Students Volunteer During Mission Week at the Academy
March 10, 2021
From Monday, March 1, through Thursday, March 4, students and faculty took part in the Academy’s annual mission week, yet because of the pandemic, it looked different than in previous years. All domestic and international trips were cancelled and, instead, students focused on serving different organizations at the Academy by creating their own Rose Project. Students had the ability to create their own service project and propose their idea for approval to Campus Ministry. After approval, the student then became a Rose Project leader which entailed various meetings with Campus Ministry Director Sister Lisa Perkowski and other leaders, as mission week neared. Non-student Rose Project leaders, however, also had the ability to participate in a service project after watching a a video depicting each leader giving a brief description of their Rose Project during advisory. Subsequently, all students signed up for a Rose Project they wanted to volunteer with by Feb. 10.
In addition to service projects, however, each day students also viewed different high school alumni give Zoom presentations (after two sets of classes), which included Lindsay Calka (’17), Allie Reichert (’13), Caitlin Vaka (’11), Jeanine Ramirez (’16), and Lizzie Dolan (’17). After the Zoom presentations, students also viewed the pre-recorded interviews between the SNJM Sisters and Achona staff members — the same Sisters featured in the Encounter journal — followed by time for reflection. And finally, after each Rose Project ate lunch with their group, they returned to their rooms to start working on their projects.
Below is a gallery compiled by Editor-in-Chief Adriana James-Rodil, Managing Editor Emara Sáez, Junior Staff Writer Bella Besece, and Sophomore Staff Writers Kimberly Egoavil, Gigi Alfonso, and Winsome Storm. They took photos throughout the week during their different Rose Projects.
