This is the page to find out what's going on with our current students and alumni.

To get "posted," all you need to do is send our webmaster a note.  Do not hesitate to start submitting any servant leadership activities, speaking engagement or school activity you are involved in.  This will hopefully keep your peers and families updated on what’s happening and support your activities and interests. 

Here's the latest:

GO Students March For Life:
Last years GO students, Katica Hergovichlvia (Hungary), Sylvia Babalova (Slovakia), Marta Korom (Serbia/Montenegro), and Agnes Toth (Hungary), visited Washington D.C. and to participate in the 34th Annual March For Life on Monday, January 22nd.  The girls joined the anti-abortion march along Constitution Avenue, ending at Capitol Hill with a group prayer.  Agnes commented, "It was such a good feeling to look around in that huge crowd and see how many other people think in the same way as I do. The most amazing part for me was the Youth Rally in the morning with 20,000 kids from all over the States. Maybe we could not change laws but that is sure that it gave us strength to stand up for something that is unjust and to spread the message everywhere we go: We all have the right to life."  For more information visit http://www.marchforlife.org/index.cfm (Posted 1/29/2007)

This years student Ludmila Hesova (Czech Republic) participated at the 2007 National Catholic Youth Conference that was held in Columbus, Ohio November 8-12th. The event gathered over 20,000 participants, including 18,340 registered participants from 145 dioceses and delegations, over 1,000 volunteers from the Diocese of Columbus, 450 exhibitors, 250 speakers and performers, and  18 bishops. http://www.nfcym.org/index.htm

Students encounter religion and culture through global exchange program in U. S.

 

Follow link to the Compass" article

Nothing foreign about this exchange

By R. Paige Kettner
Compass Correspondent

http://www.thecompassnews.org/compass/2008-02-29/news2.shtml

(2005/06) G.O. alumni Jana Viktorova Czech Republic took a trip Romania to visit Czech settlements there. 

Romania from a different point of view

At first, it was quite a surprise when a smiling nun wass sitting in our religion classroom together with our teacher- the chaplain of our school. After a few minutes we already knew the reason why she was there. She wanted to invite us to participate in a service trip to Romania. She needn’t ask me twice and my name among the other names was on the list of those who want to participate. There were eventually 13 students and 4 teachers from the school.

On our way to a Romanian village Giosenni, people from other cars kepts staring at us. Hasn’t anyone seen a nun driving a car? :)

When we arrived, the villagers prepared an invitation for us to show us that we are not foreigners to them. Nevertheless, they were quite surprised when we put on old clothing, took shovels and started digging around their fences. For better understanding, there was only a gravel road, no proper sewers and horses were almost the only means of transport for the communication with the rest of the world. There was no drinking water in the houses. Only in wells in their yards. Wow, what a stupid idea when we thought that it’s impossible to live without a computer!

Our job war to clean the village and show its inhapitants that there is no need to live in a messy environment.We cleaned the garbage, painted the fences around the community buildings, dug the sewers, planted plants,... They had to think that we are some crazy workers from the west...:)

After a few days the villagers started to be much friendlier and less suspicious to us when they found out that we do all of that voluntarily. We even made some relationships with local youngsters. They started helping us, we played soccer, sang together during the masses, spent time together... They even beat us in soccer game Romania vs. the Czech republic!:) After that game we danced together, sang with guitars and all the prime barriers went away.

It is also important to mention that we were staying in a monastery donated by the Germans so it was an incredibly luxurious place to be accomodated in compared to the dwellings of the locals, where there were usually only two rooms- the kitchen and the bedroom. The toilettes were in the backyard... Despite their poverty, their hearts were as big as their country is. They would give us everything they had. What a different mentality from the western world...

After these wonderfull two weeks it was very difficult to leave. They didn’t want us to leave and we didn’t want to leave them either. There was one thing we had in common. A load of enthisiasm to change old habits and to change the world. They knew that there is a lot to change on the outside of their community and we knew that there is even more to change in the inside of ours. They taught us what gratitude and will is which is much more than what we gave to them.

After we came back, we tried to pass our new findings on to the other students from our school. Who knows if it awoke the same feeling in them as we had, but it was and still is alive in our hearts. Once I read a quotation that everyone can make a difference, and this Romanian experience helped me even more to believe that it is true.