Month: December 2010

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Today was a bad day for everyone’s diets – the staff “Sweet Sampling” day. Human Resources organized the annual parade of holiday sweets. People brought in a sample of  the holiday goodies they are making, and we copied recipes to share. Throughout the day, when people had breaks, they got to sample and nibble on the goodies. All the staff got a holiday curio and we had some fun door prizes as well. I had a lot of discipline and only tried three small samples. But when I got back to my office, I found that one of our ambitious and delicious bakers had dropped off a separate plate just for me, and my resolve melted!

Over the lunch hour, we met with the supervisors from all the different departments on campus. Together we went through a training on how to deal with employees with bad attitudes. (Not that we’d ever have that problem here!!) What was reinforced to me is that we can’t really change an attitude, but we can expect a change in behavior. I can’t tell people what to think or how they should feel, but if they disrespect others or cause tensions in the workplace I have to address that as a supervisor, because that brings everyone down.

On a positive note, I finished up all the staff Christmas cards and turned them into the business office so they can go out with the Christmas bonus. As I write them out, I realize that we have so many great folks who work hard for the good of our students, and show such support to their co-workers.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Today, all our South Dakota SCJs gathered for a time of continuing education. Brother Duane from Chicago led our discussions, and we also enjoyed the company of Fr. Paul from California, and Fr. Guy who came from Connecticut. Besides asking our staff to update themselves regularly, we as a religious order take that seriously ourselves. The morning session was a discussion/workshop on “Instruments of Hope and Healing”. It challenged us, “How can we encourage each other to live healthy spiritual and emotional lives? How can we help people who have been hurt by the church?”

After lunch, our discussions shifted to our community mission statement. We reflected on the question, “How am I faithful to the gospel in the spirit of our founder, Fr. Leo John Dehon?” Lots of days are taken up with day-to-day work related issues. Sometimes, you just have to step back and ask those bigger philosophical questions if you’re going to stay on the right track. For me, God’s love is key. I want people to feel God’s love through me, be it student, staff or donor. First, I have to be aware of and rooted in that love myself. If I keep faithful to that Charism, the day-to-day decisions fall more easily into place.

Tonight, the High School home had an assembly to present the traveling academic trophy to the home with the highest grade point average. Hogebach, our junior and senior girls, came in first again with an impressive 3.42 group GPA! Their next goal is to try to get everyone on the Honor Roll. The high school students have 3 weeks until semester exams, so they all have to buckle down with the books.

Erin and Danisha also gave a presentation to the other High School students about their trip visit to our sister school in Handrup Germany. Another trip is being arranged for next June, and they encouraged other students to apply for the trip. Both were scared at first, and said they wanted to go home after the first day or two, but after the two weeks had flown by, they wanted to stay much longer. Both talked about the ways it was a life changing experience to see the world from a totally different perspective.