One year ago, the St. Francis community lost one of our dearest patrons, Rev. Joseph M. Mascioli, when he died at age 84. His original cancer prognosis gave him less than two months to live, but through his fighting spirit, he was able to remain strong for nearly a year. He lived his life to the fullest and was a steward on this earth to our school’s mission -“to serve, not to be served.” Even until his death, he held St. Francis de Sales Central Catholic School close to his heart. This was evident by the bequest left to our school. The monetary gift was presented to our school by his brother Paul Mascioli this past spring. There were no restrictions on what the monetary gift could be used for.
Knowing the type of person that Fr. Mascioli was, we wanted to set the money aside until we had a purposed and meaningful use for it. Fr. Mascioli was a very impressionable person, bringing light to those who were around him. To those who knew him, he was humble, full of humor, and always tenacious in the causes he fought for. In trying to honor the spirit of Fr. Mascioli, the monetary gift was used for a spirit-filled team building day. On Saturday, August 9 the faculty and staff reported to school for a mandatory work day. The “work” day was part of their 200 day contractual obligation for the 2015 school year….but they were unaware of what was actually planned. When the faculty and staff arrived on that day, they were pleasantly surprised to learn of the day awaiting them. In honor of Fr. Mascioli, a team scavenger hunt had been being organized for them all summer long by the administrative staff.
The faculty members were broken into 6 different teams and they had a list of 90 different challenges for the day. After they received their instructions, they had 6 hours to travel our campus and the greater Morgantown area to complete as many challenges as they could. Each of the challenges had a point value. Simply put…..the more extreme the challenge was, the greater its point value was. Due to the bequeath from Fr. Mascioli, we were able to provide our faculty and staff a catered meal at the end of the day and rent a karaoke deejay for the evening festivities. Along with that, there were cash rewards for all teams, with the highest placed team receiving the most cash, and then trickling down from there. For anyone that does not believe that teachers are competitive, you should have seen the race that immediately began!
The purpose of the day was to simply do something together that was not work-related. It was dedicated in memory of Fr. Mascioli and it allowed the teachers to connect with their colleagues on a personal level….which was a speciality of Fr. Mascioli. The faculty and staff are a united group and activities/days like this only strengthen their bond. There are countless professional development opportunities offered to teachers to enhance their performance as a teacher. More often than not, however, the ones that are the most impactful are the ones that have nothing to do with new teaching methods, but rather the ones that remind us of our humanity, along with the wonderful emotions and friendships that God has blessed us with. We hope that Fr. Mascioli enjoyed the view from heaven, because the day was certainly filled with laughter here on earth.
Please enjoy some of the pictures from the adventurous day……….