alumni gave insight into how CSH relates to other San Francisco schools. School publications may be changed pending the results of the interviews. “We’ll see what they’ve got from the interviews and see if we want to make print changes from there,” said Dean of Students Celine Curran. With over 700 private schools in the Bay Area, schools turn to public relations firms to show exactly what they have to offer. “We talked a lot about other private schools around San Francisco, how we look at them, and about how we view our school,” said junior Nora Wilkinson. The previous brochure advertises a single-sex school in a coed community, involvement in the arts as well as athletics. “We need to communicate our of education,” said Curran. “They’re going to take what they saw and help us communicate what we have to offer.” — Katy Hallowell ▶ The Operation Smile Club raised $5500 in ticket sales from the third annual Smile Ball in early December, with 150 students and guests attending the dance in support of the international charity that funds reconstructive surgeries for children with facial deformities. “Club members [sent] out letters to family, friends and other organizations asking for donations,” said club co-president Tiana Abdulmassih. The club also raised another $500 for the charity through paid free dress and bake sales. Operation Smile has financed over 200,000 surgeries for children with cleft palates in more than 50 countries since 1982. Money raised from this year’s Smile Ball may fund 22 surgeries. “[The surgeries] can help [children] because now they have a smile, but the surgeries do more than give them a smile,” said freshman Sophia Sanchez. “The kids can eat and talk easier. — Liz Smith

‘Expensive’ pets fill up SPCA shelter Ina Herlihy Editor-in-Chief The San Francisco Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SFSPCA) is reporting a rise in pet abandonment because the weak economy

has left the guardians unable to care for their pets, which is turning out to be a hardship and a blessing for the agency. “We have witnessed that there are more pet owners that can’t afford treatment, and we try to help them,” said David Tateosian, Chair of the SFSPCA Investment Committee. “We have also

seen more instances where people will unfortunately abandon their animals, or if they have adopted their animal they will return it. One of the reasons is because of the cost to take care of an animal.” Expenses for buying and caring for a dog for the first year range from $511 to $6,600, and range from $287 to $2,485 a year thereafter, according to Doctors Foster and Smith Pet Education. “In California, the economy has hit hard in terms of people losing their homes,” said SFSPCA President Jan McHugh-Smith. “In many places, people have had to give up their pets because they have lost their homes.” California has more houses foreclosed than any other state at 523,624, according to a CNN Money Special Report, more than doubling 2007 levels. SFSPCA has laid-off 16 percent of its work force and reorganized its

ANJALI SHRESTHA | the broadview

Volunteers Arthur Frieman and Kim Pachuga hold one of the many abandoned cats living at the SFSPCA. The shelter takes in around 5000 cats and dogs annually, but the 2009 count is expected to be dramatically higher. budget — including eliminating the Santa Paws social activity where families take a group photo with their pet and Santa Claus. “It is sad that those memories aren’t there,” said SPCA foster parent Dixie

Conner who has worked at Santa Paws for the past four years. “The kids would get larger and the pets would look the same. Probably Santa was sorry, too.” ▶ see SPCA p. 2

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED the broadview Convent of the Sacred Heart HS Schools of the Sacred Heart 2222 Broadway San Francisco, CA 94115

Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Permit #9313 San Francisco , CA


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.
the broadview by The Broadview - Issuu