MERRILLVILLE – Some Andrean High School students help solve hard-to-understand problems or paint pictures of peaceful and secure scenes. These teens accomplish these feats not in math class or during an art lesson but by putting their faith into action.
Outside AHS theology chairperson Denise Maldonado’s classroom and in the gathering space where campus minister Gianna Niece welcomes students, upperclassmen brought up memories of school-sponsored service excursions and talked about how they may contribute to the next “difference maker.”
Seniors Marissa Clements, Julian Mendez and Rosie Yurechko continued their conversation on the couch and bean bags in the ministry room.
“They definitely put such a huge emphasis on faith here and that is very helpful,” said Clements, of Valparaiso. “It is super countercultural for teens now, when everyone is self-centered. But actually, having us doing service every month … it’s better to focus on people outside of yourself.”
Niece, an Echo Campus Ministry Apprentice in her first of two years of service at the Home of the 59ers, coordinates a three-pronged approach to helping students live their Catholic faith. “The students have to pray, serve and donate every month,” she said.
A New Jersey native, Niece was surprised by the respectfulness of the Diocese of Gary students when she arrived.
“I’ve never been to Indiana before,” she said. “When I first came here, I was in awe about how respectful the students were. I wouldn’t expect a high school student to come and introduce themselves to me. I think that reflects on our Catholic school.”
Revealing a list of local nonprofits that the students can serve on selected months, Niece added, “Our theme this year is ‘Going out on mission.’”
The Andrean teens have quickly filled up sign-up sheets for volunteer opportunities at local sites including Aquinas Catholic Community School, Catholic Charities, Down Syndrome Association Northwest Indiana, Franciscan Health, Humane Society Of Northwest Indiana, Northwest Indiana Cancer Kids, Phil's Friends, St. Jude House, Ss. Monica and Luke, Sojourner Truth House and Women’s Care Center.
“Every month our service opportunities look different based on what the organization’s needs are,” Niece said. “They had to make up their schoolwork, but that was a sacrifice they chose to make.”
Mendez has found balance in his senior year, but had stretched his energies thin as an underclassmen. “One thing that I struggled with during my freshman and sophomore years was that I enjoy giving up my time to help other people, but it was kind of hard because I was balancing coming into high school with seven classes and doing soccer and cross country at the same time and my mom had a new sibling.”
Happy that he could help, he added, “I was lucky enough to have this school reach out and give me opportunities.”
Yurechko finds success in seeing charity as “a way of life.”
“Then you realize ‘I’m not the only one’ … we’re out in the world and we can bring the Good News,” she said.
Sophomores Madeline Linkliter and Armani Green gathered in the casual setting of the ministry room, where classmates worked on assembling colorful rosaries which they will sell to raise money for a future National Catholic Youth Conference trip. Both pitched ideas about future charitable service.
Green is following in his mom’s footsteps as a 59er. A graduate of Colonel Wheeler Middle School in Crown Point, the varsity football player said the faith-based education at Andrean has grown on him. Making a difference is easy when one’s heart is touched by the cause.
“At Phil’s Friends (cancer support organization) and at the women’s center (St. Jude), where they help women with kids in tough situations – that really sticks to me because it’s like you never know what other people are going through,” Green explained. “Although we are blessed, (with) our parents catering to us, this was an eye-opener.”
Serving the materially disadvantaged at Ss. Monica and Luke’s soup kitchen in Gary was a revealing experience for Linkliter, a St. Mary Catholic Community School of Crown Point graduate. Not that she wasn’t aware that some struggle to make ends meet, but the looks of thankfulness on the faces of those she served after Mass in the Gary church will leave a lasting impression.
“It was really cool seeing all the different people. You know, I get lunch and I don’t really think about it, but having the soup kitchen is so special to them, having somewhere to get food.”
She endorsed the Andrean approach to promoting a team effort at tackling charity.
“We get more engaged and we get to go out and see more people … and you get to go with your friends,” she noted.
Maldonado said that in her 36 years of teaching she has been consistently impressed by the selflessness students can show when given the opportunity. In the years following the 2020 pandemic, refinements have been made to how 59ers’ benevolence is manifested.
“We were forced to readjust, and we came up with something better,” said the diocesan award-winning teacher. “Rather than each student individually going out to find their service, it’s something we’re going out and doing together.”
Ultimately, to make an effort a sustained success, it must come from the heart. That’s just the approach Maldonado sees in the teens she teaches and mentors.
“I think that they have a genuine desire to help and genuine concern for other people,” Maldonado said. “The way we’re doing it, they’re not looking at it as a requirement, but something that they want to do, they enjoy doing, and they’re looking forward to doing.”
Caption: Andrean High School sophomores Madeline Linkliter (front, left) and Armani Green stand at the head of their theology class at the Merrillville campus on Feb. 18. The 59ers are among the students who participate in not only their academic, athletic and extra-curricular activities, but also engage in the many volunteer charitable opportunities afforded to them through the campus ministry and theology departments. (Anthony D. Alonzo photo)