Magazine
Tailoring classes are fully incorporated in the curriculum at Ocer Campion, to give students vocational skills they need.
Sweepstakes for Scholarships at Ocer Campion in Gulu
Nearly 30,000 Northern Ugandan children were abducted and thousands more people maimed or killed by rebels of the so-called Lord’s Resistance Army led by Joseph Kony. Nearly everything in their lives had been broken down—culture, family life, morale and morality, health, economy, and education. Now that peace has come to the region for the first time since 2007, education is the key for a successful post conflict transition as it helps people break free of cycles of violence and suffering.
In the midst of this destruction, one such institution stands. Founded in 2010, Ocer Campion Jesuit College educates over 500 high school students in the Gulu province in northern Uganda. Father Tony Wach, a Jesuit of the Wisconsin Province, serves as president of the school and hopes to accommodate up to 1,200 boys and girls at this boarding school. Liberal arts and vocational schooling is offered to promote self-reliance as well as respect for the manual arts and the related trades. Many of the students still bear psychic wounds from the abductions, loss of family members, the harshness of life in the camps, or present poverty.
Sam Wadsworth, a junior at St. Ignatius College Preparatory in San Francisco, spent a week at Ocer Campion as part of a cultural exchange program. “From the minute I met the students, I knew that it was no ordinary school. The hard work and determination radiating from the young men and women I met is one of the most impressive things I have encountered,” said Wadsworth. “Many of the students described their situations and feared they might not be able to return to school due to lack of funds. This upset me.” Inspired by #GivingTuesday, Sam teamed up with “DJ Skee” and Dash Radio in Los Angeles to launch a sweepstakes on Facebook and YouTube where anyone who donated $20 or more had a chance to win a trip to the Skee Lodge in Los Angeles and be interviewed on the air by Sam and DJ Skee about their interest in helping students at Ocer Campion. Over $4,200 has been raised through the “DJ Skee for Ocer Campion Sweepstakes” Facebook page and the Midwest Jesuits giving page at http://connect.jesuitsmidwest.org/ocer
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In the midst of this destruction, one such institution stands. Founded in 2010, Ocer Campion Jesuit College educates over 500 high school students in the Gulu province in northern Uganda. Father Tony Wach, a Jesuit of the Wisconsin Province, serves as president of the school and hopes to accommodate up to 1,200 boys and girls at this boarding school. Liberal arts and vocational schooling is offered to promote self-reliance as well as respect for the manual arts and the related trades. Many of the students still bear psychic wounds from the abductions, loss of family members, the harshness of life in the camps, or present poverty.
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Sam Wadsworth |
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