Colégio Santa Maria, São Paulo, Brazil

In attempts to address the root causes of the desperate need they see around them, Holy Cross educators have built into their academic curricula a social outreach education component for all grades. These environmental and social awareness programs and volunteer opportunities offer a wide variety of experience by which students are educated to the necessary conditions for justice in the world.

Over the past 50 years, Colégio Santa Maria has grown into a comprehensive Holy Cross education system consisting of 70 classes of 1,975 paying students from preschoolers to high school seniors. In addition, 15 evening classes offer free education to over 500 adults enrolled in basic literacy through secondary-level instruction.

As the mission statement of the school affirms, the colégio community continually strives “to be an institution of education directed toward the formation of citizens with academic competency and ethical values to exercise solidarity in their human relationships and in the preservation of all life on this planet.”

~From reports by Sisters Anne Veronica Horner Hoe, CSC, and Diane Cundiff, CSC, principals

CSC educators in Brazil are particularly aware that the quality of life and equal opportunity for all human beings are nearly nonexistent for 80 percent of the country’s population. Educational projects, such as this recycling education effort on the part of colégio students, promote concepts of responsibility and interdependence in the struggle for justice, equality and liberation in the context of the harsh realities of present-day Brazil.