Willing to Share...
A team of Notre Dame Middle School students and teachers, staff and family members walked for Catholic Education to raise awareness, as well as money to offset tuition costs at Archdiocese of Milwaukee schools. 
They joined 7,000 others from schools across the archdiocese for the inaugural Soles for Catholic Education Walk on Saturday, November 2, 2013. The two-mile walk was held at Mount Mary University in Milwaukee. Teams raised more than $322,000 which either stayed in their own schools for tuition assistance or could be designated for their school’s marketing needs.
Notre Dame Middle School is Milwaukee’s leading Catholic college preparatory middle school for Latinas. Founded in 1996 by the School Sisters of Notre Dame, NDMS has a bi-literate setting that emphasizes leadership skills, critical thinking, social justice and the overall well-being of each student. The enrollment for 2013-2014 is 150 girls in grades 5-8. Most students reside within a two-mile radius of the school and for many, English is their second language. In the surrounding community, more than half of the residents live below the poverty level.
Two of the SSNDs who teach at Notre Dame Middle School – Sisters Gladys Courtade and Judy Fleisner were part of the 40-member NDMS team. Though the weather was cold and wet, everyone maintained a great spirit. During the walk, Sister Judy ran into some former students who are now in high school. She commented, “It was great to see them again and to realize how they’ve grown and matured as a result of the Catholic education they’ve been blessed to have.”
Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki took part in the walk. He praised the walkers and told a reporter for the Catholic Herald newspaper, “It really makes a statement about who we are as Catholics; it makes a statement about our contribution; and it makes a statement about our willingness to continue being present in a really significant way.”
The School Sisters of Notre Dame educate with a global vision, believing that the world can be changed through the transformation of persons. They work to empower others through education and spread Jesus’ message of love and unity. Learn more about how the SSND vision is carried forward through their partners in mission.
Visit http://www.ssndcentralpacific.org/Partner/Partners-In-Mission
How are your Catholic faith and education blessings for you, in your life? What is one way you share your blessings?
Top right: The Notre Dame Middle School team posed for a photo with their school banner
which members carried at the Soles for Catholic Education Walk held in Milwaukee
on All Souls Day. (NDMS photo provided by Sister Judy Fleisner)
Lower Left: Archbishop Jerome Listecki (wearing a cheesehead zucchetto with a red walk
T-shirt and Chuck Taylor high-tops) is pictured walking with NDMS fifth grade teacher
and School Sister of Notre Dame Judy Fleisner. (Catholic Herald photo by Allen Frederickson)