Being Xaverian - Our Lady of Good Counsel High School

st. Gabriel’s middle-High school
By student Daniel Weidner ’13
Pierre-Louis Joizil, a Haitian native educated by the
Xaverian Brothers, was sponsored to go to college by
the Xaverians and attended school in Port-au-Prince until
the devastating earthquake in 2010. The Xaverians made
it possible for Mr. Joizil to attend Siena College in New
York to finish his education after the earthquake damaged
the Sant (the home provided by the Xaverians for their
sponsored students). After his college graduation,
Mr. Joizil made the commitment to return to Haiti and
build the first middle-high school in his home province
of Fontaine.
In October, Mr. Joizil visited Good Counsel for the third
time. On each of his visits, he spoke to students in
religion classes about St. Gabriel’s and his gratitude for
our community’s assistance. The first time he visited,
he talked about his dream of building a school. The
second time he visited, he updated us about a leased
property and the two classes held there. This third visit,
Mr. Joizil shared stories and pictures of the newly built
four-classroom school that opened this past Fall.
The school was built because of Mr. Joizil’s dedication
and the support of the Xaverian Brothers, Christ Our
Light Catholic Church in Virginia, and Our Lady of Good
Counsel High School. Good Counsel raised $5,000 last
spring to provide scholarships for ten students (a yearly
commitment from Good Counsel) and to help fund
teacher salaries. Our school will once again have a
fundraiser this Spring 2013 to raise funds for these
efforts. Mr. Joizil is an example of living the Xaverian
values: compassion, humility, simplicity, trust, and zeal;
Bro. Mike McCarthy
and Pierre-Louis Joizil
— a young man who
was sponsored for
college by the
Xaverian Brothers
and has now returned
to his home in Haiti to
build a middle-high
school.
the embodiment of “falling in love with service to God
and his people.” He is an inspiration and, because I
participated in the Haiti mission/retreat trip last year,
Mr. Joizil has become my friend. ✦
camden
Students and faculty provided similar outreach in Camden, NJ, this
past July sending six groups of fourteen students each for service
projects through Romero Center Ministries Urban Challenge
Program. The program is a service-learning, immersion experience
rooted in
the Catholic faith tradition. Students cleaned local neighborhoods,
served the hungry at food banks, and spent time with people at
nursing homes and homeless shelters.
While service is a key part of both trips, students were equally
impacted by the exposure to the challenges and circumstances of
everyday life for the people living in impoverished areas around the world.
The Good Counsel Boys’ Varsity Lacrosse Team went as a group on the Camden trip. sam Richardson ’13
and Garrett Brower ’13 emphasized that the service project had forced them out of their comfort zone
and helped them to grow and appreciate all of the small things in life. “When working at the Abigail House,
I was able to form relationships with many of the recovering patients,” mike Becraft ’13 said.
David Lobosco ’13 worked with children at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center and remembers, “Even the kids
who didn’t have much seemed happy, which made me happy to be there.” ✦
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on campus