Marie Ginther with her husband, Ray, in 2012. PHOTO COURTESY OF RAY GINTHER
volunteers to social service ministries to help women and children affected by poverty, violence, and neglect in the US and abroad. She served on the board for HaitiChildren (formerly Mercy & Sharing), which provides healing, education, and hope to Haiti’s most vulner- able people. Marie and Ray made several trips to Haiti to see the re- sults of the organization’s projects, and Ray continues to serve on the HaitiChildren board. Marie and Ray also traveled with Fix It Friends, a group that takes on annual projects. Marie participated in several projects, including repairing apart-
ments of single mothers in the Cairo slums, fixing up a school in Laos, and building a playground in Haiti. Ray is still involved and will be heading to Zambia with the group in January. Ray believes that traveling intensified his and Marie’s desire to
serve others. “When you travel, you see so much need. And you real- ize that you can’t fix the world, but you can fix a small part.” In 2010, Marie received Loyola’s prestigious Damen Award for
her leadership and service. She is now being honored again, as her husband has gifted $250,000 for the establishment of the Marie M. Ginther Endowed Scholarship at the SCPS. Loyola will match the endowment to create a $500,000 scholarship. Ray says he and Marie know how difficult it can be to manage a
job while struggling to get an education one or two classes at a time. It takes persistence and dedication, and it can be a financial chal- lenge. But the SCPS makes it possible for students who are taking care of other responsibilities to complete their education. “We would like to take some hardship away and help people real-
ize their dream, because we realized our dream,” he says. “I’m proud of Marie, and I hope her story can inspire others. Loyola is a special place. This kind of thing is possible.” Ray and Marie celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary in
November. They were married Thanksgiving Day, which seems appropriate, given the gratitude that Ray expresses for his wife and their journey together. He says he wouldn’t change a thing. “It wasn’t that we set out to live an interesting life. It’s that we made ourselves available to let it happen.” L
THE FUTURE STARTS HERE
One passionate principal believes it’s never too early to start preparing for college / BY SCOTT ALESSI
The halls of Tindley Renaissance Academy beam with college pride. Pennants representing colleges around the country hang from the ceiling of the urban Indianapolis school, and each classroom bears the name of a prestigious university. A large sign greets the students—or young scholars, as Tindley calls them—each day with a reminder of the school’s motto: “College starts here.” Nearly every aspect of the school day is focused on college preparation—even though the students are still in elementary school. Tindley Principal Clarisse Mendoza (JFRC Spring ’05, BA ’06)
acknowledges this college-centered mission is unusual for a school that only includes kindergarten through fourth grade. But a decade working in urban education, both in the classroom and at a district level, has shown Mendoza that more traditional structures aren’t succeeding when it comes to preparing students from underserved communities for higher education. She recalls working as a high school English teacher in Washington, DC and encountering students who weren’t even able to read by the time they reached ninth grade. “I would always wonder, how did it get so bad? How did these
young people keep getting passed from grade to grade without really having mastered these foundational skills?” What she found is that earlier grade levels lacked a focus on college preparation. “If we really are going to ensure that our scholars someday walk across that stage not just with their high school diploma but with their college degree,” Mendoza says, “we have to ensure that they have the stron- gest start to school possible.” At Tindley, that means providing students with a rigorous cur-
riculum, emphasizing goal setting, and helping students envision themselves one day being in college by developing what they call a collegiate scholar identity.
20 LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48