About Mother Teresa
The Following exertpt is from the "Eternal World Television Network; EWTN
"Keep the joy of loving the poor and share this joy with all you meet. Remember works of love are works of Peace. God Bless you."
Mother Teresa
Born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu on August 26, 1910, in Skopje, Macedonia, in the former Yugoslavia, she was the youngest of three children. In her teens, Agnes became a member of a youth group in her local pairsh called Sodality. Through her involvement with their activities guided by a Jesuit priest, Agnes became interested in missionaries. At age 17, she responded to her first call of a vocation as a Catholic missionary nun. She joined an Irish order, the Sisters of Loretto, a community known for their missionary work in India. When she took her vows as a Sister of Loretto, she chose the name Teresa after Saint Thérèse of Lisieux.
In Calcutta, Sister Teresa taught geography and cathechism at St. Mary's High School. In 1944, she became the principal of St. Mary's. Soon Sister Teresa contracted tuberculosis, was unable to continue teaching and was sent to Darjeeling for rest and recuperation. It was on the train to Darjeeling that she received her second call -- "the call within the call". Mother Teresa recalled later, "I was to leave the convent and work with the poor, living among them. It was an order. I knew where I belonged but I did not know how to get there."
In 1948, the Vatican granted Sister Teresa permission to leave the Sisters of Loretto and pursue her calling under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Calcutta.
Mother Teresa started with a school in the slums to teach the children of the poor. She also learned basic medicine and went into the homes of the sick to treat them. In 1949, some of her former pupils joined her. They found men, women, and children dying on the streets who were rejected by local hospitals. The group rented a room so they could care for helpless people otherwise condemned to die in the gutter. In 1950, the group was established by the Church as a Diocesan Congregation of the Calcutta Diocese. It was known as the Missionaries of Charity.
In 1952 the first Home for the Dying was opened in space made available by the City of Calcutta. Over the years, Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity grew from 12 to thousands serving the "poorest of the poor" in 450 centers around the world. Mother Teresa created many homes for the dying and the unwanted from Calcutta to New York to Albania. She was one of the pioneers of establishing homes for AIDS victims. For more than 45 years, Mother Teresa comforted the poor, the dying, and the unwanted around the world.
In 1966, the Missionaries of Charity Brothers was founded. Homes began to open in Rome, Tanzania, and Australia. In 1971, the first home in the United States was established in the South Bronx, New York.
Mother Teresa gained worldwide acclaim with her tireless efforts on behalf of world peace. Her work brought her numerous humanitarian awards, including : the Pope John XXIII Peace Prize and the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. In receiving this award, Mother Teresa revolutionized the award ceremony. She insisted on a departure from the ceremonial banquet and asked that the funds, $6,000 be donated to the poor in Calcutta. This money would permit her to feed hundreds for a year.
She is stated to have said that earthly rewards were important only if they helped her help the world’s needy.
Beginning in 1980, homes began to spring-up for drug addicts, prostitutes, battered women, and more orphanages and schools for poor children around the world. In 1985, Mother Teresa established the first hospice for AIDS victims in New York. Later homes were added in San Francisco and Atlanta. Mother Teresa was awarded Medal of Freedom, the highest U.S. civilian award.
In 1991, Mother Teresa returned for the first time to her native Albania and opened a home in Tirana. By this year, there were 168 homes established in India.
On February 3, 1994 at a National Prayer Breakfast, sponsored by the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, in Washington, DC, Mother Teresa challenged the audience on such topics as family life and abortion. She said, "Please don’t kill the child. I want the child. Give the child to me."
Mother Teresa traveled to help the hungry in Ethiopia, radiation victims at Chernobyl, and earthquake victims in Armenia. Her zeal and works of mercy knew no boundaries.
In November of 1996, Mother Teresa received the honorary U.S. citizenship.
Welcome to Mother Teresa Junior High School
OUR PHILOSOPHY & MISSION
Meeting functional curriculum needs in a junior high school requires team effort , creativity and flexibility. At Mother Teresa Junior High School , we desire that our middle school design fosters the unique educational and social needs of all adolescents through:
•an academically strong and enriched curriculum;
•diverse, focused exploratory programs;
•a program in which the related arts, computer, music and sports provide adequate opportunity for students involvement;
•a strong support system provided by teachers is strongly encouraged as an essential component of students welfare and an intentional collaborative effort.These four elements are consistent with a junior high school model that emphasizes meeting individual student needs. We believe further, that this design offers many opportunities for integration of values through strategies that are essential in being creative and dynamic members of society.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Mother Teresa Junior High School caters to the young adolescent leaving elementary school. While it is true that Mother Teresa Junior High School has shared the facility with a senior high – Laurier Senor High School, Mother Teresa is a separate entity. Mother Teresa Junior High School has transportation that is separate from L.S.H.S. We also have a separate entry and departure time (we finish one period before the senior high). Mother Teresa has a separate lunch hour and our students must remain on site for the entire school day, including the lunch hour. Mother Teresa has its’ own staff, from Principal and Vice-Principal, to teachers, professional and support staff. We share the cafeteria services, the auditorium, the gym facilities and the library but at different times. At Mother Teresa Junior High School we have the best of both worlds, a “small school” and a “large school” all in one.
PARENT PARTICIPATION
Parents are actively involved and participate in many activities. There is an active P.P.O. and Governing Board. Each group meets monthly for the planning of activities and organization of tasks.
EVENTS & ACTIVITIES
Mother Teresa Junior High School offers a wide variety of activities – socio-cultural as well as sports activities. Our athletics program includes lunchtime intramural sports such as indoor soccer, basketball, badminton for both boys and girls and Interscholastic sports such as basketball and soccer. Extra-curricular sports events include Salsa, Karate, and Handball.
Our annual school play is the pride of Mother Teresa Junior High School, not to mention field trips and our annual field trip to Toronto or Boston and Port-au-Saumon. We have dances organized by our active Student Council and our Leadership Students who organize our Terry Fox Walk, Movie Days, Dress Down days as well as many other activities that are part of our everyday life at Mother Teresa Junior High School.
