Katherine Whelan ’21
Thus far, 2021 has proved to be a challenging year. However, our Oak Knoll community refuses to be easily defeated, and Spirit Week commenced on Monday, February 8 nonetheless. As Campus Ministry President, I was challenged with finding a Spirit Week fundraiser idea that was both fun and effective, as well as COVID-safe. With the help of our council administrator, Mrs. Van Kalsbeck, we decided to use this year’s Spirit Week fundraiser to sponsor a child at the Cornelia Connelly School in New York City. The school, which is connected to Oak Knoll through the Holy Child Network, provides fifth through eighth-grade girls with a solid and well-rounded education. However, the students receive more than just educational support and college admissions guidance through high school. The Cornelia Connelly Center maintains relationships with their students even after they graduate, giving them a support system to turn to while overcoming challenges in their degrees and careers. The school educates about 80 students each year, and, although it costs $16,000 per year to educate each student, tuition is set at just about $600 per student. The girls and their families, coming from very low-income households, continually struggle to pay the tuition. This is where we, as an Oak Knoll Community, can do our part.
For the 2021 Spirit Week Fundraiser, our goal will be to raise $600 for the tuition of a Cornelia Connelly student. In order to make the donation process transparent and more exciting for all, the progress of the donations will be visually tracked using a Bingo Board model. Students will bring in a donation, slip it into their grade-specific donation box, and mark the correct Bingo Board square according to their grade and donation amount. Although the fundraiser was kicked off in celebration of Spirit Week, it will be continuing as long as we need to raise the 600 dollars. Overall, the entire Oak Knoll community is very excited about the opportunity to help our sisters so close to home. As Cornelia Connelly once said herself, “Generosity, generosity, generosity must be the beginning and ending of our life.”