WINSTON-SALEM — For the past three years, Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte has set out to help strengthen and build better lives for young adults in the Triad.
Partnering with Forsyth Technical Community College’s Mazie S. Woodruff Center, Catholic Charities offers a program to help young adults continue their education past high school – especially in situations where a student has economic challenges.
Called “Stay the Course,” this joint effort has proved valuable assistance this academic year for 30 students who came through Stay the Course with help from Catholic Charities staff.
Stay the Course was developed by researchers from the School of Economics at the University of Notre Dame, in collaboration with Catholic Charities Fort Worth, Texas. This free, confidential program provides a team of professionals who work with students to keep them on the path to graduation.
Stay the Course staff (called “navigators”) particularly focus on helping students deal with severe roadblocks in life: homelessness, loss of income, and/or family emergencies. These navigators help students get familiar with the college system, then help them manage through situations that could prompt them to drop out.
Alexis Long serves as a navigator for Stay the Course, interacting with students and helping to guide them through their unique challenges as they advance in their academic careers.
“I have over 30 people this year, which is great!” Long said. “I have seven people who will participate in Commencement in May, some are getting certificates and some are getting their actual degrees. That is very exciting.”
This year Long says she has had more younger students seeking out the Stay the Course program.
“I have worked with them individually and collectively and we have created goals about things they wanted to do throughout the semester and what they are planning to do once they graduate. We have gone on college tours, we have researched majors, talked through relationship issues and getting more involved in things on campus,” Long explained.
Long feels privileged to be a part of their journey. “I meet people where they are and get them to where they want to be.”
Lakisha Crews has been a studying at Forsyth Tech for almost three years and will receive three certificates this spring. This July she will graduate with an associate’s degree in early childhood education. She hopes to find a position in a pre-kindergarten classroom at a child care center.
“The Stay the Course program has helped me out tremendously,” Crews said. “Ms. Alexis Long has helped me stay in school because there have been times I gave up and was going to drop out and she pushed me to keep on going.”
Crews says Long helped her establish a plan for school and succeed at it.
“She has also helped me accomplish a lot of these goals throughout this semester and last semester. The Stay the Course program lets me know that I have a support system behind me.”
Crews appreciates that the program has also really done a lot for her outside of school by assisting her with food, a bus pass and supplies for her house.
She says Long “is there when I need her. When I tell her I am going through depression dealing with my mother’s health, she rushes to me to help me through it.
“This program is doing a lot for me and without this program I do not know if I would still be the woman I am today.”
Sierra Armstrong is a Stay The Course participant who will graduate May 9 from the Human Services Program at Forsyth Tech. Upon graduation she hopes to transfer to WSSU to work towards her bachelor’s degree and eventually earn a master’s degree, with the goal of working as a mental health social worker serving children and adolescents.
“Through the Stay the Course program, I have received guidance in making current and future school career decisions,” Armstrong explained. “I have been able to network with other human services professionals and other students who were able to share with me their experiences and offer up their advice.”
Through this program, Armstrong received help with identifying financial and educational resources to help her on her journey. She also received support in setting personal and educational goals and working to manage and maintain those goals.
“I believe that this wonderful program for all students and would provide students with a support system. Students can utilize this program to their benefit,” she said.
“I discovered this program through a friend of mine and eventually I brought a couple of my friends into the program.
“This program has been a big help in my life and I would love to continue with this program throughout the rest of my college career.”
Armstrong is thankful to Long for her assistance and being there every step of the way since being in the program.
“She has been so supportive. She has given me great advice and has been there to help me navigate through my personal and educational struggles.
“I’m so glad to have met her and I appreciate all the help she’s given me and everything she has done for me.
“She is the perfect example of do what you love and love what you do and she’s proven that to me since I have met her.”
Funding for the Stay the Course program is provided by Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte, a grant from the United Way and other fundraising efforts.
— SueAnn Howell, Senior reporter
Get more information
Interested in Stay the Course? The Winston-Salem area program is open to Forsyth Technical Community College students who: live in the 27105 ZIP code, are younger than 35, are low-income (Pell eligible), are enrolled in at least one non-distance learning class, and would benefit from non-academic support to persevere in school.
All services are free and confidential. Stay the Course is a voluntary program designed to offer non-academic support students to stay in school and persevere toward earning a college degree.
Visit www.ccdoc.org and click on the Services link to learn more.
Maggie Olsen, a sophomore at Charlotte Catholic High School, leaps through the air during the soft shoe competition. (Photos by Jeannie DeSena Photography)GREENSBORO — Thousands of Irish dancers descended on Greensboro to compete the annual World Irish Dance Championships April 14-21, including several from right here in the Diocese of Charlotte.
Sandra Connick, owner of the Connick School of Irish Dance in Charlotte, was on the committee who helped bring the world championships to North Carolina. She serves as the treasurer of the CLRG, the Irish Dancing Commission headquartered in Ireland.
“It was a lot of work but it was worth it,” Connick said. “Children in our region may never get a chance to see a world championship because it won’t come back to America for seven years. It was very exciting for those children to see it and be a part of it.”
Dozens of competitors who participated in the world championships belong to parishes around the diocese or are students in our Catholic schools who dance for one of the many Irish dance studios located in the state.
Dancers from the Connick School brought home some hardware.
“Our students are fabulous,” Connick said. “We were thrilled. We came home with six medals which was incredible for our region.”
During the week-long event, St. Leo the Great Church in Winston-Salem sponsored a family ceili night in which dancers and families from all over the world were invited to gather and participate in traditional Irish ceili dancing.
The parish was also among several churches, Catholic schools and Ancient Order of Hibernian chapters who helped recruit volunteers to serve during the competition.
Jane Pueschel and her daughter Katherine, parishioners of St. Leo Church, volunteered all week.
“It was a wonderful experience,” Jane Pueschel said. “For Greensboro to be chosen above Birmingham, England, Anaheim, California and Orlando, Fla., as only the third North American host in 50 years was an honor. It was a fabulous opportunity to volunteer at the event and meet families from all over the world who share the same love for Irish dance.”
Katherine Pueschel competed on an 8-hand ceili team and said, “Competing at the Irish dance world championships was such an amazing experience! I was really nervous but felt proud and excited to represent the Connick School of Irish Dance.
“It was a thrilling experience to for my team to compete on the world stage against the best of the best. To do it at home in the company of my family and friends made it extra special.”
She added, “It was an honor and great experience to volunteer at this event. I met so many wonderful people throughout the week.”
Theresa Olsen was there to support her daughter Maggie, a sophomore at Charlotte Catholic High School in Charlotte.
Irish dancers aged 13-16 from the Connick School of Irish Dance compete during the Irish Dance World Championships held in Greensboro April 14-21. “Maggie has worked so hard to get to this level of dancing and I just want her to show her talent on stage,” Theresa Olsen explained. “I pray for her to not slip on stage and get injured, and for her to not let her nerves get the best of her.”
She noted that this level of competition “is so high and the dancers are all highly trained athletes at this stage. One might think of ‘Riverdance’ performers when you think of this competition, but the competitors are doing all sorts of new and innovative dance moves and tricks that require them to move quickly around the stage with other international competitors dancing at the same time vying for the judges’ attention. It really is exciting to watch!”
Maggie Olsen shared that the comraderie of these events is important to her.
“I really love attending Worlds because I’ve made friends internationally so I get to see them there,” she said.
Father Felix Nkafu of St. Leo Church celebrated two Masses for competitors and their families at the competition venue, a Palm Sunday Vigil Mass and an Easter Sunday Mass.
In his Palm Sunday Vigil Mass homily, Father Felix told those gathered for Mass, “Beginning this great event of World Irish Dancing Championships with the celebration of Holy Mass is an acknowledgment that the talents of dancing are from God, to unite His children more in the love that He created.”
“Only the love of God could bring us together to celebrate and encourage the talents God has endowed up on these dancers,” he said.
— SueAnn Howell, Senior reporter
Competition results
Jane and Katherine Pueschel, parishioners of St. Leo Church in Winston-Salem, volunteered all week during the world championships where Katherina also competed.At www.clrg.ie: Check out the full list of winners from the 2019 World Irish Dance Championships in Greensboro