Cincinnati student volunteers
These Students Are BEYOUtiful
When you were beginning high school, was a reason for your being super excited for it to begin because it meant you could be involved with and surrounded by peers who value community service?
Jessica Mitsch and Grace Brecht, juniors at Mount Notre Dame High School in Cincinnati, were. Helping others, doing their part to make the world better, brighter for people outside their inner circle is what makes them smile. At such a young age, they have learned that all people – no matter their age, ability, mode of communication or mobility, culture, religion, ethnicity – have gifts to share. That ALL people have value and are worthy of being a friend. Philanthropy has already become a way of life. It has become a part of them that will always be there.
Jessica and Grace are co-chairs of MND’s BeYOUtiful Project, a partnership with The Children’s Home of Cincinnati where students from MND and high school students who have autism at The Children’s Home do service together.
I sat down with the girls to learn more about them and the impact of their involvement.
Lisa: How did you first get interested in community service?
Grace: In my grade school I was involved with an organization called Helping Hands as soon as it was formed. It was in my sixth-grade year at Sacred Heart in Fairfield. I became the organization’s vice president. We mostly focused on service in the Fairfield area like retirement homes, the Joe Nuxall Miracle Leagues, and also a boy who had a brain tumor. When he passed away, we created a memorial garden for him. We also did things around the school like a canned food drive.
In high school, I met a senior who inspired me and encouraged me to participate in youth community council and then opportunities branched off from there.
Jessica: Before high school I did a few service projects. In 8th grade, we went to Matthew 25 Ministries. Then through my church, I helped sew dolls for kids at the hospital.
One of the main drawing points for MND when I shadowed a student to learn about it, was how extensive their service learning is. And I could see myself growing with that and enjoying it. When I came here, I joined just about every service club and joined all of the freshman service days.
Lisa: What impact have you seen and felt from your community service?
Jessica: I hope that through my service I make an impact on others. Through the BeYOUtiful, I didn’t know people with autism before. Now I have become more understanding. I see them as they are the same as us. I’ve become less ignorant of the world.
Through Youth Philanthropy Council we did service at Winton Place Youth Center, an after-school program for elementary kids in the Spring Grove area. Most come from families below the poverty line. We went there and tutored students. It made me more accepting and less ignorant of people’s situations.
People have taught me that you can be an amazing person no matter what your situation is, and you can give back, no matter your situation.
Grace: I think just spreading joy to others and giving of yourself to other people really helps in general in their lives. You feel like you are serving along side them not just serving them, so you are equals. It has a big impact on people who are in need of service because they are not typically treated as equals. I feel like I bring that aspect to community service.
With the BeYOUtiful project, I have made a lot of friendships with the high school students at the Children’s Home. They have been a source of joy in my life and I am a source of joy in their lives. I just went there this weekend and I was talking to all of them. They know my name, and we just caught up on each other’s lives. They are just normal high schoolers.
I had been around a few people with autism but getting involved with BeYOUtiful was when I began understanding it. I think it doesn’t define who people are, it is just something they live with and something that makes them unique in the world.
Lisa: Tell me about a student who has touched your life.
Grace: There is a student there named Devon. For prom last year, he as not hanging out with anyone. He was alone. He asked me if I would take a photo with him, and I was like, ‘of course. That’d be so much fun.’ He took a picture strip and I took a picture strip. A year later, he came up to me and said, ‘You are the girl who took the pictures with me at the prom. I still have them in my room and look at them every day.’ Every time he sees me now, he fist bumps me. I feel like we are such great friends and I feel so happy that I made him happy.
Devon is interesting to talk to because he knows all about storms. That is his thing. He talks about all the hurricanes, and can list all the stats of the tornadoes that came through here the past five years. He is really kind to me. He never stops smiling and that is inspiring and beautiful. That is what a good friend should be.
Lisa: Please tell me more about the BeYOUtiful Project.
Jessica: It has been a project at MND, but not til last year it wasn’t very well known. I joined it my freshman year but there wasn’t any service that went with it. Last year, Grace was a leader and developed it. We teach the students with autism at The Children’s Home about issues in the community and how they can help, give them an equal opportunity to do service, and go to the prom with them. One of main parts is helping them develop social skills.
Grace: We also sometimes work on awareness projects about autism in Cincinnati. We may go to festivals and set up a booth. Now we are focusing on The Children’s Home and may develop it into broader program. There are about 70 MND students involved.
Lisa: How do you think this focus for you will impact the rest of your life?
Grace: I want to be a speech therapist and part of that job is to teach social skills and mechanics, things that kids with autism need help with. This confirmed that I want to work with people with autism when I get older. It has affected me because I feel like people don’t understand what autism is and don’t understand that when people have autism, that they are not any less capable than someone without it. It just means that maybe they are a little bit different and have different things that they are good at, but they are still incredibly intelligent and incredibly capable. And just as worthy as anyone else and worthy of love and acceptance.
Jessica: I am actually doing something similar to BeYOUtiful for my capstone senior project to exhibit leadership qualities. I am working for the Cincinnati Center for Autism, which is similar to Children’s Home. I am doing something for their summer campers.
We’ve been provided with such an opportunity at MND because not many school have such a strong community service department but we do. We’ve been given an opportunity to shine in that area so I think it is our responsibility to carry that on after high school and to college, the workforce and our family life.
Lisa: What do you tell other kids about why should help others?
Jessica: It does make you feel good but that should not be why you should be helping others. It should be so that you can make an impact on someone’s life and make that person smile and give that person a moment of joy in the day because we are so lucky to be given so much. And some aren’t.
Grace: I think a part of that is recognizing our privilege and using that so that we can help others. Life isn’t about us. Our purpose on this earth is to live for each other. If you just live for yourself, you are not really living. Helping others makes you feel good but gives others a chance to see your light and you to see their light. I think that is really important to see good in others, and the love that you share with them. Service is definitely a way to do that with people you otherwise wouldn’t interact with.
Magnified Giving Teaches Youth About Philanthropy
I am so fortunate that my public relations work allows me to help such truly special causes. Magnified Giving is among them. The nonprofit works with schools to teach young people about being educated philanthropists. I have been helping them with their recent year end awards events.
Below is more about them…
Magnified Giving Awards Event
They are from different neighborhoods diverse by ethnicity, cultures, religions and economic backgrounds. And for the past year, they were the more than 2500 students in groups from 50 regional schools who were given more than $1000 by Magnified Giving to extensively research, debate, discuss, and ultimately come to a decision on a worthy cause for whom to grant that money. Some also volunteered their time and even raised additional funds to give to organizations that speak to their hearts.
It was a process that taught students leadership and life skills, how to work together as a team toward a common goal, and how to be wise donors to causes important to them. Before filled auditoriums at four events, those students walked on stage to share their experiences and present checks that collectively totaled more than $75,000.
Ian Dollenmayer with Roger Grein of Magnified Giving
Ian Dollenmayer, a 2012 graduate of Covington Catholic High School and Magnified Giving alumni, shared his thoughts at one of the events.
“Looking at this program’s title, I believe it is that first word—“magnified”—that truly makes this experience unique. What are magnified are our perceptions, our knowledge, and ourselves. Discovering charities around this area requires us to exit our comfort zone, to journey beyond the conceptual academia of the classroom into the harsh pragmatics of the world around us. Outside the walls of our schools, we find a world that is plagued with problems, but we also are able to see working solutions. We see what it is that different organizations are trying to alleviate and how they are going about doing so.
Above all else, we meet people. Some are the ones afflicted by the ills of an imperfect world, while others are the ones trying to help. It is these meetings and relationships that have the capacity to fundamentally change us. We see in those around us a struggle to make ends meet and live healthy lives, and we in turn see those fighting to give those very things.
What I believe this ultimately gives us, at least what it has given me, is vision. We are among the fortunate, so it is our duty to use the advantages given to us to assist those who are in need. This vision allows us to see where our advantages can be used, where our fortune can be shared, where we can change someone’s world. This day, I challenge us all to use the lessons we have learned from the Magnified Giving program as we advance forward in our lives because no matter where we go, no matter what we become, these are the ideas that can carry our world to a better tomorrow. Be you a politician, a doctor, an accountant, a biologist, an engineer, an artist, or any one of a million different professions and vocations, the world will still need improvement. People will still need our help. It is here our mission begins, and it begins today.”
Roger Grein, founder and CEO of Magnified Giving, shared this note he received from one of the participating teachers – Heather Campbell, national board certified teacher at Butler Tech at Lakota East High School.
“I work with some kids who have been disengaged in school, have low self-esteem, have been sometimes marginalized by our education system, and are often times challenged by overwhelming circumstances. I am blessed to have the opportunity and support to teach these students in ‘my way’ through ‘my methods’.
Today as my students had a contentious, intense debate- on task for 1 ½ hours- I realized just what an important part Magnified Giving has played in their process of evolving, scholastically and on a personal level. I was outside of the room, but I could not help but hear them- they expressed their thoughts, their passions eloquently and respectfully. They called me in when they needed help in organizing their thoughts, but I merely listened and summarized what I heard. I did not put my two cents in. I have never seen this group- individually or together take something so seriously. EVERY one of them weighed in. EVERY one of them had definite thoughts and contributions to the discussion.
I assured them that they could not make a wrong decision. In the end, they felt the difficult bending that sometimes must come when a group cannot meet unanimity, but must come to consensus. I think they will volunteer for other organizations who did not receive their award. They know now that awareness is the first step, and that they can be messengers.
Most importantly, I feel that they truly were affected by this process and have become more evolved, more aware, kinder citizens of their community and their world. For this, I am truly grateful to you.”
If you believe in the cause of Magnified Giving, you can support their work with a monetary donation. Please visit http://www.MagnifiedGiving.org to learn more.
To view more photos from the Magnified Awards events, please click here.
