St. Cecilia School has a new mission: moving forward.
Susan Kilbane, principal of the school, and several of her teachers found this new mission when they attended the Adelante Conference at the University of Notre Dame.
“Adelante means moving forward,” Susan explained. “We are already planning ways to incorporate our new learning into our culture and curriculum to ensure that we embrace, educate, and empower every single student to the fullest capacity.”
“Twenty-five percent of our students are Latino and it was really interesting because the conference was about creating responsive classrooms for Latino families. It really resonated with me,” Susan said.
Susan attended the conference through the Fulcrum Foundation Building Diversity and Inclusion Grant Program. The grant is designed to assist schools in welcoming students regardless of race, ethnicity, or class. St. Patrick Catholic School, Tacoma, also received a grant and attended the conference.
Grants through this program promote academic excellence and increase cultural competency of teachers and staff by encouraging schools to respect, celebrate, and include the culture of each student as an integral part of Catholic education.
“Three big focus words at the conference were embrace, educate, and empower,” Susan said. “And that’s exactly what we have to do with all students. I already know the importance of our education to our families and this conference really reinforced that.”
Adelante!