CEHD News

Catholic Enrichment Center and Camp Inspire

The partnership with the Catholic Enrichment Center was formalized in 2006 when the University formed the Signature Partnership Initiative, an effort to enhance the quality of life and economic opportunity for residents of West Louisville. Since then CEHD teacher candidates and professors have been working with the Camp Africa Inspire Summer program which is based at the Enrichment Center.

The Camp Africa Inspire program is led by Sister Patsy Guyton at the Office of Multicultural Ministry Catholic Enrichment Center (OMMCEC). The program has proven to be a win-win situation for the students at Camp Africa and CEHD teacher candidates and has provided valuable learning opportunities for everyone.

“The CEHD teacher candidates … added such richness to the experience of multicultural interaction and learning. Many teacher candidates went above and beyond the requirements of the course and brought their own equipment and supplies, creatively produced projects like music videos and camp theme songs, and constructed fun and interactive games for PE,” said Sister Patsy.

The relationships that were established during Camp Africa Inspire are deep, genuine, and hard to measure, but Sarah Pierce, one of the teacher candidates, summed it up very well. “My hope for the small amount of time I was with them was to… encourage their individuality, show my interest in them, and have a little bit of fun learning together.”

Salvation Army, Cabbage Patch Settlement and more…

Advanced CEHD teacher candidates worked with children who were enrolled in the summer program at the Salvation Army, and at the Cabbage Patch settlement.
“The teacher candidates came motivated and ready to accomplish great things through the program. The candidates volunteered extra time and the best compliments came from the kids—they wanted to know when they were coming back. They talked so much about how much they learned and the fun they had,” stated Rod Napier, director of Cabbage Patch.

MAT teacher candidates new to the program will have the opportunity to complete a tutoring project through several other community partners including Plymouth Renewal Center, Portland Promise Center, Boy’s Haven and Audubon Youth Development Center.

Special Note: Thanks to Betty Doyle, J. Scott Spinetto and Danna Morrison for their contributions to this article.