Congratulating the Ursuline Class of 2011

Dear Ursuline Academy Families,

            The warm spring days harbinger new beginnings. Soon, the bare branches will burst with buds, and beautiful flowers will color the landscapes. Soon, too, our seniors will graduate from Ursuline Academy and embark on the journey to college. We are so proud of our seniors.

             In the seamless passing of time, each senior has grown into a young woman before our eyes, and each has become part of the fabric of the larger Ursuline Academy community. Each girl has left her mark on her classmates, on her teachers and on Ursuline Academy, and each is ready to take on new challenges. How grateful we, at Ursuline Academy, are to all parents who entrust their daughters to us!

            The road to college is a group effort, and it is filled with anticipation, with preparation and with dreams. Parents spend countless hours planning, researching and visiting potential colleges with their daughters. Faculty not only prepare our girls for college lovingly and rigorously throughout their years at Ursuline Academy, but also they graciously write thoughtful recommendations that highlight the strengths of our students. Mrs. Ferrucci, Mrs. Scott, and Mrs. Sullivan meet with students, counsel them thoughtfully, and write detailed recommendations celebrating the whole child. Mrs Cutter coordinates the mailing of all applications and records admission results and scholarships. The guidance team are tireless advocates, encouraging cheerleaders and reassuring voices in a process sometimes fraught with high emotions. They welcomed many college counselors to Ursuline Academy, brought two college fairs to our campus and travelled throughout the year to build relationships with colleges. This June, Mrs. Ferrucci will travel with Catholic counselors to Ireland to explore opportunities there.  I am grateful for the guidance office’s professionalism and devotion to our girls. They leave no stone unturned for our girls.

            The list of all of our college acceptances is one that fills us with pride, and I share our results this year with all of you to celebrate our wonderful girls. The seniors worked hard, and they earned options. Always, I advise parents to think about fit when it comes to selecting college. Dream colleges do happen, but dreams also happen at colleges that were not a first choice and that end up being the best fit for a young woman.

             

          How blessed we, at Ursuline, have been to share in the development of these wonderful young women! Their loving parents who selected Ursuline Academy for their daughters each shared a dream. They wanted their precious girls to grow as scholars, as servants of God, as leaders, as athletes and as artists. They wanted them prepared for life and for college. We share our parents’ dreams, and we pray for all of our girls’ continued success.

God Bless,

Mary Jo Keaney '82, Principal

The Power of One:
Ursuline students learn powerful lesson from Holocaust survivor

Deciding to do the right thing, is not always the easiest choice. However, according to Holocaust survivor Rena Finder, doing the right thing when no one else will, can sometimes make all the difference.

Rena thoughtfully passed this message along to the students of Ursuline Academy when she visited the school to share her story of hope, courage and survival on April 7. She spoke of the terror that spread through her home of Krakow, Poland when German soldiers invaded in 1939, the poor treatment of Jewish citizens, and the one man who decided to help against all odds.

"Oskar Schindler is a perfect example of the difference one person can make," she said of the "tall, handsome" man who took it upon himself to protect Jews like herself by providing work opportunities in his factory, despite his association with the Nazi regime. "He did not have the heart of a Nazi," she said.

Rena shared details of her struggle in the ghetto, where she lived with her family until every relative but her mother was taken away by soldiers. She talked of the anguish felt by all who experienced Auschwitz, and the dehumanizing experience that caused her to feel dead even though she was still breathing. While physical pain and illness became commonplace for the oppressed Jews, Rena said she was most sickened by the decided ignorance of her neighbors.

"They didn't see us. They didn't help. They didn't care," she said of her gentile neighbors, once friends who carried on with their lives even as Rena and her family were tortured by German soldiers in the streets. According to Rena, they had no courage in the face of opposition, and decided to simply do nothing.

Rena recalled the dreadful day that her family was ordered to leave their comfortable home in Krakow, to find a tiny room in the ghetto across town. As the family descended their stairs, they knocked on the door of their neighbors to say goodbye; but there was no answer. As the family left the house, they looked back only to see their neighbors peeking from their windows, afraid to become involved.

"It is better to do something than to do nothing," Rena told the Ursuline students, and encouraged them to be that courageous person who gets involved or finds help when another person is treated poorly. Though her story seems unimaginable, it is a true example of the power one person has to positively affect the lives of many.

Ursuline Academy had the unique opportunity to welcome Rena Finder with the support of"Facing History and Ourselves," an educational program that invites students to examine and discuss the actions that led to horrific events in our world, so that they may learn how to better react in the face of opposition. The school is currently integrating aspects of this program into the curriculum to expose students to examples of injustice in our world, with hopes that they will realize how important their positive actions can be to society. Facing History provides resources to schools, such as featured speakers like Rena Finder.

The students of Ursuline Academy are so grateful that Rena was able to share her story of courage, which ended happily due to the kindness of a stranger named Oskar Schindler. They will now go into the world with a bit more courage to do the right thing, when no one else will.