Math Unites

Phew! It’s been a long (but really rewarding) couple of days! Despite the 300 mph winds (okay so that might have been a bit of an exaggeration, but seriously the wind is killer) we are all loving Kansas City! For us Montana kids, the big city is a new and exciting experience! The four-lane merge we make every morning to get to Cristo Rey high school is even more exciting, especially when Colleen is behind the wheel. But if you were to ask any of us what the most exciting and most enjoyable part of our days here in Kansas City would be, we would all say without a doubt it is our time spent at Cristo Rey!

We have all created relationships with the students at Christo Rey and its pretty agreed throughout the group that we will be sad to leave. Some students have even made relationships that will extend beyond our week here in Kansas City. As a future math teacher, my favorite part of the day is getting to spend time with students one on one to work on their math skills. As Cristo Rey is a fairly new school in Kansas City (only 6 years old) many of the students have not received the basic math background they need to pass exams to graduate. Having the opportunity to work with these students individually and watch their math skills improve in even just the hour or two we get to spend with them really warms my heart.

Personally, I have a love for math because no matter where you are, no matter what your ethnic or socio-economic background you come from, and no matter what language you speak, math will always be the same. At Carroll College 6 X 8 will always be 48 and at Cristo Rey 6 X 8 will still always be 48. Math can be something that unites us all, no matter who we are. This is something I have really noticed during my time at Cristo Rey. No matter who we are and where we come from, there are a few things that still unite us all as human beings. It has been really amazing getting to make connections with students of different backgrounds and from different cultures. We are reminded everyday of the most important thing that unites us all as followers of Christ, our desire to love and serve the Lord.

Yesterday, Fred, Katie M., and I got to stay after school (while every one else went home to do yard work for the sisters ☺) and help with the “Geometry Recovery” Program. “Geometry Recover” is for seniors a Cristo Rey who have failed Geometry 2 times or more. We had the opportunity to sit down with a few of these seniors and help then to re-learn (and hopefully better understand) the concepts of geometry that they should have learned before. Even in the short amount of time we got to spend with these students, we saw their understanding of geometry improve tenfold. I think that is the most important thing that we can offer to any of the students at Cristo Rey, our time. What most of these students have lacked in their lives is positive role models taking the TIME to help them grow into responsible, intelligent and respectful adults. Giving the students this time is Cristo Rey’s number one mission and the good it has already done is clearly visible in the lives of the students. As much as we may feel that we served those seniors, I know Katie and Fred would agree with me that they served us even more.

Today, we had the opportunity to spend some time at the elementary school run by the sisters. When we first got there, the students were still at recess. We decided to go out to the playground and hang out with the kids. The 5th grade class asked us to play a harmless game of kickball. Being the college students, we decided that we should “take it easy on them”. Well I guess the joke was on us because those 5th graders…. SCHOOLED us in kickball! But we all had a blast regardless. We had the opportunity to spend the afternoon in the classroom with the kids. Being in the classroom with the elementary students was very different than our work at Christo Rey! But the students were just as inspiring! Elyse is an elementary education major and she was most definitely in her element. All the little girls loved her and were very sad to see her leave at the end of the day! Again I have to say, that while we were their to serve the students their enthusiasm and excitement for learning was even more inspiring to us!

It has been a very long couple of days and we are all very tired! However, I wouldn’t trade my experience here in Kansas City for anything! Thank you all for your love, support and prayers! We will continue to keep you updated until our arrival back to Helena on Saturday!

Peace,
Tessa

Elyse’s Update

Elyse’s Update from Big Ol’ KC
Finally getting time to blog!! It has been such a busy week so far… full of driving, math and new adventures! I have been journaling and have lots of stories but Colleen tells me I should only write the highlights… So here goes!

So, we finally got here (it’s a longgg drive! But thank goodness we took it in two chunks- the first night we stayed in Denver and went the rest of the way the next day. We also took lots of stops – mostly due to Laura’s weak bladder… that girl would never make it on one of my dad’s roadtrips…where if we have to go to the bathroom, well gotta wait till the next gas station…). We have been having oodles of fun so far!
I am going to just hit on my school stories…seeing as what this trip is about☺ I will start out by saying Cristo Rey High School is very different than high schools we are familiar with. There are several things that make it so unique: It is a private Catholic school created only six years ago. It was designed as a college-prep school for culturally diverse students and aimed at giving them experiences they otherwise would not have. Being private, the school costs about $9,000 a semester. So if these students come from family’s that don’t really have that kind of money to spare, how do they pay for it?? That is where Cristo Rey’s awesomeness is evident. Upon entering the school, students are given a job in town and one day in their week, they go to their work sites. The money they make in their job goes to pay for their education. Pretty cool right? I wish I could write more about the history and what makes Cristo Rey unique but I better move on- P.S. though, you can check out a little more about the school from the following link. They were features on 60 minutes- they’re famous! But check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ev8kmPnzaY
Focusing on what I’ve specifically been doing…

I am helping out in Ms. Hotop’s Algebra 1 and 2 classes (boy, who made that placement?? 1+1= uh… just kidding but I am not the greatest at math…). Regardless, it has been actually really cool so far! Talk about blast from the past- we’re working on factoring binomials and graphing… exciting! Just wanna say really quick how happy I am to be in Ms. Hotop’s classroom. It is truly a privilege… This teacher has such an evident passion for what she does and that just radiates off her and rejuvenates and excites her students. Another difference at Cristo Rey is the classroom conversation. Ms. Hotop’s classroom is full of learning- you can hear it. If the students do not understand something, heck they “hold up” the teacher and ask for clarification. Ms. Hotop has impeccable classroom management though and can flow these, what some would view as interruptions, into a teaching point.
In short, even though I don’t enjoy math, I loved being in the classroom.

OK, sorry you’re probably getting tired of reading my blog but last thing I have to say- Today was especially awesome because I made a new friend!! Mrs. Hotop asked me to help a girl with her homework and I am so happy she did. (Ms. Hotop probably wasn’t though as we didn’t really get much homework done…shhh…). Her name is IKeyla and we decided I am pretty much the Montana version of her in a sense. We have a lot in common and have many of the same philosophies about life. I got to hang out with her in between classes and felt almost as if I was back in high school myself.
We already are making plans for her to come see what Montana is like☺

But enough from me, Nate is waiting to blog and I have to go make a sandwich for our transition over to Leavenworth tomorrow.
I will hopefully have time to blog again soon and give you more updates!
Thanks for reading!
SLFT (Still Looking For Todo)-
=]Elyse

What Brings Us Joy?

Hello!
Today we spent the day in the school, once again. Once again, it was amazing. I have been in Ms. Hotop’s algebra 1 and 2 classes helping students with math problems. It has taken me some time to remember how to do some of the math problems, as it has been about 6 years since I have done algebra!! Thank God for Tessa, our math genius, for helping me to understand how to factor equations. Elyse and I also helped Ms. Hotop grade math quizzes and tests. Late in the morning, several of us, including myself, had the opportunity to tutor a student in math one-on-one. Math is the subject that many, many students at Cristo Rey are really struggling with and the school needs lot of extra hands to be able to give the students one-on-one opportunities to work on their math skills.

Anyway, the students here are very welcoming and curious about us Montanans. I have received very interesting questions. One student asked me if there were gangs and ghettos in Montana or if people fight in Montana. It was interesting to see how Montana is such a different world from a place such as urban Kansas City. It also shows how small of a perspective the students at Cristo Rey have on the rest of the world; their neighborhood is all they really know.

When we got back from school to the Xavier house, we helped the Sisters with yard work. We had fun doing it, too. We laid fertilizer on the lawn where it was needed.
Later this evening, we had the privilege of going to the home of Sister Irene, Sister Vicki, and Sister Therese. They fed us a wonderful homemade meal of grilled chicken, baked potatoes, green beans, and a fabulous chocolate cake with fruit. They were very welcoming to us. Sister Irene, who is about 80 years old, is planning to add us all on facebook! Together after dinner, we had a prayer session that focused on what brings us joy. It was wonderful. When we got back to the Xavier house, we went to adoration in the church across the street. It was a good time together.
Looking forward to more tomorrow.
-Laura

First Day of School

Hello everyone! It is Monday morning in Kansas City and the weather is B-E-A-UTIFUL! We finally got to Kansas City around 7:30pm after two days of driving. There have been many fun stories about the trip so far, such as 25 miles left of fuel, with the closet gas station 30 miles away. It took us two days to figure out that we could actually plug the iPod into the car Fred was driving, and then that started a new adventure because the media player had voice command on it. Fred being Fred, had an interesting conversation with the voice command computer.


Today we woke up around 5:45, so we could leave our area of residents around 6:45. We then experienced the crazy city driving from Kansas City, Kansas to Kansas City, Missouri, where Colleen had to do split decision making in order to merge four lanes of traffic. Arriving at the school we were all excited and ready to start the day off.

We were first introduced to the student body of about 400 students, and then we began orientation for what we are scheduled to do here. I get to help in Chemistry classrooms, which I am super excited for. Although we are all excited to start, there is no one more excited than Tessa is about teaching math. At one moment she was as pink as her very bright pink shirt.
While most people have a classroom to be at during 2nd period, or were able to help with other work around the school, I had the pleasure of writing one of the first blogs about the experience. I am truly excited for this opportunity, and I cannot wait to get into the classroom next period. This school is one that promotes excellence, work ethic, community, and faith.

Have a wonderful week,
Tony Rosales