EDUCATION

Julie Thurston Ott ’99

As Coordinator of Curriculum, Projects, and Innovation, I demonstrate to teachers and their students the importance of innovation and project-based learning. The innovative Project Approach is reshaping our Lower School by fostering deeper engagement and authentic learning experiences. In this model, students work on real-world projects that require critical thinking, collaboration, and creativity. Collaboration is not just a part of the process; it's a key ingredient that makes the Project Approach so effective. By working on interdisciplinary challenges, learners gain knowledge in specific subject areas and develop essential skills like problem-solving and communication. This hands-on approach encourages students to take ownership of their learning as they explore topics that resonate with their interests and aspirations. As a result, the Project Approach enhances academic performance and assures students are well-prepared for the future, instilling a sense of optimism and hope for what they can achieve. However, the power of collaboration makes the Project Approach a game-changer, showing students the value of teamwork and shared goals. 

Furthermore, the Project Approach influences educational practices by emphasizing the importance of collaboration between educators, industry professionals, and the community. I lead teachers and facilitate partnerships with local organizations to design projects that address real societal issues, providing students with meaningful contexts for their learning. These partnerships enrich the educational experience by introducing students to diverse perspectives and expertise. Additionally, such collaborations often lead to innovative solutions and community impact, reinforcing the relevance of education beyond the classroom. I have promoted a shift toward a more experiential and interconnected school, fostering a generation of learners who are knowledgeable, socially responsible, and equipped to navigate the complexities of the future.

As an educator, my journey has been one of continuous growth and evolution. I've always strived to stay current with research and adapt my teaching to the needs of my students. The allure of technology and innovation led me to pursue my second master’s degree in Educational Technology, a decision that has significantly contributed to my personal growth. This journey has broadened my horizons and deepened my understanding of the ever-changing field of education, shaped by research from areas of Science and Human Development. We all must evolve, or we will be left behind. Passing on that lesson is my goal in educating the young girls who will be the women who will lead in the future.  

The Five Goals of Sacred Heart education are not just a set of principles but a comprehensive educational experience that nurtures each student's mind, body, and spirit. These goals have profoundly impacted my life, including my work in education. My faith has always been my guide, leading me to my commitment to work at a Sacred Heart school and inspire women to become leaders in their chosen fields. The Goals promote a love of learning and the pursuit of knowledge, which fostered in me strong critical thinking and a lifelong commitment to education, a commitment that I carry with me to this day. They instilled a sense of social responsibility in me, and now, I encourage students to engage with and address social issues in their communities. The Goals emphasize the importance of collaboration and support in fostering a sense of belonging and community among students, families, and the broader school community. This directly connects to my work supporting the teachers in their work with the Project Approach. Supporting students' personal and moral development in a nurturing environment that encourages them to make choices based on their values and beliefs is a responsibility all educators share. This just might be the most crucial aspect of my work with students.  

Jenifer Marshall Lippincott ’72

I can think of myriad intellectual pursuits at Stone Ridge, both formal and informal, that led me down a career path guided and inspired by a desire to continually educate and be educated. To name a few:

An appreciation of the beauty of music (who knew that “cellar door” were the two most musical words in the English language? Thank you, Beth Malinowski) 

An awakened sensibility to the influence of literature on history and vice versa (thank you, Virginia Koss and your rigorous American Studies program)

Such whimsical boondoggles as the short-lived Kitchen Sink “underground newspaper” launched with compadres Mimi Mckenna, Kathryn Kavanagh, and Elizabeth Cormack (thank you for your tolerance, Sister Dyer). 

Endeavors like these, and the curiosity they nurtured—and pampered—begat a teaching career which led to a fascination with adolescents, which led me to write a book on parenting them, which, in turn, ignited a lifelong fascination (and my daughters would allege, obsession) with the brain.

This same curiosity engendered at Stone Ridge propelled me to a subsequent career as a learning strategist helping organizations figure out how to employ technology (long before it was de rigueur) to further and socialize learning. Pit stops on that journey included the development of some of the first online learning programs for organizations ranging from IBM and Citibank to the National Archives.

As my career evolved, I listened to my Sacred Heart values within and discerned my true calling: the need to understand what makes us do, say, and react as we do—as parents, leaders, teachers, and community members. In other words, the goal of my personal growth in the atmosphere of wise freedom led me to discover, and indeed culminate, my career in the field of the brain science of leadership. The notion that what we say—and how we say it—has everything to do with how we respond to each other, justly and fairly. Indeed, the goal that impels us to act. For me, this action involved helping developing leaders understand themselves and their actions through the lens and power of brain science.

Now, in the twilight of my career, I focus on coaching women emerging leaders in non-profit organizations and writing articles for various publications related to how and why our brains influence our actions. 

My hope has always been to leave a small imprint that helps someone somewhere be and do better, as a parent, a leader, a community member, a friend. The way Sisters Copeland, Collins, Dyer ’55, and countless other Sacred Heart leaders taught—and continue to teach—me. In spirit…

Karen Godt ’62

In 2004, while serving on a weeklong medical trip to Honduras, my life was forever changed when I encountered 24 abandoned teenage boys. That one afternoon meeting has consumed my life for the past 21 years and counting and affected the lives of over 800 children. Honduras is an extremely poor underdeveloped country where the vast majority of children have no access to education after 6th grade, and 78% of the population lives in dire poverty. After meeting those abandoned teenagers, my husband and I retired from our jobs and created the Hope for Honduran Children Foundation with the mission to protect, inspire, nurture, educate, and challenge “forgotten” disadvantaged youth to reach their full potential. It is an enormous undertaking that my husband and I manage alone. We have an active board and a worldwide network of volunteers ranging in age from five to 95, but we need more help. The work of our volunteers is very meaningful—many travel with us each year to Honduras, others help raise awareness and needed funding, and others develop significant projects that affect the lives of our residential students and over 300 children living in isolated mountain villages. 

Our Feed A Village program supports three mountain villages with food and academic assistance. We have two “transition homes” for 26 students, Casa Dorothee of the Sacred Heart and Casa Noble for boys. Residential students are provided a loving support network with safe shelter, food, healthcare, and education through college. Students typically enter our program at age 12 and leave after graduating from the university and starting on their career path. Our work is never-ending, but the joy we experience far outweighs all of our efforts. We are grateful and enormously blessed to be guided by the values of my Sacred Heart education. Each day we find that we are compelled to follow the example of Saint Madeline Sophie Barat… 

           “For the sake of one child, I would have founded …”

               the Hope for Honduran Children Foundation.

For information about our work or to become a much-needed volunteer, please visit our website at www.h4hc.org or email me at kgodt@h4hc.org. 

JUSTICE

Flavia Jimenez ’91

The nonprofit industry in the U.S. has gone through significant shifts in the recent past. When I started as a movement lawyer at a worker's center in Maryland, We Are Casa, the mostly immigrant workers who arrived at the doorstep were seeking services (housing, workforce training, immigration), and there was also a component of advocacy work that the organization was able to do. Organizations began to find ways to establish relationships across both political parties. That was 2002. 

The pressure on marginalized communities has grown, and many nonprofits have had a hard time keeping up. Political radicalization has proven to be a major shift. Major income inequality means indigent communities have little hope of reaching the middle class, which has led to a shrinking in opportunities. 

As a consultant working with many of these organizations, we have had to find innovative ways to continue building resiliency. 

Listening to the ways that people in the margins organize and create mutual-aid responses to urgent situations gives us hope in the community. As a facilitator of conversations with organizational leaders, it is key to continue to create opportunities for a heart-centered approach to truth-telling. We will raise the consciousness in our societies as long as we are willing to be open to the truth and continue to understand that the suffering of our neighbors is present. We are all interconnected. 

My Sacred Heart education is inextricably linked to my work helping organizations that work with marginalized communities. My heart-centered spiritual practices drive my desire to walk in the path of wise freedom, and as long as I am able to work, my social awareness will impel me to action. 

Nilam Sanghvi ’95

I have worked at the Pennsylvania Innocence Project, first as a staff attorney and now as the legal director, for almost 12 years. In that role, I oversee all of our work to help those who are incarcerated for crimes they did not commit return home to their communities, oversee our policy work that is aimed at reducing wrongful convictions and increasing access to the courts for those who are wrongly convicted, and educating law school, undergraduate, and social work interns about innocence and wrongful convictions. 

Pennsylvania historically has a high rate of wrongful convictions; our laws make it very difficult to have your conviction overturned once it happens. In that situation, I had no choice but to be innovative in trying to help our clients. I have worked to change the law both through individual court cases and through working with the Pennsylvania legislature. I am constantly working with my colleagues to develop new legal theories that will allow our clients to present evidence of their innocence to the courts even when an initial read of our state’s laws would make it seem that they had no hope of going back to court. 

Since coming to the Project, I am honored to have helped over 30 people obtain their freedom, and have the privilege of helping oversee our reentry program, which is the only one in our state that offers comprehensive re-entry services to freed and exonerated people. Unlike people who might be released on parole, innocent people who return home get no support from the state or recognition of their wrongful convictions. This is one of many things that still needs to be fixed, and it’s a challenge that we look forward to taking on. 

The Sacred Heart Goals and Criteria inform every aspect of my work. Most critically, Stone Ridge instilled in me the social awareness which impels me to action (Goal III), and the importance of working to make our communities better is what motivates me to come to work every day, even though working in the public interest is often emotionally exhausting. A deep faith and sense of the importance of community (Goal IV) also carry me through this work. Educating future generations of attorneys and social workers is a highlight of my job, giving me the opportunity to reinforce that deep respect for intellectual values that hopefully will make my students more aware of the unfairness of our criminal legal system and give them the tools to help make things better as they embark on their careers. I can truly say that my Sacred Heart education provided the best possible foundation I could imagine for doing my small part to try to make our system more fair and just.

SPIRITUALITY

Maria Suarez Hamm ’72

As a Family Life Counselor, I am now more focused on meeting one-on-one with my clients in my home rather than in a public setting. Here, I find that “actions speak louder than words.” By welcoming my friends and family into my warm and inviting home, I show respect for myself and for them in how I greet and treat them, usually to coffee or a simple luncheon meal. In this setting, people relax and open up, and we can have those deep conversations of the heart. I can also celebrate the importance of a welcoming home where others are welcomed as well.

At Stone Ridge, I learned a lot about hospitality—from my teachers and my friends and their families. In my immigrant setting, with little money and lots of kids and activity, we were not in a position to host get-togethers in our home. But I received many invitations to my classmates' homes and saw how it was done.

Since my work is to promote integral family life, I see myself as a
“Passer on of Wisdom”—the wisdom I have acquired in raising twelve children in this modern complicated world we live in. I also see myself as passing on the wisdom from my thirty-year involvement in the pregnancy care movement, helping young moms become self-confident and giving them the tools to be successful. Soon, I hope to start publishing my experiences in book format.

I am extremely grateful to Stone Ridge for my education and the enduring values it gave me.