Click the link below to read a recap of our April activities, a note from our Executive Director, a list of college acceptances for our seniors and more!
Shepherds Community Newsletter
Category Archives: Category: Alumni
Jessica R. (center) in a brief relaxed moment out of a stressful day on the COVID-19 floor with her PPE protected colleagues. Jessica received her nursing degree from Fairfield University in 2018. Shepherds is proud of Jessica’s hard work which is now providing relief to her community.
Thank you to Jessica and our many Shepherds alumni and supporters who work in health care and other essential services!
As we consider Jessica’s success, Shepherds realizes there are many other economically and academically-challenged students out there we want to help. Financial support and mentors are the two critical factors for Shepherds to be able to support students like Jessica. Won’t you help us today by considering being a mentor for a freshman this fall or making a donation today?
To find out more about Shepherds, contact Executive Director Dan McAuliffe at info@shepherdsmentors.org or 203-367- 4273. With your support, Shepherds can provide that same helping hand to more students.
Recently a Shepherds and Kolbe Cathedral High School alumnus reached out to his mentor, Brian O’Connor. Isaiah Smith graduated from KCHS in 2003 and furthered his education at Johnson and Wales University in Providence, RI. He graduated with a BS in Electrical Engineering.
Shepherds and Brian O’Connor were excited to hear of Isaiah’s success. Currently, he along with his wife and two beautiful daughters live in Manchester, CT. Isaiah works at Koh Young America, Inc as a Regional Sales Manager.
Mentoring a student through the Shepherds program pays big social dividends to both the student and mentor. “Shepherds provided the opportunity for a private college preparatory education and a mentor to guide Isaiah. He made great use of the resources we gave him. Isaiah’s success is a great example how education is the gift that keeps on giving,” claimed Executive Director Dan McAuliffe. “Isaiah’s education and Shepherds experience have not only been a great benefit to him directly, but to his wife and children as well.”
Mentor Brian O’Connor was touched when Isaiah reached out to him, “I often wondered where Isaiah was and how his life turned out. It was a beautiful note and heartwarming to know he completed college, has a good job, and is happily married with a loving family,” stated mentor Brian O’Connor.
When asked about the impact that his mentor had on him, Isaiah responded “I truly believe my mentor Brian’s contribution to my high school education played a role in my success in life. I cannot thank him enough.”
Mentor Brian O’Connor changed a life. You can too! Why not consider become a Shepherds mentor this year? Shepherds is seeking mentors for the incoming Shepherds freshman class at both Kolbe Cathedral High School and Notre Dame West Haven. To find out more about the Shepherds program, contact Dan McAuliffe at info@shepherdsmentors.org or call 203-367-4273. www.shepherdsmentors.org
Shepherds enjoyed hearing from a student alumnus at Shepherds Notre Dame Mentor Appreciation Night. Notre Dame West Haven ’14 alum, Jeenn Barreiro embraced the lessons he learned during his time as a Shepherds student at NDWHS.
After high school, he continued his education at College of the Holy Cross, graduating in 2018. Jeenn currently works at Brigham and Women’s Hospital as a researcher and plans on attending graduate school in the fall.
While his academic and work successes make Shepherds proud, his impact on his community in Boston brings the lessons learned at Shepherds and NDWH full-circle. At our Mentor Appreciation Night, he spoke about how he is now a mentor himself. Jeenn mentoring and coaching a soccer team of refugees, undocumented and socio-economically challenged youths.
From The New Haven Register
By Eric Anderson Updated 11:28 am EST, Friday, November 23, 2018
STUYVESANT, New York – It was a close call for hundreds of holiday travelers aboard an Amtrak train on Thanksgiving Eve when two of the passenger cars separated from the rest of the train.
The cars had just been attached at the Albany-Rensselaer station to provide more seating for the packed Adirondack, which had originated in Montreal and was heading south to Penn Station in New York City.
A quick-thinking Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute student, freshman Reuben Clarke, of West Haven, Conn., was credited with pulling the emergency brake at the front of the car.
“The car from the back of the train was like leaving us, and I saw sparks and stuff like that and a huge gust of wind,” Clarke, an offensive lineman on the RPI football team and 2018 graduate of Notre Dame High School in West Haven, told CBS 6 News in Albany. “So I just calmed myself down, and I was like, we have to stop the train and make sure everyone was fine.”
The train was carrying 287 passengers and crew when the incident occurred. No injuries were reported, the cars didn’t derail, and passengers were transferred to a new train to continue their trip, state police said. The Adirondack had just left the Albany-Rensselaer station when the cars decoupled about 7:22 p.m.
Trains on that section of track can travel up to 110 mph. It’s not clear how fast this train was traveling when the cars separated.
Clarke “saved our lives tonight,” Helen Mark Crane told CNN. “Our car broke off from the rest of the train and was picking up speed. There was no Amtrak personnel in our car. Reuben calmly went into action and pulled the emergency brake at the front of the car. Thankful he was on the train with my son and I.”
Amtrak spokesman Jason Abrams said the railroad is investigating the cause of the separation.
One transportation source said the cars, which he believed were added at the Rensselaer station, should have stopped automatically when they separated. But if they had been improperly connected, the automatic braking might not have worked.
The incident occurred on one of the busiest travel days for Amtrak. The Adirondack was delayed about 3 hours and 15 minutes, Amtrak tweeted, and the northbound Empire Service Train 245’s departure also was delayed because of the late arrival of the crew from the Adirondack.
Read the original article at https://www.nhregister.com/business/article/Amtrak-probes-what-caused-passengers-cars-to-13416229.php?utm_campaign=fb-tablet&utm_source=CMS+Sharing+Button&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR3hYLAVwUFgBSpCaymFIS4xdnN_KCMXTniy5f2J2MvN00PJ8bJ6vs7zpY8#photo-16545701
Community Service has always been an important part of student life at both Kolbe Cathedral and Notre Dame High Schools. In the mid 2000’s students from Kolbe participated in NEA’s Read Across America Day – a nationwide reading celebration that takes place annually on March 2—Dr. Seuss’s birthday. Across the country, thousands of schools, libraries, and community centers participated by bringing together kids, teens, and books. Pictured is Kolbe alum Sarah Witkowski donning the signature hat for the cause.
Current Kolbe students are still required to perform community service and oftentimes mentors help students connect to volunteer opportunities that fulfill their requirements. Students enrolled at Kolbe now are expected to participate in the following:
•Freshmen – two group community service projects
•Sophomores – 10 hours of community service in & out of school
•Juniors – 30 hours of community service outside of school
•Seniors – 20 hours of community service outside of the school
Are you a graduate of Shepherds mentoring program at any of our past or current partner schools and have photos or a story to share? We’d love to hear from you! Contact Amy Chickles, Director of Programming at achickles@shepherdsmentors.org.
