A dozen of the Convent School of the Visitation students in Mendota Heights joined 40 students from other Visitation programs throughout the country for a week of worship, service, instruction and hands-on learning. Mount de Chantal Visitation Academy in Wheeling, West Virginia hosted the ninth annual VISTORY program for girls from Visitation schools in Georgetown, Washington D.C.; Mendota Heights, Minnesota; St. Louis, Missouri; Wheeling, West Virginia; and from the Windsock Program of the Minneapolis Visitation. VISTORY, which means: Visitation In Service To Others, Responding Youth, helps to raise social awareness and instill community responsibility in all the participants. “Being a part of this week changes your perspective”, said one of the chaperones from Minnesota who taught a baby to play ‘patty-cake’ for the first time. “You see first-hand how other people live”. The girls in VISTORY range in age from those who have completed eighth grade through those about to begin their senior year of high school.
The VISTORY participants could choose from a variety of partnering organizations in the Wheeling community to do their service projects. These included programs working with the elderly, with children, with the homeless in soup kitchens, and helping with building repairs and landscape enhancement. One of the Minnesota students commented, “After this week I understand how important it is to mentor a child – one person really can make a difference.”
Each day opened with a prayer service. There were presentations and discussions on social service issues and shared reflections at nighttime to help in the processing of the day’s experiences. Icebreakers - such as karaoke, bingo, and a pizza party - were planned to facilitate the students in getting to know one another. The week was interspersed with sight-seeing tours of the Wheeling area: The Challenger Learning Center/Mission Control and Spacecraft Simulator at Wheeling Jesuit University; the Wheeling waterfront and Ohio mall; and the Oglebay mansion, gardens and zoo. There was even a Pittsburgh Pirates baseball game where the VISTORY girls served as chaperons for children in the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program – followed by a cookout. The last night brought the week to a close with a bonfire where everybody toasted marshmallows; and in a ceremony reminiscent of the Olympic games, the VISTORY flag was passed from the Wheeling girls to the Minnesota girls, who will be the hosts of the next year’s VISTORY week.
Nine years ago the VISTORY program was inaugurated as a one-time project to mark Mount de Chantal’s sesquicentennial in Wheeling, West Virginia, on the foothills of the Appalachians. The week was such an enthusiastic success that it has continued in each succeeding year, rotating the hosting responsibility to each of the Visitation schools/programs. The theme of this year’s VISTORY was, “Doing Small Things With Great Love”. And these small things become precious milestones in the lives of the VISTORY girls, who experience the value of serving others while building bonds of friendship and memories across America. As one Minnesota student summed it up: “I liked the Pirates ballgame, and helping others, but my favorite part of the whole week was the opportunity to meet girls from other Visitation schools. That was the best”.
