Spiritan Immersion Experience
In addition to an appetite to learn and grow, Holy Ghost Prep students need an up-to-date passport.
With Spiritan immersion travel opportunities to Ireland, Spain, Portugal, and the Dominican Republic during the school year, Ghost students don't have to wait until college to study abroad. With faculty moderators Tom Croskey and Terry Kudla, these students (pictured above) traveled to Dublin’s Blackrock College and other sights throughout Ireland, including Galway, Glendalough Park, and Wicklow Mountains in 2024. Their families then hosted Blackrock students here in the states a couple months later in this unique Spiritan exchange program.
And this Blackrock College Spiritan immersion trip is just one of a number of intriguing travel learning opportunities available to Ghost students.
Think Globally. Think Ghost.
Philadelphia Region
- Exploring Poverty in Philadelphia
- Brotherhood with the Poor at St. Francis Inn (Fall Trip)
- Brotherhood with the Poor at St. Francis Inn (Spring Trip)
- Philly Jawn: An Exploration of All Things in Philadelphia
- Feeding Those in the Northeast
- Walking with Those in Need in our Community
Exploring Poverty in Philadelphia
Lead Teacher: Mr. Goulet
Assistant Teachers: Mike Jacobs and Moira Hill
Cost: Free
Date of Courses: 3-4 days during the week of November 13 with meetings prior and tons of prep work beforehand AND various Saturday mornings in the Winter/Spring
Description: In partnership with Philabundance, the largest hunger relief organization in the Delaware Valley, students will explore the crisis of hunger in Philadelphia and beyond. Hunger is the most devastating symptom of poverty in Philadelphia, and students will explore ways to break this cycle. Students will run our Preston & Steve's Camp Out for Hunger collection, oversee a community-wide dress-down day, and prepare and deliver our donation to The Preston & Steve Show and Philabundance's Hunger Relief Center. Students will further spend hours volunteering at Philabundance in the Winter/Spring months. Also, students will reflect upon the true meaning of hunger and poverty in their own life experiences.
Forms
* Required
Brotherhood with the Poor at St. Francis Inn (Fall Trip)
Lead Teacher: Mr. Dembik
Cost: $50
Dates of Course: October 23-25, 2023
Description: Students will have the opportunity to work in the "soup kitchen" of St. Francis Inn in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia. Work will include stocking shelves, making deliveries, and helping to prepare and serve one to two meals a day. The students will also learn about the challenges that are faced by the urban poor and homeless and they will grapple with the potential ways to help a community such as Kensington. Students will live in one of the Inn's properties, prepare their own meals, and spend some time in the community. They will also help Christ in the City, another homeless outreach ministry, serve a meal in Center City.
Max enrollment: 8 students
Forms
* Required
Brotherhood with the Poor at St. Francis Inn (Spring Trip)
Lead Teacher: Mr. Geruson
Cost: $50
Dates of Course: March 3-5, 2024
Description: Students will have the opportunity to work in the "soup kitchen" of St. Francis Inn in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia. Work will include stocking shelves, making deliveries, and helping to prepare and serve one to two meals a day. The students will also learn about the challenges that are faced by the urban poor and homeless and they will grapple with the potential ways to help a community such as Kensington. Students will live in one of the Inn's properties, prepare their own meals, and spend some time in the community.
Max enrollment: 8 students
Forms
* Required
Philly Jawn: An Exploration of All Things in Philadelphia
Lead Teacher: Mr. Jordan
Assistant Teachers: Mrs. Carmine, Mr. Foley, Dr. Scanlon, Mr. Seminack
Cost: $200
Dates of Course: Wed 11/29/23, Wed 4/11/24, and one date TBD
Description: Explore Philadelphia in all of its diversity on three weekday trips into the city. Prior trips included experiences in some of the areas and places that follow: the arts (a play at the Arden theater); service projects for the needy (making meals for the homebound with MANNA); social justice (a walking audio tour of Eastern State Penitentiary); food and culture (trips to restaurants and shops at Reading Terminal Market, along Baltimore Avenue, and in Fishtown); and parks and nature (a tour of Bartram’s Garden). Through these trips, we hope that students will gain a greater appreciation of Philadelphia, both the opportunities it offers and the challenges it faces.
Max enrollment: 25 students
Forms
* Required
Feeding Those in the Northeast
Lead Teacher: TBA
Cost: $40
Dates of Course: Second Semester TBA
Description: Students will learn about the Caring For Friends, Jewish Relief Agency and other organizations in the northeast who help feed those in need in the community. This experience will include building culinary skills as the students will prepare meals for members of the community and will volunteer at the Northeast warehouse locations for each organization.
Max enrollment: 18 students
Forms
* Required
Walking with Those in Need in our Community
Lead Teacher: Mr. Whartenby
Number of students: Only offered if unresolved conflicts exist.
Estimated Cost Per Student: Free
Dates of Proposed Experience: Times to be arranged by students prior to May 1, 2024
Total hours: 40 hours
Educational Objective: This experience will provide students with an in-depth look at the workings of a local service agency for the purpose of acclimating the student to the community’s needs and solutions currently in practice. Students will have the opportunity to reflect upon the compatibility between their unique gifts and the needs of the agency/type of work required and thus discern a bit whether such work might be part of future efforts to which God might be calling them. The thirty hours of service will enable students to live out HGP’s mission of “generous service to the poor” and will complement the learning students have done/will do as members of a Social Justice class during junior year.
Out of Philadelphia
- Building Community in West Virginia
- Duquesne University Leadership Academy (DULA)
- Finding Your Dream in Pittsburgh
- Community Outreach and the College Student
- Art and Music Spiritan Immersion
- Enkindling the Vision of the American Dream
- French West African and Caribbean Culture in Harlem
Building Community in West Virginia
Lead Teacher: Mr. Fitzpatrick
Assistant Teacher: Dr. Pitts
Cost: $375
Date of Course: March 26-30, 2024, with 3 after school meetings before the trip
Description: Students will have the opportunity to see and learn first-hand about the challenges of living in Appalachia, thus bringing the "face of rural poverty in the US" into light. Students will be able to work with their own hands to help make the homes of 1-2 families safer, healthier, and warmer and learn how time, weather, and low-incomes combine to make home maintenance a challenge. Students will reflect on how venturing to remote areas of the US to assist those often overlooked embodies core principles of the Spiritan Rule of Life. Returning participants will study leadership theories and principles prior to the trip and then have the opportunity to practice the principles and skills by serving as work coaches and team "leads" for cooking, shopping, cleaning, and community building/prayer.
Max enrollment: 8 students
Forms
* Required
Duquesne University Leadership Academy (DULA)
Lead Teacher: Mr. Hoelzle
Cost: $350
Dates of Course: March 14 to 17, 2024
Description: The Duquesne University Leadership Academy (DULA) is a program for high school students to engage in challenging dialogue, motivating workshops and training, and community-engaged and social activities designed to enhance academic learning, personal development, faith development, leadership skills, and civic identity development. DULA seeks to foster engaging with the local community, growing in our faith, building servant leaders, and building community with one another. Additionally, participants will begin to develop the skill set necessary to constructively engage with diverse stakeholders in order to collaboratively achieve realistic resolutions to community problems; to assess their leadership style and craft a plan to recognize themselves as future change agents within their communities and the world; and to nurture the promotion of a holistic and systematic approach to peace and justice in our world.
Max enrollment: 10 students
Forms
* Required
Finding Your Dream in Pittsburgh
Lead Teacher: TBD
Cost: $350
Dates of Course: January 3-5 with three meetings prior to experience
Description: In partnership with the Pittsburgh Penguins foundations, students will explore how to use their passion for sports to help understand and build relationships with marginalized students. Students will also learn how professional sports teams use their influence to lift up communities in need. This is an interactive experience which allows for hands-on learning in a professional setting.
Max enrollment: 12 students (not including the varsity ice hockey players)
Forms
* Required
Community Outreach and the College Student
Lead Teachers: Mrs. Opdyke and Ms. Dougherty
Cost: 35 students: $650.00 44 students: $525.00 (Seniors can attend this trip)
Date of Course: November 8 - 10, 2023
Description: To provide a 3 day college tour of their campuses that will also include presentations from Campus Ministry, Newman Centers, and Centers for Faith and Social Justice on their campuses. Students will learn about the needs of the communities surrounding these outstanding universities and how the colleges’ students contribute to improving conditions. The midwest is a “best kept secret” of excellent colleges and universities, and this will give our juniors and sophomores a jumpstart on college visits! We will visit: Denison University, Granville, OH, University of Dayton, Dayton, OH, Xavier University, Cincinnati, OH, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh PA.
Max Enrollment: 44
Forms
* Required
Art and Music Spiritan Immersion
Lead Teacher: Mr. Gabriele
Assistant Teacher(s): Mr. Hallahan, Mr. Coia
Cost: TBA
Dates of Course: Three days - One day trip to NYC in early November, one day of service in January or February and one day of service in April. There will be additional time requirements to prepare for each of the three days.
Outline Estimated Time (minimum of 40 hours): 11/9/23: 7AM-7PM Bus trip to NYC to tour museums. May 2, 2024 8AM-8PM - Organize, host and participate in the Fine Art Festival.
Description:
Estimated Cost Per Student: TBA
Max Enrollment: 30
Enkindling the Vision of the American Dream
Lead Teacher: Dr. Saxton
Assistant Teacher(s): TBD
Cost: Less than $500
Dates of Course: TBA
Description: Students will explore the origins of our country, most notably the construction of our Constitution. Through this exploration, students will gain an appreciation and understanding of how our forefathers designed our society. This exploration will take place in the city of Philadelphia. Following that exploration, students will learn about the current social challenges that we face and how our government could and should create policies to address these issues, while acting in accord with the Constitution. This exploration will take place in Washington, DC. Students will select a current challenge and write a government policy on how to address this challenge. As a Spiritan community, it is important to learn more about the communities in which you need to serve before you act in service. This experience is intended to inform students about our nation so as future leaders they are better prepared to meet those on the margins.
Estimated Cost Per Student: TBA
Max Enrollment: 26
French West African and Caribbean Culture in Harlem
Lead Teachers: Fr. Dan Sormani
Cost: $100
Dates of Course: March 22 to March 24, 2024
Description: Students will meet and interact with the Francophone community from Africa and Haiti of Saint Mark’s Parish, Harlem, New York City to learn about their culture, share traditional meals and communicate in French. They will also meet the African-American parishoners of this, the oldest Black Catholic Parish in New York City. The students will stay in the Spiritan rectory with the Spritian pastor from The Democratic Republic of the Congo. Dinners will be prepared by different francophone families who will stay with us and share about their culture and life. Students will be immersed in the Francophone African and African-American community through this experience.
Max enrollment: 8 (preference given to Juniors in their 3rd year of French)
Forms
* Required
International
- Spiritan Exchange Program with Blackrock College in Dublin, Ireland
- Italy
- Esperanza (Dominican Republic)
Spiritan Exchange Program with Blackrock College in Dublin, Ireland
Lead Teacher: Mr. Croskey
Cost: $2,850
Dates of Course: February 16-24, 2024 and March 22-30, 2024
Description: Students are paired with Blackrock College students. Together they attend classes at each school, participate in Spiritan programming, tour historical and cultural sites, and enjoy sports and entertainment. Each student stays in the home of his partner when we are in Dublin (February 17-24) and then hosts that student when the partner is in the U.S. (March 22-30, Holy Week).
Max enrollment: 18
Forms
* Required
Italy
Lead Teacher: Mr. Burke
Cost: $4,500
Dates of Course: December/January
Description: Yes, we are leaving in the evening on Christmas day. This is for two reasons: less expensive airline tickets and December 26 is a national holiday in Rome which makes for a much easier "adventure" to get into Rome. We will be in Rome for 4 nights & Sorrento for 5 nights. This experience will explore the history, art, and Catholic identity of Italy. We will visit the Spiritan headquarters in Rome too! The cost includes: airline tickets, hotel accommodations, transportation, all tours including Vatican Museum, SCAVI & Pompeii, all breakfasts, 1 group lunch in Amalfi, and 4 group dinners (includes New Year's Cappadonna Feast).
Max enrollment: 25 students
Forms
* Required
Esperanza (Dominican Republic)
Lead Teacher: Mr. Perez
Cost: $2,200
Dates of Course: June TBA
Description: Esperanza Dominican Republic Mission Trip working with the Spiritans in San Juan de la Maguana working and living with the community. Students will plan, prepare, and facilitate a sports camp in the morning and activities in the evening for school children.
Max enrollment: 26
Forms
* Required