For four days earlier this month, a group of high school students learned firsthand what it was like to help less fortunate people.
Eleven juniors and seniors from Walsingham Academy traveled to cities in New Jersey and Pennsylvania as part of a renewed focus for the Catholic school on service trips.
They visited a homeless shelter to give out meals and clothing. They attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and listened to stories of addiction and struggle. And they brought home a deeper understanding of what it’s like to be compassionate.
“I believe that this trip was a monumental eye-opener, because it showed how kind and human we all can be, even when the world seems like it is at its darkest moments,” said one of the students, senior Colby Corcoran.
At Joseph’s House, a shelter in Camden, New Jersey, students Reese Ellis and Katie Gorwood and teacher Robyn Boring serve meals outdoors. (Steve DeLaney)
Service trips have been a Walsingham fixture since at least 2010, said theology teacher Steve DeLaney, who is also a campus minister in the upper school. Past trips to Camden, New Jersey, and Merion, Pennsylvania, came as a result of the school’s connection with DeSales Service Works, a Camden ministry that serves as a retreat site for high school and college groups.
Although the trips used to run twice a year, staffing changes in 2014 caused scheduling issues, and by 2020, they were shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pause, students volunteered in the Williamsburg community, but this was the academy’s first trip back to Camden.
In Camden, students visited homeless shelter Joseph’s House to give out meals and clothing. They assisted in cleaning up Holy Name Catholic School in Camden, which had been struggling to make necessary repairs in the face of recent budget cuts. In Kensington, Pennsylvania, they attended AA meetings at a recovery center. They also visited Merion Mercy, the Mother House for Sisters of Mercy in Merion, Pennsylvania, to spend time with fellow sisters of Walsingham’s president, Sister Mary Jeanne Oesterle.
The purpose of the trips is to have students learn about people struggling as they participate with the ministries that help them, DeLaney said. The trips also aim to show how God is present in a unique way in the lives of those who are suffering.
“We trust that, if we go to those places with an open heart and a generous mind, that we’ll learn something about God, experience God in a new way,” he said.
Despite not being “the most social person,” 17-year-old Katie Gorwood, a senior, said the trip helped her learn more about other people and their life situations.
“Every single person there was always affirming,” added junior Mason Mishler, 17, about sitting in on an AA meeting. “Like, your being there was a good thing. It was such a interesting place to see and not at all like what they show” in film and television.
The cleanup at Holy Name Catholic School included picking up leaves off the basketball court as well as cleaning the cafeteria area, 16-year-old junior Sarah Scaggs said. She said the school had been struggling from the government shutdown, and she noted a leaking problem and a ceiling collapsing during their visit.
She and fellow students were upset that people in bad circumstances can get pushed back further while they are in need, Scaggs said. Despite this, being able to do good deeds did make them feel better, she said.
“As I was serving, I couldn’t even remember what I was anxious about,” Scaggs said about helping at the homeless shelter. “I just wanted to help people and I understood that people needed my help, and I didn’t really have time to worry about anything else.”
Sisters Betty Marley and Marita Lyons with Walsingham students Eris DeSantis and Amadea Mitchell at Merion Mercy, the Mother House of the Sisters of Mercy in Merion, Pennsylvania. (Steve DeLaney)
After meeting a cook at the shelter, the woman’s words of “when we’re serving, we aren’t stressed” during their conversation resonated with her, Scaggs said.
Walsingham Academy is planning to return to taking two trips a year, DeLaney said. He also said an additional trip to Appalachia to learn about rural communities could be added in the future.
Oesterle said the overall experience of going on service trips is meaningful for the students.
“I’ve spoken with recent graduates who went on a similar trip,” she said. “They considered it a highlight of their time at Walsingham.”
James W. Robinson, 757-799-0621, james.robinson@virginiamedia.com
