Chaminade Julienne High School
www.cjeagles.org
505 S. Ludlow Street
Dayton, OH 45402
(937) 461-3740

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Dan Meixner, President
Office: (937) 461-3740 ext. 214
cbudde@cjeagles.org

Rebuilding Homes and Hope
How Several Chaminade-Julienne Students Spent Their Summers

Dayton, OH – September 20, 2006 –The phrases “natural disaster”, “total devastation”, and “lost everything” can be defined by words, but understanding their meaning is a lesson best learned beyond the classroom. For 15 Chaminade-Julienne (C-J) students and three chaperones, that lesson began when the group boarded school vans during summer break and drove down to Slidell, LA, to aid in the rebuilding of a city hit hard by Hurricane Katrina.

“It’s a shock when you first see it. You didn’t know what to expect,” said C-J junior, Jim McAuley recalling his first glimpses of the New Orleans area. “It looked like the hurricane had just hit in some places. It was in such a state of devastation.”

As mission trip representatives, he and C-J senior, Stephanie Gosser, spoke to fellow students and faculty members during the school’s opening Mass held in September. The two were greeted with warm applause as they took the stage to share personal experiences of their travels.

“Habitat for Humanity set a challenge to build 100 houses in a year. Last year they built five,” said McAuley. “We went down to help them toward this goal.”

The group spent most of their days building homes for families who lost everything in the hurricane. Many residents worked right alongside them, helping to rebuild schools and neighborhoods. The students took a little time off from the work site one afternoon to tour New Orleans. “What we witnessed was almost unreal,” said McAuley. “This trip made me so much more aware of the immensity of the storm.”

In the evening, residents were invited to come and share how the hurricane forever changed their lives. The students were amazed at how people who lost everything could still be so positive and hopeful. McAuley noted how the people in these areas “had an amazing spirit.”

“They were affected physically, but not mentally, and they were so encouraged that we were down there helping them to rebuild,” he said. “We were fulfilling the faith that someone is going to help you when you are down and out.”

C-J teacher, Nancy Egbers, served as one of the chaperones on the trip to Slidell and said that the amount of work that still needs to be done is overwhelming. “It was nearly ten months since Katrina had hit the Gulf Coast, and the story was hardly being covered by the media anymore. But, to all the people we met, dealing with the destruction was part of their everyday life.”

C-J shared the travel experience with students and chaperones from Moeller High School in Cincinnati. Mr. Myles McCabe, the Director of Peace & Justice of the Marianist Province, organized the trip for the willing workers and the First Baptist Church hosted them. The Marianists are one of the two founding orders of Chaminade-Julienne Catholic High School.

The group agreed that the lessons and experiences they shared will impact them for years to come. The trip served to emphasize two important characteristics of an educational experience through C-J—to educate for service, justice and peace; and to provide a quality, integral education. C-J’s summer mission trips provide a way for students to become aware of and respond to needs in and around our world.

Chaminade-Julienne High School, sponsored by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur and the Marianists, is located at 505 S. Ludlow Street, Dayton, Ohio and serves students from all areas of the Greater Dayton area. Call 937-461-3740 for more information or visit www.cjeagles.org.