Peoria Notre Dame’s Winterim program opened eyes – and doors
Nancy Machens of the Gems of the Prairie (left) looks on as Grace Yontz, Christian Pag-Ong, and Samantha Baker (left-right) press their seams as part of their Winterim quilting class at Peoria Notre Dame High School. (Sister Jude Andrew Link, O.P./PND)
Peoria Notre Dame High School (PND) introduced an answer to the post-holiday doldrums this year.
As part of the transition to semesters, PND launched Winterim for the first two weeks of January (Jan. 6 – 17). The new program involved onsite classes and offsite internships.
Non-traditional immersive classes were offered in activities such as rock climbing, podcasting, chisenbop (a method of counting on your fingers that can involve very high numbers), pickleball, the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius, the Model United Nations – and quilting.
INSPIRATION MEETS OPPORTUNITY
Sister Jude Andrew Link, O.P., who teaches theology at PND, described how her quilting class came together. “My mother taught me how to quilt when I was a kid,” she said, and added, “I wondered if I could teach a quilting class.”
It has been very rewarding to work with students.” – Pam Knollenberg, Gems of the Prairie Quilters
However, she had no supplies and little budget. That’s when she met a woman in a quilt store who connected her with the Gems of the Prairie Quilters.
“Soon the Gems were on board, more than on board. They offered to donate anything and everything we needed,” said Sister Jude Andrew.
RAIL FENCE QUILTS AND POTHOLDERS
The students – 12 girls and 6 boys – worked with the Gems to create a 36-inch-by-36-inch rail fence quilt (a stacked rectangle pattern named after the wooden rail fences used on farms), to be donated to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at OSF HealthCare Children’s Hospital of Illinois in Peoria.
Sydney Stickelmaier (left) and Katelyn Miller (right) are all smiles as they hold their quilt top. (Sister Jude Andrew Link, O.P./PND)
They also made individualized quilt square potholders for themselves and to give away.
Gems of the Prairie representative Pam Knollenberg commented, “It has been very rewarding to work with students . . . . This project is a bright light for the Gems, in not only contributing our time to the community, but also teaching the next generation of quilters.”
CAREER AND FAITH DEVELOPMENT
Winterim also featured eight local offsite internships for seniors at locations such as the OSF HealthCare Saint Francis Medical Center, Illinois Cancer Care, Caterpillar, and the Peoria County and Tazewell County courthouses.
We want to invest in their development . . . but they’re also investing in us by adding value to the greater mission that our Lord has given us.” – Hayley Adolphson, diocesan HR director, on student interns
One of the internships was with the Office of Archives and Records for the Diocese of Peoria.
PND senior Gabe Jockisch worked under the direction of archivist Sister Lea Stefancova, FSJB. Jockisch’s task was to help organize the archival blueprints of churches, rectories and assorted facilities from parishes across the diocese.
Jockisch said the mentoring aspect of the Winterim internship program was also important to him. While working out of the diocesan offices at the Spalding Pastoral Center in Peoria, he had the opportunity to meet with Hayley Adolphson, director of human resources for the Diocese of Peoria, about his interest in the HR field.
Peoria Notre Dame senior and Diocese of Peoria intern Gabe Jockisch stands among the blueprints of churches, rectories and other parish facilities from across the diocese that he helped to organize. (Julie Santen/PND)
“She told me what classes I needed to take for college,” he said. As well, he was appreciative of the whole internship experience. “I can put this on my resume – it’s a really nice opportunity that I was given.”
Adolphson is preparing a recruitment strategy for the Diocese of Peoria, and solicited Jockisch’s feedback as a young Catholic who will be entering the workforce in the not-too-distant-future.
‘I WAS PART OF THAT’
“He gave us feedback on social media platforms, and other ways to reach talent,” she said.
“I hope that after his internship, when he sees our recruiting campaign out there, he can . . . say, ‘I was part of that.’”
Adolphson described internships as “an investment both ways – we want to invest in their development professionally, and their faith formation – but they’re also investing in us by adding value to the greater mission that our Lord has given us.”
PND senior and intern Gabe Jockisch stands with Sister Lea Stefancova, FSJB, beside a statue of Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. Sister Lea serves as diocesan archivist and vice postulator of Sheen’s cause for beatification and canonization. (Julie Santen/ PND)
