Cocktail Party & Brotherhood

On Friday evening, Casa DK got all dolled up for a cocktail party in San Marino. The event was at the home of the president of Urban Compass’s board of directors.  The party was thrown to honor four “first ladies” of Urban Compass. These ladies from San Marino and Pasadena have donated incredible time, money, and donations to our program and definitely deserve some recognition! Everything about the party was elegant– the cocktail dresses, the hours d’oeuvres, the open bar, Theresa’s speech, the live music, and the honorees.  We closed up shop a little early on Friday so that we could get ready and make it to San Marino by 7:30. I found it kind of funny to go from running around like crazy with the kids and making bead crafts to getting dressed up for such a formal event for that very program all within an hour! 

Casa DK with Theresa

[Sidenote: This was probably most dramatic way possible to break the rice and bean diet from last week! We succeed in our simplicity challenge, but not without becoming sick and tired of our very simple meals.  During Spirituality Night we talked about the idea of solidarity and how it related to our diet for the week, which was probably good because otherwise it would have been hard to stick it out.]

On Saturday morning, the retreat junkie me got a great fix.   Zach, Julie and I headed back to the Verb to help out with the freshman retreat.  The theme of the retreat was Brotherhood, designed with the intention to give the guys time and space to get to know each other and bond, which they definitely did.   Admittedly, I was nervous about my ability to relate to the kids as a small group leader for a couple pretty good reasons: I’m not a boy, I’m not 14, I’m not Black or Latino, I don’t have brothers (heck, I didn’t even have many friends that were boys when I was their age!), and I didn’t go to a single-sex Catholic school.  However, the beauty of the retreat was that the facilitators weren’t the ones talking much about Brotherhood. Two talks were given, one by an alumnus and another by the principal, and a panel of seniors came to answer questions from the freshman. Both talks touched on the concept of true vs. false brotherhood.  Some of the important take-away messages for the boys were that their class of 80 young men will become their brothers over the next four years. The Verb is very much a family, and each class of boys in another generation. 

One thing I couldn’t help noticing was the power a ball can have in a group of guys.  The entire high school campus turned into a soccer and/or football field during any free time, with teams of 30-40 guys running, pushing, jumping, and tackling each other.  It was hilarious, and I couldn’t help but notice how inclusive everyone seemed, and how easy it was to get involved.  I find it hard to imagine a class of all girls bonding over something so easily and quickly!  I was also pumped when the boys voted to watch The Sandlot over Remember the Titans at night.  Don’t get me wrong, I love Remember the Titans, but The Sandlot is a classic that I did not expect them to be so excited about. This movie will always make me think of my cousins Thomas, Jeff, and Scott.  Theirs is a truly special brotherhood :) 

With each new interaction that I have with Verb students, I realize more and more how powerful a Catholic high school education can be.  As a product of public schools and only having taught in public schools, I had always seen myself teaching in a public school once I “settle down” and am done volunteering.  Now more than ever, though, I realize that I like the idea of working in a Catholic school. During the JVC application process, I was considering volunteer teaching programs in Catholic schools (and still am for the future).  I’m so grateful now that my very secular placement is part of the Verbum Dei community!! 

Anyway, I’m exhausted now – staying up til the guys went to bed, sleeping on the floor of Zach’s office and waking  up at 4am for my shift to patrol the corridor does not make for the best night’s sleep, but it was absolutely worth it.  (And after hearing the score,  I don't even feel that bad that I couldn't watch BC play ND...though I was thinking of our epically disastrous RV trip out to South Bend last year and all my friends gathered in Boston for the game all weekend!)