Oak Knoll students spend summer living out Holy Child mission across the globe

The summer months are typically an opportunity get away from the life one leads during the school year and enjoy some very much needed R & R, but for several Oak Knoll students the time was merely a continuation of living the example of Cornelia Connelly to serve others.

In mid-July, a group of Oak Knoll students traveled to Quiché, Guatemala, with the School the World organization for eight days.

During the trip, Elsa Maurizi ’20, Ava Gordon ’20, Riley Campbell ’20 and Katie Duttenhofer ’19 painted three classrooms at a school, including murals. In addition, the students helped install a playground in a rural community called Xesic.





“This trip was truly amazing, as we were able to visit the homes of families, form friendships with the children and learn about the culture – all while helping build a school and a healthy learning environment for the young students,” said Maurizi.

Gordon added she also enjoyed visiting Antigua and meeting new people.“Seeing how these families lived was truly eye-opening and really showed me how important our work was,” Gordon said. “Each and every individual that lived in the community was beyond welcoming and so appreciative of our service.”

Around the same time her classmates were in Guatemala, Annalise Cavaliere ’19 was spending part of her summer teaching English to young students in Cambodia.

Cavaliere visited the southeastern Asian country through Girl Scout Destinations and the organization No Barriers Youth between July 11-22, 2018..



Teaching the children English was simultaneously the best and most challenging part of the trip, she said. “My favorite part was definitely working with the kids at various schools,” Cavaliere said. “As a group, we had to figure out a way to work around the language barrier, so that we could still have a fun and interactive time. We accomplished this by singing the ABCs and performing the ‘Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’ dance.”

In addition to impacting the children through teaching, she helped build a cement pathway at one of the schools where she taught.

A trio of Oak Knoll students stuck a bit closer to home – globally speaking – when they ventured with the Presbyterian Church at New Providence to Jackson, Mississippi, from July 15-22, 2018.

Caroline Hall ’20, Tietjen Spoor ’20 and Sydney Pearson ’20 worked with several local organizations, including the Salvation Army, Mustard Seed and the John Perkins Center.



Hall, Spoor and Pearson ran a Vacation Bible School for approximately 200 children throughout the week in addition to other service efforts such as the Salvation Army’s annual back-to-school backpack giveaway.

Earlier in the summer, Hall had the experience of a lifetime in Peru where, from June 21-July 6, 2018, she volunteered on a public health research project about providing medical access to villagers in high-altitude Andean communities.

The project, part of the Global Leadership Adventures’ Foundations of Global Health program, intrigued Hall as she is interested in pursuing a career in medicine after graduating from Oak Knoll.



“I felt this experience in Peru would afford me the opportunity to see how our access to medical treatment differs from that of rural communities in a lesser developed country than ours,” Hall said.

Hall also enjoyed an opportunity to shadow doctors and nurses running local clinics, while building on the Spanish skills she learned in the classroom at Oak Knoll.

At Oak Knoll, the entire school community embraces service based on its identity as a Roman Catholic, Holy Child School. Responding to the Christian call to justice, Oak Knoll challenges all students to recognize and respond to the needs of others.

Though community service hours are not required at Oak Knoll, every student participates in community service, including the annual school-wide service day each October.