St. Leo The Great > Works of Mercy > English As A Second Language

Tuesday, January 28, 2020

Going for the Gold

The Olympics linger at St. Leo, even though the 2014 World Olympics just concluded in Sochi. The many nations gathered here at St. Leo are doing their utmost to acquire their higher education, making their road to victory even sweeter. Here is a snapshot of their Olympic trials!

A little background first. There are six to ten adults currently and adamantly pursuing higher education. Some of these adults—youths at the time in 1972—had high school certificates in Africa, or many had to flee before they were out of school. The process to obtain a copy of their certificate is difficult and even then, the accreditations must meet US standards. If a copy cannot be obtained or it is not accepted in the States, GED is the next step.

The school-aged youth have a slightly different path. Upon arrival, grade placement is comparable to their age. Due to the sporadic and unsystematic education in the camps, it creates for the student here in the States a struggle to understand our U.S. educational system with homework, projects, and the like. Hence, the vision and creation of St. Leo’s Tuesday Night Tutoring. There are also several students taking trade classes through Job Corps. The youth have achieved great strides in their educational development!

In one family, the vision for a brighter future is flourishing. Renovat, who studied diligently and became a United States Citizen in January still needs his GED before advancing to his ultimate goal—to attend college. (Renovat is also a tailor and crafted his suit for the citizenship ceremony!)

Ernestine, the billboard face and current student at Cincinnati State, will graduate in May then plans to attend UC. She received a perfect 4.0 grade point average during one of her terms!

Alexandre, who achieved the top grade as a sophomore at Christo Ray coming in as a “transfer” student, has been accepted at UC and is considering going into production at CCM, thanks to a secret angel here at St. Leo providing instruction in videography and computer graphics.

Charlotte’s dream is to take business in college so that she can go back to Burundi with her knowledge and help others.Charlotte narrates the “Stories of Our Elders” documentary on our website www.saintleo.org.

We are all students in this life, always learning. Our many nations saturate the knowledge and education some may take for granted. As they are lifted from podium to podium, the road to the Gold becomes more and more a reality every day for our student “athletes”!

- Stephanie Sepate

St. Leo The Great Parish

Rev. James R. Schutte, Pastor
2573 St. Leo Place
Cincinnati, OH 45225
513-921-1044 ext. 21

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