EXCEL marks 10th anniversary in Morton By Fabvienen Taylor
MORTON — “Flexibility is the name of the game around here,” said Sister Rita Goedken, program director of EXCEL Community and Learning Center.
At that moment Sister Goedken was referring specifically to Sister Charlotte Enright who agreed to teach English on a weekday to two people unable to attend the English as a second language (ESL) class on Saturday evening.
But flexibility describes EXCEL in general as it has fine-tuned its programs for 10 years to fulfill its mission: to enhance education, promote community building, encourage community service and foster healthy lives.
EXCEL (Enrichment and Excellence through Community Educational Leadership) held an Open House in September to mark its anniversary.
There are also EXCEL programs in Okolona and Calhoun City.
EXCEL promotes racial justice and works in multicultural communities with women and children, especially in underserved areas lacking resources.
It offers after-school tutoring to Morton elmentary and high school students (English, Biology, Algebra 1 and U. S. History), Spanish, ESL and computer skills classes, and a summer camp. There is a resale store in the building located at 383 S. 4th St. off Highway 80 East.
When EXCEL opened in 1999 it offered classes in tutoring, parenting, exercises for arthritis, ESL and helped connect people with community resources.
Then-program coordinator, Sister Terri Rodela, who is bilingual, worked in outreach to the growing population of Hispanics who came to work in the area’s poultry plants.
Sister Rodella left in 2006 and is now director of Catholic Charities Northeast Office in Vardaman.
EXCEL in Morton is staffed by Franciscan Sisters Rita Goedken, Eileen Hauswald, Camilla Hemann, and Charlotte Enright. Judy Hambrick is Sister Enright’s assistant.
Lia Ochoa, a high school teacher from Pearl, teaches Spanish class once a week.
Several retired teachers and high school students tutor in the after-school program. Computer classes are taught by Scotty Taylor, a computer specialist and Sister Hauswald, who is pastoral minister at Jackson Holy Family Parish.
Sister Hemann is site director for EXCEL.
“Once we helped mostly Hispanics but that picture has changed over time,” said Sister Goedken.
“Today the majority of children in the after-school tutoring are black with some white children. Most Hispanics are in ESL for adults.”
She would like to offer a bilingual computer skills class. “We have a lot of requests for that.” EXCEL is a non-profit organization funded by minimum tuition from participants, grants and donations.
In addition to its volunteers from Morton, students from Creighton University in Omaha, Neb., and Briar Cliff University in Sioux City, Iowa, voluteer their services twice a year.
This week nine students from Creighton University are scrubbing bookcases and scraping, painting and caulking the front of the building.
Also, they are tutoring at EXCEL and at Morton High School.
“Part of their education is to be of service,” said Sister Enright. “It is part of the Jesuit tradition — being a person for others.”
There is a resale store in the building located at 383 S. 4th St. off Highway 80 East.
EXCEL is a non-profit organization funded by minimum tuition from participants, grants and donations. 