âThis is a way for Fordham to celebrate the theme of this yearâs National Catholic Schools Week, Catholic Schools: Learn, Serve, Lead, Succeed, encompassing the core values that can be found in the schools of the Archdiocese,â said Gerald M. Cattaro, Ed.D., director of the Center for Catholic School Leadership and Faith-Based Education.Â
For many of the approximately 800 children from 19 different Catholic schools across New York City, it was also an opportunity to see a college campus for the first time.Â
âBy giving them the opportunity to visit classrooms, see college students in classes, and walk the same paths as college students, we hope to inspire these visiting students to reach higher in their academic choices and study habits,â said Virginia Roach, Ed.D., dean of GSE. âWe want to show children, especially those who could be first-generation college-bound students, that there are pathways to realize their dreams of a college education.â
Shortly before 10 a.m. last Monday, students started to arrive at the Church of St. Paul the Apostle, located across the street from Fordham College at Lincoln Center. For the next hour, they sat in the wooden pews and attended morning Mass. They sang hymns like âHere I Am, Lordâ and âCity of God,â led by choir singer tâJacques Guillot, a Fordham College at Rose Hill senior, and Timothy Perron, a Fordham Jesuit scholastic and pianist. At the beginning of Mass, they were reminded of one of Fordhamâs guiding tenets:Â
âAt Fordham, weâre committed to the idea of cura personalis. Thatâs Latin for caring for the individual. We really care deeply about you and supporting you today, tomorrow, and after you graduate,â Anthony P. Cavanna, Ed.D., associate dean for academic affairs at GSE, said to the students. âNo matter what college or high school or university you finally choose, you map out cura personalis. Take care of yourself, take care of others, and God bless you.â
Presiding over Mass was Joseph M. OâKeefe, S.J., a scholar in residence at GSE and the first provincial of the newly created USA East Province of the Society of Jesus. He urged the students and teachers to continue to care for one another in âone family of faith and goodness and hope.âÂ
Today, he said, they were celebrating the feast of Saint Angela Mericiâa religious educator who was dedicated to the education of girls.Â
âWhen Catholic schools only taught boys, she said Catholic schools should educate girls, too. Girls, you think thatâs a good idea?â he said to applause. âAbsolutely ⌠so we gather to celebrate Catholic schools and remember the heroes of Catholic schools like Angela Merici.âÂ
After Mass, the students split into two groups. Half of them toured the Lincoln Center campus; the other dined on pizza in Pope Auditorium with Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham.Â
For Isabella Marina Martinez, an eighth-grader at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs in Washington Heights, it was her first time at Fordham College at Lincoln Center. This past spring, she visited her cousin, Xienna Dejesus, a student at Fordham College at Rose Hill, at the Bronx campus.
âIâve seen it in pictures, and I wanted to see it [in person], so she took me one day,â said Martinez, who said sheâs considering a future as a lawyerâand keeping an eye on the Fordham School of Law. âIt would be cool to come here.âÂ
For half an hour, Martinez and her classmates explored the Lincoln Center campus, including Hughes Hall. It was Matthew Capellanâs first time seeing a trading room with Bloomberg terminals. It was also a special experience for his classmate, Manuel Ramirez.Â
âThe part that I found most interesting about the tour today was the business roomâhow they had all the stocks going around on the screens and how every computer is updated to the most recent stocks,â said Ramirez, who lives in Morris Heights and wants to become a biologist.Â
Nisha Reyes, an eighth-grader who wants to study business or law, said she was struck by the number of student clubs and overall diversity.Â
âEveryoneâs so different, but they come together in such a special way at Fordham,â Reyes said. âIt doesnât matter where you come from. You can still come together; everyone can be part of a family at Fordham.âÂ