Six Alverno Seniors Honored for Extraordinary Service
By admin
Published: Wednesday, May 20th, 2009
Six Alverno seniors will be recognized for their commitment and dedication to community service and will receive the Fr. Joaquin Masmitjá Community Service award.
Initiated in 2008, this award recognizes students who have shown a consistent and generous dedication to community service. Each young woman completed a minimum of 420 verifiable service hours over her four years at Alverno High School. The six seniors who will be honored are Dominique Barr, Carolyn Bickel, Colleen Busser, Michelle Hendricks, Alexis Salazar, and Janelle Shima.
“I’m so proud to have earned this,” says Carolyn Bickel, who spent the last two summers volunteering on the Navajo and Paiute Indian Reservations in Arizona and Nevada. “I got so much out of these projects, and I’m going to work on a reservation in northern California this summer before college.”
Alexis Salazar was also awarded the Archdiocese of Los Angeles Christian Service Award. “I volunteer regularly in a pre-school,” she says. “I love children and realized that this is what I want to do with my life.”
Dominique Barr is a confirmation mentor at St. Elizabeth Church, and notes that she found great satisfaction in leading younger students to their faith.
Colleen Busser volunteered at a retirement center. “It made me feel great,” she says.
“Everyone was always so happy to see me and I loved helping them. ”
At the graduations ceremonies, they will be given a gold tassel to wear so that they stand apart for their dedication to their faith, and their community.
“Our students performed 16,200 hours of service this year,” says Ann Gillick, Alverno Head of School. “Service to others is an important part of our philosophy.”
Fr. Joaquin Masmitjá was the Spanish founder of the Daughters of the Immaculate Heart. His vision of a community of nuns living outside the convent to more actively minister to the needs of those around them went against prevailing beliefs. He saw a special need for the education of children, especially girls. The first group of sisters left Spain for California in 1871.
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