Campus Minister and teacher Libby Keady and STEAM teacher Nicole Acaso brought nine Notre Dame Preparatory students to Marian House. The visit brought together two SSND sponsored ministries in Baltimore. Marian House is a co-sponsored ministry that provides housing and rehabilitative services to help homeless women transform their lives from dependence to independence.
The students participated in a career day for high school girls interested in architecture, engineering, and construction. We enjoyed presentations by local women working in those fields, an exercise in reading architectural plans and drafting construction prices, and an extensive tour of Marian House’s Independence Place project, which is transforming the vacant Blessed Sacrament School into a 22-unit apartment building for homeless women & children.
In addition to awesome, first-hand looks at architectural, engineering, and construction work the students had conversation about:
- The need for more affordable housing in Maryland
- How a responsible adult can work full-time and still not be able to afford market-rate rent and other basic living expenses (i.e. minimum wage not being a living wage)
- How Marian House designed the building to have all modern amenities that any middle class American family wants (i.e. not providing a “poor product for poor people”)
- How Marian House selected the site with consideration for local amenities that any middle class American family wants nearby – grocery store, parks, good schools, library etc.
