Brigette Comeau of Bedford spent her winter vacation from Saint Michael’s College on Jan. 3 to 10, volunteer teaching and working with youngsters in two inner-city middle schools in Buffalo, N.Y.
Comeau, a senior education and religious studies double major, graduated from Trinity High School before coming to Saint Michael’s, a residential liberal arts Catholic college located in the Burlington area of Vermont.
She is the daughter of Louis and Catherine Comeau of Bedford.
“We know that we made some lasting impact on the girls and the school,” said Comeau, a co-leader of the trip. “They even asked us to come back this summer to help with a summer camp.”
The trip was part of the Saint Michael’s College MOVE, Mobilization of Volunteer Efforts, Edmundite Campus Ministry extended service program, which sent groups of students over winter break to five sites: Best Friends Animal Society in Utah, Immokalee Friendship House in Florida, Big Thicket Preserve in Texas, and Habitat for Humanity in Louisiana, and Buffalo.
“We tutored the middle schoolers, taught classes, cheered them on in basketball games, ate lunch with them, helped them with homework. We were really involved,” said George Ashline, professor of mathematics at Saint Michael’s, who accompanied the students.
The work in Buffalo was at the middle schools, Saint Monica Scholars Program for Young Women and Saint Augustine Scholars Program for Young Men, focused on youngsters in grades 5 through 8.
“The trip was an amazing experience,” Comeau said.” We made great personal connections with girls at the school.
We helped build a library, organize kitchens and closets in the school, and taught in some of the classrooms. The most memorable activity was a project helping the students write poems about violence in their lives and how to make the world they live in more peaceful.”
Saint Monica and Saint
Augustine schools are modeled after the Jesuit-based Nativity Network and offer students who cannot afford a private education an extended school day, week, and year to keep them focused on education and off the streets. The Saint Michael’s group worked with 23 Saint Monica Scholars and 56 Saint Augustine Scholars who were African-American and African refugees, immigrants, and new Americans.
During the week, the Saint Michael’s group lived at the Franciscan House at St. Lawrence, a former convent. They served the parish by painting the dining room and kitchen during their stay.