Immersion Program

Archbishop Mitty’s immersion trip program is one of our school’s major strengths as students try to follow the example of Jesus when he reached out to the poor and marginalized in His society. The impact of these trips can be seen in the enthusiasm and dedication of the many students, faculty and staff who participate in them and then return with renewed hope and dedication in constructing a more just and equitable world. Participating on an immersion trip offers the opportunity to get to know fellow classmates and teachers in a new context and also provides a unique way to serve and learn outside of our own campus community. For further information please contact Mr. Tim Wesmiller. The immersion trips for the 2007-2008 school year are the following:

Los Niños (Tijuana, Mexico)
50 Service Hours
March 24-28, 2008 (Tijuana) and August 4-8, 2008 (Tijuana) 

The motto of this 5-day trip is “helping people help themselves.” The Los Niños program focuses on three types of learning: experiential (working in communities, seeing the border), cultural (visiting museums, playing fútbol rapido), and cognitive (listening to speakers, discussing immigration issues). The spiritual dimension of the trip involves journaling, prayer, and reflection, typically in the evenings, as the students process what they have experienced during the day. There are opportunities to speak Spanish, but it is not a requirement for participants or leaders.

Spirit of the Navajo (Tuba City, Arizona)
50 Service Hours
June 1-7 2008

This week-long trip takes place on the Navajo Nation reservation or Dineh Bikeyah (Land of The People) in Tuba City, AZ. Service will focus on tutoring elementary school children in a local community school and will directly impact the students’ ability to excel in the classroom. Volunteers may have the opportunity to complete small construction projects, but of course this depends on the expressed needs of the Navajo community. There are many opportunities to learn about Navajo culture and history, through talking with local community members, sharing in a traditional meal, visiting a traditional sheep camp, and exploring the distinct Navajo artistry. Students and leaders will stay in dormitories at the Grey Hills Academy (a high school boarding school) and will spend the week living and eating meals communally. Each night there will be opportunity for reflection and prayer. Tuba City is located a couple of hours from the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, and Canyon de Chelly National Monument; the trip will include a visit to these beautiful landmarks.

Glenmary Home Missioners (Appalachia)
50 Service Hours
June 14-20, 2008

For one week, students live in a rural setting with student groups from different parts of the country, as they work with the poor in the hills of eastern Kentucky. Service work includes building homes for the disadvantaged, visiting the elderly in retirement and convalescent homes, attending to the needs of adult day-care clients, and landscaping. This will be a time of service, education, prayer, reflection, recreation, community sharing, and immersion in the local Appalachian culture.

Dolores Mission Parish (East Los Angeles, CA)
50 Service Hours
March 11-15, 2008

This immersion trip will take place during Holy Week and students will have the opportunity to explore the various ministries in which this dynamic parish is involved. The economic reality of the people in East Los Angeles makes Dolores Mission the poorest parish in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Students will be involved in celebrating the Holy Week liturgical celebrations, they will work with the elementary school students in Dolores Mission School, they will help prepare food and feed homeless immigrants who sleep in the parish church each night, and they will see how ex-gang members are rebuilding their lives through Fr. Greg Boyle’s work with Homeboy Industries. Students will share their reactions to the trip through a daily prayer and reflection session each evening.

St. Anthony’s Foundation (San Francisco)
50 Service Hours
June 9-13, 2008

This 5-day trip takes place in the Tenderloin of San Francisco.  During the day, students serve meals in St. Anthony’s Dining Room, sort clothes, talk with seniors at the Senior Day Center, and deliver meals to homes.  They are introduced to the full spectrum of services that St. Anthony’s provides to address the needs of the impoverished and homeless in the city.  The group sleeps at the YMCA downtown.  In the evenings, there is time for reflection, prayer, and discussion, as well as for exploring various neighborhoods in the city as a group.

Habitat For Humanity (New Orleans)
50 Service Hours
March 24-29, 2008

During this week long trip to New Orleans, LA, students will work with Habitat for Humanity to help with reconstruction efforts, after the area was so severely affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. Not only will we physically help in the process of rebuilding, but we will also meet with local representatives and tour the 9th Ward, an area that was completely decimated during Hurricane Katrina, engaging in discussions and nightly reflections as to better understand the economic, social, and political affects these storms have caused. In addition to our daily work, we will sample the famous beignets in the French Quarter, visit a Plantation, and listen to local jazz at Preservation Hall.

Ethics, Culture and Justice (El Salvador)
*Student are currently enrolled.
75 Service Hours
June 3-17, 2008

After focusing on El Salvador for a year in their Junior Ethics Course, students live with families in a small village for the first week of this two-week trip. (Adult leaders stay in a simple hotel.)  Students live, work, share ideas, reflect, and play sports with a youth group called the Tamarindos.  During the second week, the group stays in San Salvador as they visit such culturally significant sites as Archbishop Romero’s house, the cathedral where he is buried, the University of Central America where the Jesuit priests were murdered, and the shops of local artisans. Each day devotes time to prayer services and reflections planned by the students, in which they share what they have experienced and what they are processing.

Ethics, Culture and Justice (South Africa)
*Student are currently enrolled.
75 Service Hours
June 3-17, 2008

Twenty-five juniors will spend the school year in an ethics course that will focus on the history and experience of the transformation of South Africa. Students will study the unjust structure of apartheid and its dismantling.  Particular attention will be given to the role of the Christian faith in the struggle for freedom and justice.  The course culminates with a trip in June inclusive of one week in Johannesburg and one week in Cape Town.   The Mitty group will work and share perspectives with high school students in each city.  Highlights of the trip will include a visit to Robben Island Prison, where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated, and time in Soweto.  Students will also visit numerous sites that commemorate the struggle for freedom, including the Hector Pieterson Museum in Soweto, the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg, and the District Six Museum in Cape Town.  Students will be a part of discussions with citizens who lived through the apartheid era and participated in the process of healing and forgiveness. Group prayer and reflection will be a daily part of the experience.

Ethics, Culture and Justice (California) 
June 2-11, 2008

Following the same sequence and unit themes of other Jr. Ethics classes, this course will focus on the moral challenges that face young adults and social justice issues that are particular to California. Students will discover that morality is more than just following the dictates of their parents and institutions concerning right and wrong. They begin to discover and develop for themselves a sense of conscience that will guide them throughout adulthood. Throughout this course, the student explores the components of moral decision-making and is encouraged to form a personal conscience rooted in the Roman Catholic tradition. Students will be challenged to reflect, analyze, synthesize and apply the principles learned in this course to personal and social issues. This course places special emphasis on the study of social justice issues and the major tenets of Catholic social teaching, particularly through studying the history and recent experience of Californians. The course will culminate in an eleven-day immersion experience to different locations in California such as St. Anthony’s Foundation in San Francisco, Save the Bay in San Jose, a migrant farm-working community in Salinas, and Dolores Mission in L.A

Ethics, Culture and Justice (India)
Class starts August 2008
75 Service Hours
June 2009

Through this junior ethics class students will be able to demonstrate an awareness of India’s rich history that will illuminate many of India’s contemporary issues.  Students will focus on key social justice issues such as rural/urban poverty and the struggle over equitable development. We will also examine the role of globalization in regards to India being a key player in outsourcing centers of multinational corporations, developing technologies, and manufacturing inexpensive goods.  Other objectives of the class are to study the complex and evolving role of women in religion, family, and society.  The class will also examine the efforts of various religions to coexist and dialogue despite the immergence of fundamentalist and secularist movements.  Finally, we will research Gandhi’s non-violent resistance movement and how it is still being lived out today in the face of nuclear build-up and terrorism.  The class will culminate in a two-week trip to the cities of Delhi, Agra, Bangalore, and Mysore.  Some highlights include visiting temples, Call centers, orphanages, the Taj Mahal, and hear from experts in several fields of study.

Ethics, Culture and Justice (Native American)
Class starts August 2008
75 Service Hours
June 2009

Through this junior ethics class, students will be able to demonstrate an awareness of key ethical issues related to the cultural treatment of Native American peoples and individuals, the nature and extent of tribal sovereignty, and the issues of racism, classicism, and sexism involved in the long history of policy towards Native Americans.  The class will also explore key social justice themes, unique cultural differences between tribes, and inter-religious dialogue between Native Spirituality and Catholicism.  This class will culminate in a two-week immersion includes a visit to the Heard Museum in Phoenix, several days working on the Navajo Reservation in Tuba City, a visit to Canyon de Chelly, the Chaco Canyon, and the White Mountain Apache Reservation to experience a Sunrise ceremony and Sweat Lodge.  The trip will also include visits to Catholic churches to see how inculturation is implemented on reservations.