Lasallian work in CAS

NEW ORLEANS - April 7-13, 2018

Eight members of the DLS IB class of 2019 spent April 7-13 in New Orleans helping SBP rebuild a home destroyed by the February 2017 tornados in New Orleans East. SBPs goal is to shrink the time between disaster and recovery, and was founded after Hurricane Katrina.

Over the course of the week, the students became EXPERTS at mudding and sanding drywall! They now know how to mud, sand, float, and skim!

When the students weren’t helping with the house, they got to experience the culture around New Orleans. Students visited the World War II Museum, the Living Ninth Ward Museum which tells the story of the Ninth Ward pre- and post-Katrina, and experienced the French Quarter Festival which featured innumerable artists and musicians. The group also took a ghost tour in the French Quarter, and a tour of a swamp. On the tour, students saw alligators, a racoon and wild boars!

On their down time, students socialized and got to know each other better. They spent time together at the house taking advantage of the beautiful weather playing football, baking King Cake, playing Spoons, and swimming.

MONTANA - September 2017

SUMMER IN THE CITY - Summer of 2017

This summer, the IB Classes of 2018 and 2019 spent time volunteering for Summer in the City (SITC). SITCs mission is to improve and expand community service in Metro Detroit through the Three Ps - Paint, Plant, and Play — creating murals, building and maintaining urban gardens, and running youth enrichment programs. By bringing young people together to invest their energy in Detroit, SITC aims to address the immediate needs of city neighborhoods and foster a regional mindset.

Last summer, an average of 200 volunteers per day contributed their time and energy to projects throughout Detroit. Since Summer in the City began, over 5500 volunteers have performed 175,000 hours of high-impact community service.

DLS students spent time: running, jumping and playing with kids at day camp at the Northwest Activity Center; putting the final touches on a hoop house and community garden on Clark Street in Southwest Detroit; playing and crafting at Clark Park in Southwest Detroit; cleaning up the canals of Belle Isle while in a kayak; getting their "History on" with kids at Greenfield Village; gardening with Keep Growing Detroit.

NEW ORLEANS - April 2-7, 2017

Nine members of the DLS IB class of 2018 spent April 2-7 in New Orleans helping Mr. Theo Watson. When Hurricane Katrina hit, the Watson family home was lifted off the ground and moved across the street. Mr. Watson lived in New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina, and he desired to return to the city and the street on which he and his four brothers were raised. Mr. Watson tried to rebuild his home, but unfortunately, after months of construction, he was no longer able to afford the rebuilding effort.

Mr. Watson reached out to the SBP (St. Bernard Project) for help. SBPs goal is to shrink the time between disaster and recovery, and was founded in 2006 after Zack Rosenburg and Liz McCartney volunteered in St. Bernard Parish which was rendered 100% uninhabitable after Katrina.

Over the course of the week at Mr. Watsons home, students measured and cut pieces of siding, put the siding on the house, caulked the siding, primed the wood for the porch, and painted the entire exterior of the home. One of the most exciting parts of the project was that students were trusted to use power tools. Students who cut siding used a power saw. Students put up the siding used a nail gun to place the pieces of siding on the house. Students also used a nail gun to attach hurricane braces under the house. Students used their strength to dig a hole in front of Mr. Watson’s house as a foundation for the porch steps.

Twice, over the course of the week, Mr. Watson visited the house and spoke with students. Mr. Watson stated that the difference between a house and a home was that a house was something physical, while a home is any place you feel welcome.

When the students weren’t helping with Mr. Watson’s house, they got to experience the culture around New Orleans. Students experienced the French Quarter Jazz Festival which was a time of great music and great artwork. Students were able to see the culture around New Orleans and how it differed from their cultures back at home. The group also took a ghost tour in the French Quarter, and a tour of the swamp in Jean Laffite Parish. On the tour, students saw a wide abundance of alligators, and each student was able to hold an alligator. Our tour guide also explained the basic biological functions of an alligator.

On their down time, students just took the time to socialize and get to know each other better. They spent time together at the house taking advantage of the beautiful weather, playing basketball and football, and swimming. When the weather wasn’t so fantastic, students took their talents indoors and played billiards and cards.

UPDATE! The very last picture below is Mrs. Howay and Mr. Cusumano in front of Mr. Watson's FINISHED house! The picture was taken during the Class of 2019s trip to NOLA!

MARCH 24, 2017

This past Friday (March 24), the De La Salle IB Juniors visited Davison Middle School in Hamtramck to facilitate an enrichment activity with the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students. Our IB guys partnered with a group of 18 Michigan State University Students to help the middle school students complete an activity about their futures, and what will be needed in order to ensure a bright future. The DLS and MSU students lead small groups of between 4-6 students to create a poster board with everything that they would need to do and know in order to pursue a career of their choosing. This included mapping out what type of classes they would need to take, along with what grades would be needed and what activities they would need to participate in during high school and university. After creating the poster, each group presented their board to the entire group. Our IB students did a great job to make this project a meaningful experience for the Davidson students!

The Class of '18 IB students have done an outstanding job representing DLS and our LaSallian mission. Each month they have been working with different organizations providing a service that is making a difference in the community. They are living out our LaSallian mission within our community!​

PROJECT HEALTHY COMMUNITY & BRILLANT DETROIT - January 25, 2017

On Wednesday, January 25, 16 members of the DLS International Baccalaureate Class of 2018 took part in their monthly service day. They started the day helping Project Healthy Community organize food, coats and clothing for their upcoming mobile pantry and coat giveaway. Project Healthy Community works with elementary schools in northeast Detroit to identify their neediest families and to get food and clothing into the hands of those families. They anticipate feeding 300-400 people today with their mobile food pantry and the boys inventoried over 200 coats that had been donated!

The afternoon was spent helping Brilliant Detroit continue preparing their space - a former convent - for use by the members of their neighborhood. Brilliant Detroit now has three "offices" located in renovated abandoned homes in southwest Detroit; their goal is to give their immediate neighbors all of the tools - information on access to healthcare, early childhood education, etc. - for accessing the services that they need to ensure that their families are happy, healthy and successful.

November 16, 2016

The Class of 2018 started their service day at the Ernest T. Ford recreation center in Highland Park. Highland Park, like the city of Detroit, is trying to create a positive atmosphere for its residents. The Ernest T. Ford recreation center was once the city's pride and joy for its community. The recreation center has been closed for years due to lack of funding. The city was able open its doors again in October 2016. The goal of re-opening the Ernest T. Ford center is to give the adolescents of Highland Park a sense of community and a safe place to spend time with their friends.

Our task was to help clean the outside, and organize the inside to get it ready for a huge fundraising boxing event that was taking place that weekend. The place was an absolute disaster due to the faculty not being used in years! Our guys did an absolute fantastic job! The mayor of Highland Park even stopped by to say thank you!

During the second part of the day, half of our guys helped stock the Gleaners grocery store, prepping for the Thanksgiving holiday rush. The other half helped sort donated seeds for Keep Growing Detroit. Keep Growing Detroit is a non-profit organization which promotes growing fruits and vegetables within city limits for residents’ consumption, addressing the immediate needs of the community while promoting sustainable change in our food system. Without our help and the donated seeds, this endeavor would be hard to accomplish.

KEEP GROWING DETROIT - October 26, 2016

The IB Class of 2018 helped “Keep Growing Detroit” and students at Mayburn Elementary for its October CAS (Creativity-Activity-Service) project.

Keep Growing Detroit, a non-profit organization, promotes growing fruits and vegetables within the city limits for residents’ consumption, addressing the immediate needs of the community while promoting sustainable change in our food system. DLS students helped harvest and winterize the farm.

At Maybury Elementary in Southwest Detroit, students worked with second and third graders, helping students create life-sized murals of what they wanted to be for Halloween. The day gave the DLS students the opportunity to interact outside of their norm.

September 7,2016

Beautifying the city of Detroit one stroke at a time!

Recently, International Baccalaureate Program (IB) students in the Class of 2018 were in Detroit for a Service Day as part of the Creativity, Activity, and Service (CAS) component of the IB curriculum.

The students helped the non-profit organization “Repair the World,” and painted a mural by Holden and Lincoln Streets, in Detroit. The location is northwest of the intersection of the Lodge (I-96) and Ford (I-94) freeways.

Detroit- Viaduct mural "Class of 18"

MONTANA - September 11-16, 2016

Mr. Leichtnam, Ms. Leix, Mrs. Howay and Mr. Cusumano spent last week in Montana with eight of the IB Class of 2018 students: Max Baker, Noah Chan, Brandon Compton, Will Hackel, Anthony Hopkins, Jon Kowynia, Jared LaRue and Mateo Tolic. We spent Sunday through Wednesday working with the Brothers and the 72 students at De La Salle Blackfeet School. DLS Blackfeet is a San Miguel school within the Blackfoot Indian reservation and is located in one of the poorest counties in the entire country.

After DLS Blackfeet, we traveled to Glacier National Park and spent Wednesday through Friday hiking in the park, and completing mountain goat and pika surveys with the help of the Glacier National Park Conservancy. On Friday, the boys completed a twelve mile hike along the Highline Trail which is, arguably, one of the most awe-inducing, mind-blowing places on Earth.

This trip was life-changing, both the LaSallian aspect at DLS Blackfeet and the physical aspect at Glacier. Everyone was absolutely OUTSTANDING the entire week and did a great job representing DLS.

June 14, 2016

Field day at Maybury Elementary "Class of 17"

Eight De La Salle International Baccalaureate (IB) students, along with teachers Mrs. Stephanie Howay and Mr. Brad Cusumano, helped facilitate a field day for Maybury Elementary School in southwest Detroit on Tuesday, June 14.

The event was organized by Summer in the City, a non-profit organization.

The IB students helped organize and run the field day day stations, which consisted of a giant rainbow parachute, a dance party, a temporary tattoo station, button-making, soccer, and cooking s’mores.

Mr.Cusumano said, “If it weren’t for our guys helping out, this field day would not have happened for these truly awesome kids! Our students had a great time interacting with the kids. Mike DeDecker was even brave enough to use his Spanish skills to communicate.”

Summer in the City was started by Ben Falik and a group of college friends fifteen years ago in an effort to change the way that people volunteer in the city. Summer in the City’s premise is “Paint, Plant, Play.” The group has completed a number of murals in the city, plants urban gardens every summer, and provides enrichment activities for youth through play.

May 23-28, 2016

Lasallian Mission trip to Montana "Class of 17"

De La Salle Collegiate’s twelve Class of 2017 International Baccalaureate (IB) students, along with four IB teachers, traveled to Montana in May 2016 for a week of service and science.

A component of the IB program is Creativity, Activity, and Service (CAS). Brad Cusumano, the IB CAS Coordinator for DLS, organized the trip into two components: a service piece with the De La Salle Blackfeet School in Browning, MT., followed by a science project at Glacier National Park.

During the stay in Blackfeet Nation, the IB students lived in a small bunkhouse while serving at De La Salle Blackfeet Indian Reservation. They prepared their own meals, along with IB Coordinator Stephanie Howay, Biology teacher Jackie VanThomme, Chemistry teacher Rob Black, and Brad Cusumano.

DLS students spent two and a half days at De La Salle Blackfeet, a Lasallian school (dlsb.org) established in 2001 by the Midwest District of the Christian Brothers. Blackfeet is co-ed, and has about 70 students in grades 4-8. It is one of 11 “San Miguel” schools, which serve predominantly at-risk populations. These schools are not tuition driven, depending on service and philanthropy, have extended school days, and have small class sizes. Blackfeet serves a remote region on an Indian reservation bordered by Canada to the north, and Glacier National Park to the west.

Mr. Cusumano said, “This was an unbelievable and emotional experience for our young men. Our students tutored, and assisted the teachers in facilitating homework assignments and quizzes. Most importantly, they were able to build lasting relationships with these students.”

The DLS group then headed to Glacier National Park to complete the IB science project. The boys surveyed loons and connected data, simultaneously assisting the National Park service in their tracking of loons. The students also took part in the National Park Services “BioBlitz” during which they examined specific types of insects in Lake Bowman, assisting the Park service in its comparisons of nutrient-rich lakes vs. nutrient-poor lakes.

Principal Steve Stewart said, “Our IB program continues to grow each year thanks in large part to the fantastic job our teachers, counselors, admissions, and coordinators do every day! We will continue to offer IB instructional professional development to all of our teachers because it improves student learning and critical thinking.”

May 1, 2016

Special Dream Farm Run "Class of 17"

Class of 2017 IB students completed a 5k at Stony Creek in support of Special Dream Farm. Special Dreams Farm. Special Dreams Farm is a 31 acre working farm established to provide the special needs community with opportunities to work, learn and live. Exclusively for developmentally disabled adults, affectionately called farmers, our farm provides a place where they can gain self-worth and confidence by performing meaningful work in a social environment.

November 24, 2015

Habitat for Humanity rolling coins "Class of 17"

Class of 2017 work with habitat for humanity rolling coins. The coins were collected and donated from various mall in Macomb Country from their fountains. The money is rolled and donated to various organizations to help support family's and food banks in need for the holidays.