Faith in Action
One of the Essential Elements of Catholic Education at Vancouver College is to stand in solidarity with those marginalized by poverty and injustice. With this mission in mind, the student outreach program was organized to place faith in action and make it a reality in our school community.
A group of 12 students and 4 staff took a trip to New Orleans and volunteered at Camp Restore for a week during spring break 2012. The group worked very well together and the students served as great ambassadors of Vancouver College through their strong work ethic, friendly behaviour, and amazing desire to serve others. The T.E.A.M. included: Enzo Nardi, Fr. Chris Lynch, Mrs. Mer Marghetti, Mrs. Lilian Vernier, Mr. Darren Yanko, David Aquino, Nicolas Armstrong, Matt Ellis, Ericson Herbosa, Spencer Ho, James Infante, Alvin Leung, Nicolas Pakula, Colin Paterson, Jason Pinto, Patrick Toyota, and William Zylamans. Their worksites included the St. John Berchmans Center, a former orphanage operated by the Sisters of the Holy Family that is being rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina as a convent and child development center.
The Religious Education Department requires students at all grade levels to accomplish a "service project" as part of their completion of the course each year. In this way, students are challenged from the start to "get involved" in the world both near and far and "make a difference" for others. We hope in some small way to challenge the prevailing ethos of materialism and selfishness encouraged by business and political life today.
In addition, several school-wide initiatives take place each year to raise funds and encourage awareness that assists a number of local and international charities and organizations including Covenant House, Sisters of the Atonement, and Doors Open.
Since 2006, The One World, One Heart Human Rights Conference takes place in April at Little Flower Academy or Vancouver College. With many Catholic schools around Greater Vancouver participating, organizers from VC and LFA are always working hard in planning and organizing the conference. A student-lead team works from October to April in planning this massive event, inviting speakers from across the political and social spectrum to challenge young people to get involved in changing the world. We are proud to say that this event has steadily been climbing in numbers and now attracts over two hundred participants!