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Photograph by Skye Dunlap
Girl Power: Students at Presentation High brainstorm ways to get the word out about their school's mission.
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Presentation's intense young women are once again on mission from God This year's high school fundraiser emphasizes education and action--and a giant salad bar
By Mary Spicuzza
Rice Krispie treats aren't the solution to ending world hunger or providing proper health care. But 17-year-old Anastasia Bolares, a senior at Presentation High School, recently found that even these gooey sugar-bombs can be transformed into an important tool for organizing to help communities across the globe.
"Food is a great motivator," Bolares says knowingly.
The marshmallow-wielding activist, a homeroom representative for the annual Presentation Mission Drive, recently brought her class a plate full of goodies. Bolares promised one treat to each girl who came up with a new way to raise funds. The wise young woman says the blackboard was covered with ideas in minutes, and the class decided on a giant salad bar and breadstick sale.
Money raised by Bolares' class and all of the school's homerooms in the month-long drive will go to aid the work of Sisters of the Presentations serving as missionaries in Central and Southern America. Each class at the all-girls Catholic School has come up with a unique activity to reach its $100 goal, and some, like Maria Fernandez and her group of juniors, are launching an all-out fundraising sweep.
"We're having a salad sale, bake sale, car wash, gathering sponsors for the car wash," Fernandez says breathlessly. "We've gotten lots of information and fact sheets, and we're teaching people about the sisters and their missions."
This year the drive focuses on education as well as action. The young organizers are working to teach their peers about current missionary projects in Guatemala, which include building a community-organized school and opening a medical clinic. In the classrooms, teachers are also incorporating the education-emphasis of the drive into their curriculum.
"This is a wonderful opportunity for students to see how the statistics, facts and trends they study in social studies courses are played out in the daily lives of the people in developing and Third World countries," says Sister Stephanie Still, Social Studies Department chair.
While studying Latin American politics, economics and history, the students are also learning about the missionary experience. They are studying profiles of the sisters and their co-workers, compiling photographs of the people of Guatemala and reading letters written by the sisters about their experiences.
"This year we want to put a face on the people for whom they are raising money," Community Involvement Coordinator Anne Pistacchi-Peck says.
For example, a recent letter from one of the nuns tells of being awakened in the middle of the night to assist with a childbirth. The sister talks of grabbing her always-packed medical bag, making her way across the dark, dusty streets and joining an indigenous Indian midwife in pre-birth prayers.
Students are finding that these first-hand accounts are bringing a whole new dimension to their studies.
"I think this is so important. So often we give money and don't known where it's going," Maria Fernandez says. "This way we know it's going to work for actual people. People with names and faces."
Since 1962, the annual drive has been held in honor of Nano Nagel, founder of the Sisters of the Presentation.
Nagel once said, "If I could be of any service in any corner of the world, I would gladly go."
Although the drive is an annual tradition, Pistacchi-Peck says this year teachers and students will discuss how the role of missionaries has changed over time. Teachers hope to show that Sisters of the Presentation are less focused on religious conversion--rather they're modern-day missionaries who've devoted their lives to bettering people's lives. Also committed to helping strengthen communities, the sisters are now training indigenous Indian women to work in health care and education programs.
"They really want to better the lives of the people there," senior Andrea Nazzal says. Seventeen-year-old Nazzal, one of five Community Involvement Officers, has been involved in the drive since her first year at Presentation. Articulate Nazzal shows incredible familiarity with issues, ranging from navigating the SAT tests and college applications to political oppression.
Besides raising funds and studying politics, the young women of Presentation High School are learning about modern-day missionary work through first-hand community organizing. "I'd rather lead by setting an example and getting everyone involved," Bolares says.
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
