. . . The Gift of a Dream

Something was missing.

Sister Marie Smith, SNDdeN, could see it in their eyes. 

‘What do you want to be one day?’ she would ask, and they couldn’t answer.

‘What do you hope for, what’s your dream?’ And they couldn’t answer that either.

If you’re holding this letter, you are in some way connected with Notre Dame. And if you are connected with Notre Dame as a former student, the parent of a student, or as a friend of our Sisters, you, like us, have lived in the world of the dreaming. As a student, you were filled with what one day you might be; as a parent, you were filled with the dream of your child living up to his or her potential; as a friend in our common faith, you have known what it is to dream for the success and happiness of others.

But the children of inner-city Corryville Catholic Elementary, they were not from this same world of possibility.

This was in Cincinnati, and Sister Marie was their principal.

Despite eight years of Catholic education, despite a committed faculty, despite support from the Sisters, the Archdiocese and government programs, Sister Marie’s students could still not imagine a better day. They could not imagine being in control of their own futures.

To be fair, perhaps this was understandable. In the neighborhoods of their formative years, in their families, among friends, there often wasn’t this thing called hope. If it did exist, it was more in the moment than in the future, as in hoping to avoid junkies looking for a handout, or dealers peddling poison, or gang members threatening violence.

For their parents, hope meant making rent, keeping the water on, and putting food on the table. But even in the struggle, many still believed that Corryville Catholic could change the course of their children’s lives.

Most of these children had not experienced other people who dreamt of better circumstances, or who pursued aspirations. They were strictly in the day-to-day. And so, any question alluding to the future, any question such as ‘What do you want to be?’, was simply out of their frame of reference.

Sister Marie was an educator, and as with so many of her Sisters in their various professions – law, nursing, medical research, social services to name a few, the Ohio Province gave her the latitude and the support to address the problems she was best trained to confront – in this case, children who had lost that God-given inclination to dream.

So Sister Marie did what Sisters of Notre Dame have done for generations, she responded and established Choices for Children. This was a program that would teach children that if they worked hard and dared to think of a better future, options and opportunities would open before them. And it would do this in part by introducing into their lives people who had succeeded in dreaming, had succeeded in pursuing those dreams, and who had succeeded – at last – in making those dreams reality.

These would be individuals not visiting for one-off presentations, but mentors volunteering their time week after week into years, and who would stick with Corryville students even after they graduated. They included pilots, lawyers, doctors, business people and on and on. They would advise, accompany, bolster and through their example symbolize possibility.

Mentors, however, were only a part of the solution. Parents had to be part of it, too, parents who in many cases had little schooling themselves and little knowledge of how to propel their children forward. It was one thing for their children to dream; another thing entirely for that dream to be put into motion. Corryville Catholic ended after the eighth grade. For the dream to live on, quality education had to continue.

For this, Sister Marie’s Choices for Children hired a director. This was not to be a side-job for a teacher or school administrator, but a job for someone who’s sole responsibility was mapping a way, step by step, for a student’s dream. This meant coordinating the professional mentors, it meant establishing a buddy program matching middle-class high school students with Corryville students, and it meant working closely with parents and Catholic high schools, helping them to complete the daunting paperwork for scholarships and admissions, and lobbying the schools to offer even greater opportunities for children from families of limited means. 

Corryville Catholic could not afford a full-time director. But thanks to the generosity of our friends, the Sisters could—and did. In support of Sister Marie, and true to their mission of educating those on the margins, the Ohio Province committed to funding the director’s position and sustaining Choices for Children—not just with their blessings, but with resources made possible by your support.

Sister Marie is gone now, having passed earlier this year, but Choices for Children lives on. Over 80 percent of Corryville Catholic students now matriculate to selective, mostly Catholic high schools. With them, they have earned over $7 million in scholarships towards their tuition.

With the support of her Sisters, Sister Marie transformed a generation of students entrusted to her care. Coming in, their future went barely as far as the street corner; coming out, it had no bounds.

Now we are at the beginning of yet another school year – another opportunity for new enlightenment, new relationships, new dreams. It can be such an exciting time. That’s the way Sister Marie saw it, and that’s the way so many of our Sisters see it as well. In some places there are barriers, but those barriers – whether in Cincinnati, Phoenix, Nigeria or Brazil – can be brought down. The life work of Sister Marie is proof of that.

Please give as you can to this ongoing ministry of education. Let’s together open the doors for others to dream.

Sincerely,