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living the faith Chaminade Sends Denny Mitchell ’69 Flying Soaring in this World About the Author Denny Mitchell ‘69, lives with his wife, Cindy, in Louisville, Kentucky. He is a 757/767 Captain flying international routes for United Parcel Service and looks forward to pursuing other interests when he retires in a couple of years. He holds degrees from Bowling Green State University and the Universities of Southern California and South Carolina, and retired as a Lt. Colonel from the U.S. Air Force in 1994. While in the Air Force, Denny was a T-38 Instructor Pilot, B-52 Air crew Commander and Acquisition Program Manager. He has been a proud member of CJ’s Eagle Council for 12 years. The couple has two grown sons, Ryan, who lives in Lodi, California with his wife, Amber; and Matthew, who resides in Charlotte, North Carolina. Despite growing up in the birthplace of aviation, I never gave flying or airplanes a second thought. That is until the flying bug bit me in the summer before my senior year. A classmate had dared me to take my first airplane ride in a Ford Tri-motor during a visit to the Lake Erie Islands. Later that fall, I flew student standby on a Delta jet to Detroit and became forever hooked on flying. It looked to me as though being a pilot, especially military flying, was like getting paid to ride thrill rides at an amusement park. However, coming from a working-class family background, I had neither the means nor direction to realistically pursue my dream career. Fortunately for me, Fr. Abmayr, S.M. placed a set of aviation encyclopedias in the school library that year. With my appetite for flight whetted, I devoured those volumes. They provided me with all the information I needed on aviation careers, requirements to qualify for Air Force flight training, and Air Force ROTC scholarships. After receiving the education and training required, I flew sophisticated and highperformance Air Force jets then, and now fly Boeing 767’s all over the world. How did I come to be so blessed? Undoubtedly, through the generosity of alumni whose contributions brought those encyclopedias to Chaminade’s library–and into my hands. I’m convinced that countless numbers of other alumni could tell similar stories about how they found their career paths through opportunities opened up to them at Chaminade–or Julienne, St. Joseph, or CJ! When we sing God’s praises in the Doxology, we recognize that all of our blessings flow from God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I try to keep this in mind and give thanks to God daily. I am blessed with good health, a loving family, wonderful friends, and an exciting career–much of which can be traced directly back to Chaminade, a place where life-changing things happened for me. Catholic educators like Father Paul Pieschel, S.M. through my present pastor in Louisville, Kentucky have taught me to be a good steward of the gifts God bestows. I believe “living the faith” in a prayerful way requires investing one’s time, talent, and treasure in others. As distance prevents me from giving much time to CJ–and my talents seem to pale against those of other alumni–the Annual Fund provides me with a way to support CJ’s mission. The way I see it, my contributions help the school that helped me become a military and commercial pilot. Our alma mater challenges us to be “true to our fellow men, true to our God and true to Chaminade.” That’s why it is easy for me to support CJ and help make possible today’s programs that can stimulate students’ dreams and launch them to personal and spiritual fulfillment. One program that is catching my attention is CJ STEMM’s “Project Lead the Way,” a curriculum where students actively explore careers in science, technology, engineering, math and medical fields. I view CJ STEMM as a catalyst for today’s students in much the same way those aviation encyclopedias were for me. I can only imagine–decades from now–what today’s students will see at CJ that will cause them to feel the same way as I do now and inspire them to support their alma mater. V WINTER 2009 20092 2
living the faith Marianist Path Leads to Educating the Poor Sarah Budd Discovers New “CJ Family” After two years of teaching Hispanic students who live in poverty, I am hooked on educating the poor who live among us. I may not make as much as other teachers, and have to use translators to speak to my students’ parents, but I love my job. In return, they have introduced me to a wealth of cultural knowledge and have shown me just how far hard work, kindness, compassion, and dedication can go. Since first grade, I knew that I wanted to be a teacher. No one was surprised when I decided to pursue a degree in education, but they may have been surprised that I pursued a master’s degree through the Lalanne program at the University of Dayton–a credit to my positive experiences at CJ. My high school experience was everything that I could have asked for. I enjoyed classes, sports, band, service, and was a member of National Honor Society and FLIGHT (Faith Leaders in God’s Hands Today), plus, I had a great group of friends. More importantly, I learned how to grow as a member of a Marianist family living out Marianists characteristics. My understanding of these characteristics led me to live them out as a student at Saint Mary’s College. In May 2003, I graduated with my Indiana grades K-6 teaching license and my first Lalanne teaching assignment. For the next two years, I was a member of Lalanne’s Indianapolis community and taught a 3/4 multi-age class at St. Anthony Catholic School–a small Catholic school with a 78% Hispanic population. Teaching at St. Anthony opened my eyes to a world in which my students came to school for breakfast, lunch, and an after school snack because they did not always have food at home. I had students who traveled to the United States in pursuit of a better life. This better life sometimes meant that parents worked long hours leaving the oldest child in charge (sometimes my third and fourth graders); 8-15 people lived in one house; families of four to six slept in one bed; and that children stayed inside because it was too dangerous for them to play outside. There were also academic obstacles to overcome. Students new to the U.S. had average conversational skills, but their academic vocabulary was severely lacking. This language barrier with them and their parents led to dozens of conferences and notes in which I used our bilingual secretary to help translate. The barrier also meant that students did not have someone to help them with homework because their parents did not speak English or have an education themselves. This year I am the third grade teacher and our school enrollment increased to 130 and our Hispanic population increased to 98%. Although St. Anthony’s is not a Marianist school, here I have found a new Marianist family. I am proud to be a part of St. Anthony, and I am blessed to have found yet another “CJ” family. V About the Author Sarah Budd ‘03, a graduate of St. Rita Elementary, Saint Mary’s College and the University of Dayton, currently lives in Indianapolis with Lalanne roommate, Kelly Lenkay, a first grade teacher at St. Anthony. In her free time, Budd helps coach the Scecina High School co-ed swim team, and enjoys reading, working out, watching movies, baking, and spending time with friends and family. St Anthony students, teachers, staff, and parents have come together to create a safe, welcoming, learning environment in which all students are pushed to succeed. VISION VISION 3 3
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