Helias Students Participating in the Rotary Exchange Program & Heart's Home

             Two years ago, two Helias students spent one year studying abroad in Ecuador through the Rotary Exchange Program and one student spent the year doing mission work with Heart's Home in Brazil. This current year, three more Helias students are participating in the Rotary Exchange (Brazil, Ecuador, and Spain). Next year, six Helias students will participate in the Rotary Exchange and two will be doing mission work with Heart's Home. The number of Helias students wanting to study or do mission work overseas before going to college is on the rise. I see this as very positive that our students are wanting to see more, be more, learn more, do more, and grow more. I also like the fact that these young people have the courage to step out of their comfort zone in bettering themselves. I would love to see these young people bring what they've learned and experienced back to the Jefferson City area one day.

The following students have been selected to participate in the Rotary Exchange Program:

Emily Churchill- Brazil: I have always loved to travel to see new things and meet new people.  As I got older, my love for adventure grew not only broader but deeper.  I discovered that what I really want to do at this point in my life is experience something most people don't get the chance to experience.  I want to do my part to break down borders between people in different cultures by traveling across the world and being open to what is thrown at me.  I have always been drawn towards service work, such as the mission trips at Helias, but I would like to take that further and I believe that my participation as a Rotary Youth Exchange Student next year in Brazil could open doors for me to really make a difference in the future.  The teachers and administration at Helias are very supportive of students who express interest in a gap year and I am so thankful that their support helped me apply and eventally get accepted to Rotary.  Helias focuses a lot of energy to get students to serve others through service hours and mission trips.  These opportunities have allowed me to see that anything helps and that when you help someone, the fact that you made one person's life a little better even just for a moment is more than enough reward.  I hope to break down some borders all next year and even more after I return.

Brooke Micke- Peru: I decided to participate in the Rotary Exchange because I wanted to become fluent in Spanish. I plan on entering the medical field and participating in medical missions in South America. I went on a mission trip my sophomore year and fell in love with service. Helias has helped me realize that my purpose in life is to help those who cannot help themselves.

Erin Mills- Ecuador:  Next year, I will spend ten months in Ecuador.  I am extremely excited to able to partake in this amazing opportunity through Rotary Youth Exchange Program.  This program allows students to attend high school in a foreign country, experiencing a new culture, host family, and language.  I will be living in the city of Cuenca which is in the mountains.  I decided to make this exchange after hosting a Swiss exchange student last year.  The experience was so positive and I gained a new friend as sister.  I cannot wait to have an experience of my own abroad, broadening my horizons on a different continent.

Nick Vellios- Belgium:  Ever since I was young, I have wanted to take an exchange trip of some sort. I have always loved to travel, and to learn about other cultures and languages. Mrs. Zeitz and Jessica Hilgedick were the ones who first introduced to me the idea of traveling with the Rotary Club. Jessica, advised by Mrs. Zeitz, took a trip to Switzerland during my sophomore year. Mrs. Zeitz had us write emails to her as part of class, and I quickly became fascinated by, and slightly envious of the experiences she was having. I have always wanted to be fluent in a foriegn language, and when Jessica came back and talked to our class, her French speaking skills had improved at least 1000%. It was at that time that I realized that rotary was the program that I wanted to do my exchange trip with. Also, that year, I started in Mrs. Arthur's spanish class. A very multicultural and diverse program, Mrs. Arthur actively promoted foriegn travel, exchange trips, and above all the rotary exchange program, which she helps coordinate. She eulogized its cheapness, the wonderful experiences people had had, and the new language fluency that they gained during their foreign sojurn. These two Helias teachers are above all what made me decide to do my exchange with the rotary program. Mrs. Zeitz's excellent French program, with all of its speech practice and vocabulary, together with Mrs. Arthur's brilliant grammar teaching method (which helped me with French grammar, as well as Spanish) has made me very confident that I will have few communication problems during my time in Wallonia, Belgium.

Eric Weiler- Spain:  Next school year, I will be a foreign exchange student to the country of Spain.  I do not know where I will be staying in Spain nor with whom.  I am sure that I will live in a beautiful place and live with a wonderful host family.  While on exchange, I hope to visit Barcelona and Mardrid as well as the rest of Europe.  I would especially like to visit Germany and France.  People often ask me why I want to do this.  My response is always- why not?  I get to live in Europe for an entire year!  I will be experiencing a new culture, learning a new language, and meeting friends from all over the world, all while living in one of the most beautiful and culturally rich countries on earth.  Who wouldn't take advantage of an opportunity like that?

Justin White- Colombia:  Next year I will be a Rotary Youth Exchange student in Colombia, South America. People often ask me why I want to be an exchange student.  I am tired of doing the same thing over and over, and just following the normal. I realized last year that I have a desire to do something bigger than myself inside me. Not necessarily to change the world, but to change myself. Right now I live in this sheltered world where everything I could want has been given to me, but I want that to change. I want to be put into a situation that is completely new to me, and to take full control of it to see how it changes me and how I will grow as a person. This, combined with the fact that the world and other cultures has always fascinated me, has led me to choose to take the leap and become an exchange student.  Besides Helias introducing me to Rotary and the entire exchange option via Mrs. Arthur, Helias has helped influence my decision because of the mission trips. The mission trips, although short, have showed me that is is different outside of the world of Jeff City, and has made me want to see it. While I am not serving people in my year abroad, I feel the mission trips are a little taste of what I will experience while abroad.

Two Helias seniors will spend next year serving as missionaries with Heart's Home. Heart’s Home is an international Catholic non-profit orga­ni­za­tion that works to promote  a culture of com­pas­sion around providing intimate, one-on-one support to individuals in some of the most deprived areas of the world.  

Emily Allen- Argentina: I joined Heart's Home because sympathy is no substitute for action. I joined because I have seen so much suffering and it has shattered my heart, and I know pity gets you nowhere and means nothing. I cannot sit here in my warm home with my full stomach and loving family knowing such intense destitution and despair exists. Now that I have heard the agonized cries of the most precious people in the world coming from the darkness, what choice do I have but to go to them? Heart's Home gives me the opportunity to serve these beautiful people in the purest and simplest of ways, by suffering with them and being a presence with Mary at the foot of the Cross. And, I know I am just one person, but that's all anybody ever is, and I know that through me, Jesus can set the world on fire. Helias has played a huge role in shaping who I am today. It was through Helias that I discovered missions and I am thankful for that every day. I can't say what I would be doing now if I had not attended this school, but I know I wouldn't be with Heart's Home. Helias has given me the solid base I need to do God's work in the world.

Celina Aur- Brazil:  Helias has influenced me greatly in choosing to spend my next year devoted to service. Or better said, my dad has influenced me greatly. Mission trips have been my greatest inspiration for fulfilling my call to service, and without my dad, I wouldn’t have the experiences with service and missions that I do. No one would. Also, Helias has provided me, as well as the other students, with a multitude of service opportunities. These opportunities have created a motivation in me to do something greater than myself. That is where I was led to doing mission work. I am very fortunate to have been surrounded by such a spiritually rooted community at Helias. I am also very thankful in knowing that I will have the support of my community during my mission through faith and prayers.

Please keep these young people in your daily prayers.  I'm very proud that they are taking a leap of faith, willing to dream big, and have the courage to follow their dream.

Blessed Theresa of Jesus Gerhardinger...Pray for us!

St. John Baptist de La Salle...Pray for us!

Live Jesus in our hearts...Forever!

Another 2nd Generation Mission Leader Speaks

This blog was written by Stefan Balcer.  Stefan graduated from Helias in 2011 and is a veteran mission tripper.  He was also one of the members of the Helias football team who made it to the Dome twice.  Stefan has also been active with Life Teen.  At the beginning of his senior year, he and Alex Eickhoff were the leaders of the Frosh Camp.  Stefan is a sophomore at Mississippi State University where he is studying to become an architect.

Stefan is on the far right.  This is on the 2011 Memphis Mission where he served as a chaperon.

Missions have become a big part of life. I went on my first mission trip in December of my junior year. I had spent the prior summer with the group that had gone on the Springfield, IL mission trip. I saw how close this group had become over the trip, no matter if they were a freshman or a senior. I can still remember standing in Mr. Aur’s kitchen and telling him that I WAS GOING on the next mission trip, no matter what. I signed up for the Memphis mission trip, and was selected to go. I was nervous going on the trip, because I didn’t really know what to expect and there weren’t many of my friends going. I now realize that it doesn’t matter who you’re with because you are all there for the same reason, to serve. The motto for this trip was “Do something bigger than yourself”. I thought that I had accomplished this by just going on the trip, but I was wrong. Taking this statement to the fullest was being completely selfless and to do everything for others that you could. This trip was the beginning of my service journey. After the completion of trip I was instantly hooked.

Stefan working on a Habitat Home in Springfield, IL

I then went on to participate in the St. Louis trip that coming January. That trip will always be one of my favorites. Working in the sheltered workshops on long side the workers is a true reality check. We always complain how bad our life is or what we might be going through, and never take the time to “stop and smell the roses”. These people are full of love and joy that I have never seen in anyone else in my life. It was amazing to me how these people could be so open and so loving to strangers and not think anything of it. They taught me that no matter your situation, you should take the time and enjoy life. 

Group from Helias & O'Hara who helped rebuild the church in the background.

The next trip was Mexico, which I never would have gone if Jonathan Aur would have not encouraged me to do so. And I’m so glad he was so persistent in getting me to go. Mexico is by far my most memorable mission trip, and most humbling. It was not until I went to Mexico and served in the slums of Hermosillo, or the surrounding villages that I understood what poverty really was. These people had next to nothing and would give anything they could to you; to make sure you were comfortable. I also learned a lot about true faith on this trip. Even though these people lived in such horrible conditions they had a faith stronger than anything I could imagine. In a letter that a friend wrote to me on the trip she said, “It isn’t all about your “religion” but more about your “relationship” with God”. This really hit me and still sticks with me to this day.

Stefan on the 2010 Mexico Mission

In June, I participated on the Springfield mission trip. It was the true definition of “serving others”. Building a home for someone is something I think everyone should help do. Helping out someone in your community is truly giving of yourself. The gratification you get from seeing someone so thankful for you helping to provide them with a home might be one of the greatest experiences ever. I then went on to serve on the St. Louis and Springfield mission trips my senior year. I went off to college in Mississippi and volunteered with the Oktibbeha County Habitat for Humanity to help build a house. This experience was more of a “real life mission” for me because it was me going out on my own to help others.

Stefan working at WORTH Industries in St. Louis

I then chaperoned the Memphis mission trip. This trip was very special to me because it was where I had begun my mission journey. It all became very clear to me that these missions have a special place in my heart, since I was returning as an alumnus to help. My mission experience came full circle in Memphis. I was able to stand back and look at the high school kids and think how things have changed. It made me wish that they knew how much these missions not only effected who we helped, but also changed us as well. It made me proud to see these kids give up their time to help others. I am looking forward to returning to Springfield in June, this time as a chaperon. I hope to come out with the same thoughts as I did from Memphis. I don’t think I have to worry about that too much though. Helias is full of special kids who are willing to help, and the mission trips really help to show that. In short, the mission trips have changed my life, for the better. I really want to thank Mr. Aur for the endless hours he spends to make sure these trips happen. His dedication is inspirational. Go out and “Do something bigger than yourself”!