Molloy students recently participated in LaValla Weekend at the Marist Brothers' Center at Esopus. They were joined by students from other Marist schools in the US Province, including Central Catholic High School (Lawrence, MA), Saint Joseph Regional High School (Montvale, NJ), Christopher Columbus High School (Miami, FL), Saint Joseph Academy (Brownsville, TX), Marist High School (Chicago, IL), Mount Saint Michael Academy (Bronx, NY), Roselle Catholic High School (Roselle, NJ), and Ecole Secondaire Marcellin Champagnat (Quebec, Canada).
The weekend centered themes of caring for our world and environmental justice. Students spent time in an experience of solidarity and provided service work to the Marist Brothers' Center at Esopus community, including planting a pollinator garden on the property. Several Stanners shared their thoughts about the experience:
"LaValla was an amazing experience. I was able to expand my knowledge of the world and get different experiences on new things and got ideas of things we can take back to our Molloy community to carry out our mission and continue doing the work we started at LaValla" - Ella Jorge '23
"I am so happy that I took the opportunity to go to LaValla this year. I met the absolute best and friendliest people from all corners of the earth...Doing the service work and listening to presentations really taught me about the importance of being green and about global warming. I would definitely recommend going to a LaValla Weekend because it was my favorite weekend I have spent at Esopus." - Emily Layden '24
"This was my first time at Esopus and I’m so glad I made the decision to come...I’m very grateful for the people here and the education we received about helping the planet. This experience has encouraged me to want to explore the different services to help each other and the world." - Sofia Morales '24
"This experience was extremely enlightening...I learned how much a single person can do to change the way things can be done. I want to bring back the way we smiled as we worked on challenging tasks this weekend...I can’t wait to do more things to help make the Earth a better place, one step at a time." - Isabella Ronacher '23
"Being behind the scenes as Kitchen Crew was a great experience. I felt I was helping with something bigger than myself...Raking and sorting out garbage wasn’t a hard task this weekend, doing it with everyone around me felt like I was just hanging out with friends. I’m very grateful for this opportunity and can’t wait to find ways to help our Molloy community!" - Stephanie Mohabir '23