Many girls her age while away their summer break by the pool, but 17-year-old Devon Waskiewicz spent last June in Lima, Peru, attending class and doing community service. “Being immersed in the culture was something a class can’t replicate,” says the junior at Villa Duchesne and Oak Hill School, an independent Catholic school educating boys and girls ages 3 to grade six and young women grades seven to 12. “Actually living the way Peruvians live helped me use what I had learned in Spanish class.”
The school’s global exchange program makes the most of its membership in the Network of Sacred Heart Schools and the affiliated Society of the Sacred Heart, which includes more than 170 schools worldwide. The Society was founded in the 1800s by Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat, who wanted to help girls become a source of transformation in the world. “It’s important girls who graduate from here know what they want to do with their lives, and a global perspective is very much interwoven into that,” says Sister Donna Collins, Villa Duchesne principal. “We want them to ask how they can make the world a better place for themselves and others.”
Most of Villa’s young women are exposed to this global perspective, beginning at the elementary level at Oak Hill. The international network of schools is frequently integrated into the curriculum, says Oak Hill art teacher Lisa Carswell, who heads up the global education program. For example, a recent fourth-grade lesson on Taiwan included a video chat with students there. “The Sacred Heart schools have a strong sense of thinking globally because we have schools all over the world,” Carswell says. “Human connection is really important, no matter your religion.”
Students can participate in domestic exchange programs with the 23 other Sacred Heart schools in the U.S. “They may work side-by-side with a girl in Miami, Chicago or Los Angeles to rehab a house, for example,” Collins says. They also have access to the international exchange program and an annual service project, like rebuilding a school in Costa Rica. “I want our students to not only be knowledgeable, but also to develop compassionate hearts and be active in changing the world for the better,” Collins says. “Anything we can do to help them develop a wider perspective is incredibly
beneficial.”
Waskiewicz credits the school’s global network for expanding her horizons. “It made me see that, while there are some differences, overall the concepts of family and friends are the same everywhere,” she says. “It made me think of the world as one big place.” After graduation, she plans to study education at a college on the East Coast, then travel as much as possible. Waskiewicz and her older sister both participated in Villa’s exchange program, which included having two international students stay with their family for a month each. “We want our kids to know there is more to life than just what they experience here in St. Louis,” says mom Christy Waskiewicz. “It was an incredible experience for our family, not just for the girls.”
Pictured: Devon Waskiewicz
[Villa Duchesne and Oak Hill School offers a coed Catholic education in the Sacred Heart tradition for children ages three to sixth grade, and for young women in seventh to 12th grades. Located on a 60-acre campus in Frontenac, Villa’s graduating classes average 80 students, with 100 percent attending four-year colleges and universities. Pictured on the cover: Oak Hill students celebrate International Day of Peace by dedicating a peace pole on campus. For more information, visit vdoh.org or call 314.810.3566.]
