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International Servite Schools' Network Website Overview
The International Servite Schools' Network is a gathering of schools from around the world that use the common bond of education in the Servite tradition to build cultural, intellectual and academic relationships between schools and kids from different ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds, and who live on different continents. The International Servite Schools' Website (ISSW) was created to provide a unifying site that would highlight the Servite spirituality, charism, history and mission while giving all Servite schools a forum to communicate and collaborate.
School Information
The ISSW is a resource for us to learn about each of the Servite schools across the globe. Each school can creat a page completely dedicated to their school. Each page can include a school’s name, location, number of teachers and staff, information regarding the number and demographic make-up of its students, a brief history of the school including their link to the Servite Order. Each school can have a photo album where schools could place pictures or videos introducing their school and what makes it special.
Cultural Information
The ISSW is an easy way for students to share their cultures as well as learn about the cultures of the other schools. A forum can be set up where students and/or faculty members post articles or personal essays giving readers a glimpse into their life, culture, joys and sorrows. Also, these essays can describe the positive effect that a Servite education has had on their lives and the lives of their community, or perhaps the meaning of Servite values in their lives. This could be done as a class project or the best essay per school could be posted.
Forums can also be arranged allowing students to carry on informal conversations with each other. This section of the website would be an excellent location for students to share their artistic achievements including:
- Songs sung by a school’s choir,
- Music performed by a school band or ensemble
- A recording of a song Marian or Servite in nature such as the Salve Regina or Hail Mary
- Pictures of student paintings, drawings and sculptures,
- Poetry
- Dialogues about culturally specific sports including the rules, strategies, and the reasons that make the sport unique.
Academic Collaboration
Another possible use of the site is in the area of academic collaboration. Pages can be set up where teachers collaborate with each other. Foreign languages or geography teachers could work together to create interactive assignments making their classes more exciting to the students. Teachers might also like to use a forum to post any questions or comments regarding their subjects, such as breakthrough methods for teaching particular lessons. An essay contest could be held in which students write about Servite values in their society, or about the work of God in their struggles. The winning essays would then be posted on the website for all to read and learn from.
Religious Solidarity
Since most schools are connected through the Servite Sisters or Fathers, religious solidarity among administration, staff, and students is necessary in any sincere move towards unity. The website would be an ideal means through which members of the various schools could share their ideas regarding the building of religious solidarity.
- One example is the development of a special day of prayer for Servite schools worldwide. The organizer could simply post a bulletin or send an email and all schools would be informed of this particular event. Another possible purpose for this site is the inspiration of service projects among students.
- A social justice example might be as follows: A South African student has posted an essay describing the effect of AIDS on her community. An American student who has read this article is inspired to research different means of raising funds to support children orphaned by AIDS. This student then can use this idea at his/her school to raise funds and also the student can post his/her fund raising ideas on the website so that members of other schools can also run the fund raisers at their respective schools.
- Students discerning religious vocations could enter discussions about their own personal journeys and create a shared prayer routine. For example, they could decide on praying the rosary every Sunday for their own personal vocations and the promotion of vocations across the world.
Financial Assistance
Though all of the schools collaborating through the ISSW share the same link, they are by no means the same. There are schools facing extreme poverty issues and schools in which the school and students have been financially blessed. In the spirit of the Servite call to serve the needy, the financially blessed schools ought to seek ways to help the schools or Servite Missions which are struggling financially.
- One way in which this might take place is that a struggling school posts specific needs and estimations of how much fulfilling these needs would cost. Then the administration of the wealthier schools would use its resources to raise the necessary funds.
- An adopt-a-school program could also be arranged in which wealthier schools are paired with the poorer schools and an annual fundraising program is run in which the proceeds go directly to the adopted school.
Cost-effective Conferences
The most effective way for information to be shared between the schools is of course in conferences where various members can directly interact with each other. Because of the high cost of travel conferences have had to be spread out over many years and schools that are struggling financially have not been able to attend. By using technology such as web cameras, similar conferences could be arranged with greater frequency and at a greatly reduced cost.
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