SBP LATEST INTERDISCIPLINARY PROJECT ON DISPLAY IN WASHINGTON, D.C.
July 2011
St. Benedict's interdisciplinary projects have created a huge buzz throughout the school over the last seven years. They have even included participation in recent years by American Symphony Orchestra and the Newark Museum.
But the school's latest effort, the Asia Project, has extended far beyond the walls of The Hive.
The Asia Project, which took place over the Fall and Spring semesters, made its way to Washington, D.C. during the last weekend of July when nine students, four faculty and one administrator from St. Benedict's participated in the Conference of the Hindu American Seva Charities (HASC).
Members of St. Benedict's took part in a day-long gathering at the White House Executive Office Building on July 29 before reconvening the next day at Georgetown University.
St. Benedict's entered into a unique partnership with the Hindu American Seva Charities last March. HASC was created as a result of President Obama's "Call to Serve" when he formed the White House Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships and named Anju Bhargava of Livingston as the first Hindu American to the Faith Based Council. HASC is a progressive American organization advancing Seva (community service) while promoting interfaith collaboration, pluralism, social justice, and sustainable civic engagement.
The conference in Washington, D.C was theme "Energizing Dharmic Seva." "Seva" refers to the Hindu spiritual practice of selfless service, a foundational belief both HASC and SBP have in common. St. Benedict's motto is "Whatever hurts my brother, hurts me" and our students take it to heart. The strong student leadership program and the community service requirement challenge students to be responsible to each other and the community at large.
In this spirit of stretching minds and hearts, SBP embarked on a multi-year interdisciplinary Asia Project. During the 2010-11 school year, more than 220 students each semester - in Science, Art, Music, Journalism, Drama and Martial Arts History - studied different aspects of India, China, Japan and Tibet. Each semester culminated in a large multidisciplinary festival open to the public that showcased student work from each of the disciplines. The goal was to "globalize" students' thinking, advance understanding of other cultures and focus on topics neglected in the standard curriculum. Student work and performances were exhibited beyond the classroom, learning methods from different disciplines were applied to one theme, with expert visitors and field trips a part of the curriculum.
Just before SBP's second Asia Project festival last march, SBP Chair of Fine Arts, Pamela Wye-Hunsinger, attended an event of the Inter Faith Dialogue Project at Rutgers hosted by Niki Shah of AmeriCorps VISTA and Rutgers' Center for the Study of Genocide, Conflict Resolution, and Human Rights, both of which partner with HASC.
After attending SBP's Spring Asia Project Festival, Niki Shah invited SBP students and faculty to participate in the HASC Conference to showcase SBP's Asia Project curriculum and the resulting student work; a second goal was to build dialogue between St. Benedict's students and their Hindu American high school and college counterparts.
The HASC Washington Conference spanned two days. One SBP student and two faculty attended the Friday White House Briefing and day-long conference entitled: "Dharmic Seva: Catalyst to Strengthening and Building Pluralistic Communities". SBP faculty member Pamela Wye-Hunsinger presented a PowerPoint detailing SBP's Asia Project.
The following day, Vice President of Development, Paul Thornton, spoke about our plans to increase student understanding of Asia through our 2011-2012 Himalayas Project. This project involves our continued partnership with the Newark Museum (where SBP faculty will create curricula around art and artifacts in their renowned Tibetan and Himalayan collection); increased involvement with the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art in New York City; continued building on the yoga practice we began last year; initial establishment of student-to-student connections as a way of serving a new community of Bhutanese families in this area; and continued exploration of exchanges with schools and organizations in Asia.
"Even though I sat there as a white, Catholic woman, next to my black, Jewish student, in a room full of Hindu Americans, I felt no separation," said Michelle Tuorto, SBP science teacher and Dean of Faculty, "Instead, I felt the commonality of a desire to serve others and know God through that. I felt not just tolerance but appreciation of others."
St. Benedict's Music Chair, Jeremy Fletcher, accompanied two Jazz Band students after the Conference dinner as they played Indian and Indian-inspired music. Fletcher said he was very aware that people who are practicing members of different religions have more in common with each other than with non-practicing members of their same faith.
"This made me think of our tradition of religious inclusiveness here at St. Benedict's," he said. "We, as a body of different faiths, have many beliefs in common with each other and we can learn from each other and interact in a truly ecumenical fashion."
St. Benedict's students presented drawings by Jhon Gutierrez - one of Ganesha, "Remover of Obstacles" for President Obama and one of Surya, the Sun God to the First Lady - to Paul Monteiro, Associate Director, White House Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs and Keynote Speaker at Saturday's session.
For St. Benedict's Prep, what are the implications of our Asia Project and our alliance with the Hindu American Seva Charities? We know our students' futures depend on their ability to be conversant with the peoples and traditions of cultures well beyond our borders. We hope that our school motto, "Whatever hurts my brother, hurts me," is one that our students can expand to include not only their fellow SBP classmates, but their fellow citizens of the world, as well.
--By Pamela Wye-Hunsinger
--Photos by Noreen Connolly
and Isaac Tucker-Rasbury
STUDENT JOURNALISTS SPEND A WEEK AT STANFORD UNIVERSITY CAMP
"Newsroom by the Bay" gave students hands-on opportunities
Summer 2011
While the majority of high school students were enjoying their summer vacation playing video games or hanging out with their friends, four St. Benedict's students were up late at night trying to meet deadlines for their videos and news stories.
Seniors Elliott McFarland, Tyree Roulhac, Josdanson Exume and Telmo DeMorais, members of the award-winning school newspaper, The Benedict News, participated in "Newsroom by the Bay," a journalism camp hosted at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. For five days, they were part of a staff managing an online publication.
"My adviser told me about the program and she said I should apply for it because it would to learn about new media platforms for our newspaper," said McFarland.
After the students were accepted to the camp, Noreen Connolly, adviser of The Benedict News, and the Development Office at St. Benedict's worked out ways for the students to get to the camp. With the help of donations from several alumni, they were able to offset the costs of the camp and the airfare to San Francisco.
The journalists roomed at Roble Hall on the Stanford campus, where they attended class in the mornings, which varied from traditional lead writing to photojournalism and twitter lessons. After lunch, they worked on their assignments, reporting all over campus. And in the evening, they attended lectures by guest speakers that varied from the editor of the local Patch website to Nick Farrentinos, a member of the Journalism Education Association (JEA) and former National High School Journalism Teacher of the Year, who spoke about student journalism laws.
"My favorite experiences were roaming around the campus of Stanford interviewing people about all kinds of topics," said Exume, "and, of course, free time with friends I made from all over the country."
This was the first time members of The Benedict News attended a camp in California, but the not the first time staff members have gone away from New Jersey to learn more about the craft of journalism. Two years ago, editors of the student newspaper went to a JEA Conference in Washington, D.C. and the Gray Bee journalists plan on attending another conference this fall, in Minneapolis.
The four students who attended "Newsroom by the Bay" are now editors of The Benedict News for the 2011-2012 school year - and they have big plans. The newspaper launched its own WordPress powered website last year, and they plan to apply lessons learned in California to make the website more popular.
"Journalism doesn't just have to be just print," Exume said. "It's adaptable to social media for example and, in order to be a good journalist, you should be able to not just report or not just take pictures, but be able to do everything."
The four students won't go on the same trip next year, but he hopes to see other Benedict's guys have the same experience.
"I definitely recommend the program" said Exume. "It's a great way not only to learn journalism, but also to meet great students with the same interests."
--By Telmo DeMorais
Click here for archived news stories.
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Father Matthew Wotelko, O.S.B., a 1958 graduate of St. Benedict's Prep, died on Jan. 25 after a bout with pancreatic cancer.
Despite much less time at St. Benedict's these days for students to study and practice singing on a regular basis, Fr. Albert was able to amass for the Christmas Program an energetic choir of twenty-seven strong and excellently synchronized voices. The ad hoc chorus of some of our most dedicated Benedict's men also comprised one of the most enthusiastic 'vocal communities' in recent memory. Every guy, from seventh-grade sopranos to the booming basses on the back riser, was completely aware of and listening to his brother-singers. We could feel this community energy throughout Conlin Auditorium, and it resulted in a wonderfully clean and upbeat sound - with the extra pleasure of watching every vocalist ENJOYING himself and his fellows.
First-time singers, including some seniors who had been dubious about participating, became more visibly delighted with what they were doing as the evening lilted along; while veterans - some singing for the last time - bore themselves confidently, if a bit wistfully, carrying the beat all the way through. And, from where we were looking, Fr. Al himself seemed obviously pleased with the whole endeavor! Of course, it remains Fr. Albert's uncanny ability to galvanize and energize any group of voices into their best performance, and he did it for the thirty-ninth time last night. A good conductor is able to bring out the best in his singers with a certain 'authority of raised arms' and an almost-athletic, head-to-foot motion that both synchronizes and inspires the group; Fr. Albert continues to unflaggingly excel at this - and we continue to thank him for it.
Other 'Order of Saint Benedict' participants in the program, a sextet of Monks of Newark Abbey (Fr. Augustine, Fr. Boniface, Fr. Luke, Fr. Maynard, Br. Max and Br, Patrick), led by Fr. Al, outdid themselves in the traditional and sprightly French carol "Venez Divin Messie" a real standby and our great favorite. And, during the segment of the Program that concentrates on the suffering and death of Jesus, the monks rendered a fine Gregorian a capella of "Vexilla Regis Prodeunt" - utterly somber, yet replete with comfort and inspiration. Fr. Albert's powerful Latin 'O Come, Emmanuel' (one of Rev. Winstead's great arrangements), backed by the chorus' rhythmic incantation, 'Lord Jesus, come Lord Jesus!', was extraordinary.
As the 50-seat plane approached the Minneapolis airport, I wondered if that famous Minnesota friendliness would prove to be alive and well. I'd never been to Minnesota before..jpg)
It only seems fitting, with the No. 1 track star and soccer team in the country this year, that teams from those respective sports were among those honored at St. Benedict's Hall of Fame Dinner.
Other inductees not only praised the school, but Headmaster Fr. Edwin for being a visionary. One of those was his brother, Tom Leahy..jpg)
Tramond French also spoke of the vision of the Headmaster and, like most of the inductees, talked more about the school than their athletic prowess..jpg)
He too, sent his son to Benedict's, Kenyan Moncur II, who is a freshman..jpg)
NOTES: Steve Bercik was inducted posthumously and was also part of the 1961-62 track team that was honored. One of 9 siblings, Bercik, who was on the mile relay team that was victorious in the Penn Relays in 1961 & '62, was the son of the former mayor of Elizabeth, Stephen Bercik (1956-64).
At the "State of the School" event on Tuesday, Oct. 25, St. Benedict's bestowed the following inaugural awards on Classes and Class Agents for their efforts on behalf of, and contributions, to the school during the 2010-2011 Annual Fund year.
Pam Wye-Hunsinger, Chair of St. Benedict's Fine Arts Department, was awarded the inaugural Raymond J. Sachs Sr.'25 Award for Distinguished Teaching.
The word hero is thrown around way too much in the vernacular of today's society.
Coker then went on to Rutgers, but was commissioned as an Ensign in the United States Navy in 1963. During his 55th mission as a bombardier/navigator during the Vietnam War, Coker was shot down with his pilot, John "Jack" Fellowes, over the Northern part of the country and the two were captured and became POWs on Aug. 27, 1966..jpg)
Coker said the military, wrestling and scouting life - he was honored by the Boy Scouts of America with their Distinguished Eagle Scout Award in 2005 - enabled him to survive the rigors of captivity. But, he said, the character he built at St. Benedict's gave him the courage to survive the mental battle.
Chhatra Karki, 18, is a lot like an average American teenager. He loves American girls, soccer, Eminem and just hanging out with friends. Although he has American taste, Chhatra is not an American citizen; he is a refugee from Bhutan.
St. Benedict's will celebrate the life of Rev. Peter Winstead and his wonderful music at Convocation this Friday (Sept. 23). The program will begin at 7:45 and last until 9 a.m. in Shanley Gym.
The arrival to Houston marked the beginning of one memorable week. The week started in earnest with a historic event on July 22nd - the "Welcoming Ceremony" of the last shuttle (Atlantis) mission crew, who landed at Kennedy Space Center in Florida a day earlier. After 30 years, the space mission was coming to an end. Whether by coincidence or by plan, being able to be a part of that historic event was more than I asked for.
After a "long and anxious" wait, my time to fly in Zero-G was finally here, aboard the "Weightless Wonder." The reduced gravity aircraft flies 30 parabolic maneuvers over the Gulf of Mexico. This pattern provides about 30 seconds of hypergravity (about 1.8G-2G) as the plane climbs to the top of the parabola. Once the plane starts to "nose over" the top of the parabola and starts its descent towards Earth, the plane experiences about 18 seconds of microgravity (0G). At the very top and bottom of the parabola, flyers experience a mix of partial G's between 0 and 1.8 
The experiments we were working on were neatly loaded into the plane without a hitch. Then, the first parabola simply blew my mind. I found myself rising rapidly from the floor of the craft like a piece of paper blown by wind. I was trying to grasp anything and everything I could get hold of.
"What is my contribution in all these?" as my father would ask, is all I asked myself as I watched the earth gently rotate about its own axis from the mission control room. I guess my answer would be that I should keep dreaming, as Leland Melvin (pictured with me), one of the select few men of color to ever go to outer space, asserted later in the week.