Georgian Court University Magazine

This Appalachian resident was thrilled
to receive help from GCU students
and others with house cleaning and
prepping her floor for new carpet.
Pictured from left to right are (back):
a Mercyhurst College student, Amy
Walzer, and Natalie Hernandez; (center):
Shannae Sheffield; (front): Awilda
Hernandez, Kathryn Brown, and
Kyiomi Frazier.
Curator James Neptune shows
the group around the Penobscot
Indian Museum.
GCU students (left to right)
Christine Anderson, Jennifer
McNamara, Alana Veliz, Holly
Mull, and Cathy Sage pose in the
library of the Indian Island School.
Neither rain, nor sleet, nor winter storm could keep nine Georgian Court women from
their assigned task of serving poor residents in Appalachia. Though they were delayed a
day due to a March snowstorm, sophomores Kathryn Brown and Detrese Woolfolk, juniors
Jessica Christiana, Awilda Hernandez, Amy Walzer, and Kyiomi Frazier, and seniors Natalie
Hernandez and Shannae Sheffield made the trek with Sister Tina to the Bethany Youth
Center, a Catholic grassroots ministry in Frenchville, Pennsylvania.
Operated by Young People Who Care Inc., the center gave GCU students the
opportunity to be involved in social justice outreach in a Christian environment. Students
performed a variety of tasks, including cleaning houses, trimming bushes, shoveling coal,
and firing up a cold furnace.
“Until one is able to really give of service and impact another person’s life, one has not
fully fulfilled the college experience,” says Awilda, a criminal justice major.
Five GCU students spent their Easter break doing some fairly typical Easter activities like
going to mass and hiding eggs, but it is where they performed these tasks that is far from
ordinary: an Indian reservation.
“It was fascinating to see how the Penobscot people, many of whom are Catholic, have
integrated their Native American traditions like drumming and chanting into their religion,”
says Cathleen Sage, a GCU senior who is also employed as a project specialist in the GCU
Office of Operations.
Cathleen, along with seniors Alana Veliz and Christine Anderson, junior Jennifer
McNamara, and sophomore Holly Mull spent Holy Week on Indian Island, Maine—about
15 miles east of Bangor—assisting the Sisters of Mercy in their 100-year-old ministry to the
562-member Penobscot Indian Nation.
“The Penobscot people were very welcoming and happy to share their life and culture
with the students,” says Suzanne Lachapelle, RSM, co-director of Flowing River Mercy
Place, the Mercy ministry on Indian Island. “The chief of the nation gave time from his busy
schedule to speak with them.”
Cathleen says that despite the poverty and need on the island, the Penobscot people
brought the students gifts of Native American jewelry. They shared with students their
principles of self-determination and sovereignty, and the students learned how Native
Americans feel “invisible” to the rest of the world.
Students experienced the language, history, and culture; met with tribal
government leaders; visited sacred tribal sites; and packed food for the women’s
center. They also worked at the convent, prepared the Stations of the Cross, and held
an Easter Egg Hunt for local children.
Most impressive, Cathleen says, were the people: their love of life, their respect for the
earth and their love of God. “I was just amazed by their strength and how they have
overcome so many challenges throughout their history,” she says.
Services for At-Risk Children
Youth are among the most vulnerable members of society. So, when kids look to gangs
for their support system, the results can be deadly. In an effort to help kids, the university
recently partnered with Ocean County Prosecutor and GCU Court of Honor member
Marlene Lynch Ford, J.D., ’76, and her office on a joint initiative entitled “Helping Find
Services for At-Risk Children.”
“We had a simple but important research project, and we thought it was a way for
Georgian Court students to get real life, hands-on experience with criminal justice and
social service programs in Ocean County,” Prosecutor Ford explains.
According to Robert Louden, Ph.D., professor and director of the GCU criminal justice
program, “accurate, timely, and complete youth service program data is too frequently
missing or incomplete. This project aims to fill this gap.”
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8 | FALL 2009