ELMIRA — With late-morning temperatures June 5 soaring well into the 80s, conditions were ripe for an outbreak of senioritis.
Credit Notre Dame High School for providing the ideal cure: the Crusader Carnival.
Splashing, shouting and smiles permeated the school grounds during the annual event, hosted by Notre Dame’s seniors on the final day of classes. These young women and men would go on to don caps and gowns at their June 18 graduation — but on this day, shorts and T-shirts served them just fine.
Their similarly dressed guests consisted of 45 special-education students from Elmira’s Beecher Elementary School, as well as 30 adults from the ARC of Chemung-Schuyler. After the visitors departed for the day, the rest of Notre Dame’s student body joined in the fun.
Payton Sutryk, one of the Crusader Carnival’s many senior-class volunteers, noted that the community-outreach effort was not a one-shot deal, but part of a focus on serving others that’s etched deeply into the Notre Dame experience.
“Service is the basis of everything at our school,” she stated.
Carnival at Catholic high school in Elmira features a variety of enjoyable activities
It was service with a smile on June 5. In one area of the carnival, seniors and faculty grilled hot dogs and served up popcorn, sno-cones and other refreshments. Elsewhere, games with prizes were offered, along with a petting zoo featuring such animals as rabbits, sheep and even calves.
Notre Dame seniors mixed right in with their guests, enjoying dance music, a bounce house, a waterslide and “The Big Splash” where carnival-goers escaped the heat by having buckets of water dumped on their heads.
“The carnival is highly anticipated and the perfect climax to the school year,” said Marie McCaig, the school’s campus minister, who served as the event’s coordinator. “Our seniors have the opportunity to engage in their final service project by bringing much joy to the campus.”
McCaig noted that the carnival was founded in 2018. “Two seniors shared regret that their two siblings with Down syndrome would never experience the accolades and highlights of a senior year,” she recalled. “We decided to honor their lives with the inaugural Crusader Carnival.”
Elmira Notre Dame students engage in many service activities during the school year
The June 5 celebration marked a continuation of Notre Dame’s connection with Beecher Elementary, a public school ND students visit regularly during the school year to serve as tutors and companions. Payton said she was pleased that some of the guests June 5 remembered her from past trips to Beecher.
“They (the ND students) really enjoy the younger kids, I think,” said Notre Dame teacher Deborah Fredo.
Fredo oversees a service learning curriculum that connect hands-on volunteerism with academics and ethical reflection. In addition to visiting Beecher, students partner with other community organizations to support area residents facing challenges.
Outreach also is conducted through the school’s Junior Ladies of Charity, a student group that raises donations of money, food, clothing and other goods to support local charities; and the ND Supper Club, through which student and adult volunteers assist regularly at the Elmira Community Kitchen. Payton also noted that Notre Dame sets the tone for its service focus through Mercy Week each September, when all ND students carry out charitable acts in the community.
Fredo observed that performing community service at an early age increases the likelihood that students will carry that sense of volunteerism well into adulthood.
“I think that when they’re in college, they’ll continue to do things like this,” said Fredo, who lived and worked for many years in West Africa as a Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal and an educator in Mali.
Bernadette McClelland, Notre Dame’s head of school, echoed Payton’s point that the school and service go hand in hand, noting that the Sisters of Mercy who founded the school place serving others at the forefront of their religious order’s mission.
“Service is what Mercy is built upon,” McClelland said.
Tags: Catholic Schools, Chemung County News