Cyclones at OKC Memorial Marathon 2018

Casady Environmental Club joins OKC Litter Blitz 2018

Casady UD Faculty at Street Clean-up, 8:30 am

Casady Environmental Club at Litter Blitz, Street Clean-Up, April 28,2018, 9:30 am

Environmental Club by Casady Adopt a Street Sign, established by Class of 2005

YAC Meeting, May 1, 2018 - Last Meeting of the 2018-2019 year

Suggested Agenda
Minutes by Mrs. Clay, pictures by Gaby K. and Mrs. Clay

Date, time and location for Strategic Planning 2018-2019: Saturday, May 5th, 3:30-5:00 pm at Harper.  Please let Katherine or Mrs. Clay know if you are planning to attend

Attended:  

Seniors: Mariam, Safra, Sharun (late)
Juniors: Katherine, Liz W.
Sophomores: Saadia
Freshmen: Katherine H., Gabby K., Abby Kays, Tina N., Isabella P., Ava R.

New Business
1 Senior Sendoff:  Seniors received a token of YAC's appreciation with thank you letters.  Ali had a connecting game 7UP.  YAC members shared Italian Ice and Klondike Bars.

2. Students Rebuild, Facing Difference Challenge:  Gaby took pictures of 45 drawings by 3rd graders.  Mrs. Clay will send the pictures of the drawings to Bezos Foundation after Mrs. France gives the Go Ahead.  It will be entered as a YAC entry because Gabby took the pictures.  Mrs. Thompson/Mrs.Fyers are the facilitating teacher.

3 Camp Anytown  Tabled.  Information about this camp on tv screens and at Casady Places to serve blog.  This camp is Youth LEAD OKC suggested summer training.

4. Happy Tails Supplies Drive:  Oklahoma Humane Society has 110 new puppies. They sent the following email of needs.  If a YAC members wishes to help, please bring your donations and place them under the "Leaving Giving Tree" at the YAC Community Room.  Please tell a friend about the needs.  The drive will start tomorrow and end Tuesday, May 8th.  Mrs. Clay will take the donations to OHS after school

1.   Blankets

2.   Paper towels

3.   Bath Towels

4.    Bleach

4.    Laundry detergent

5.    Trash bags (39 gallon+)

6.    Ziploc bags (quart & gallon)

7.    Copy paper

8. If you recycle, we use the cardboard centers of paper towel rolls as disposable toys for dogs and cats who we are treating with an illness such as kennel cough. 

9. We also rely on volunteers to request the cardboard boxes that Petsmart & Petco discard after a flat of canned dog food or canned cat food is sold. We use these cardboard boxes as disposable litter boxes for the cats in our care.

10.  If you wish to donate directly, here is a suggested Wishlist Link to Amazon Wish List

Old Business
1. Status of
-PVSA  Awards website still does not have medals available to order.  Mrs. Clay will order certificates this Friday with pins instead of medals (as they are not available yet)
-Seniors finishing requirement  11 seniors still need to provide documentation to certify hours.  Boys and Girls Club has a need for after-school mentors and tutors 4:00-7:00 pm.
-Best Buddies  SL paid $350 for Sahanya to attend the National Conference and to have a Best Buddies Casady Chapter next year.  Sahanya had a meeting after chapel where she asked students interested in continuing as Best Buddies to re-apply or they will have to start a brand new application next year.  All files are deleted on a yearly basis
-Youth & Government  2 Casady Students were chosen to go to CONA.  Mrs. Bek-gran will continue to be the main sponsor next year
-Youth LEAD OKC - Possible connection with Oklahoma Center for Community and Justice.  The outreach director of Camp Any Town visited Casady and is interested in looking at possibilities of re-awakening Youth LEAD OKC at a city-wide level

YAC delivers Care Bags for YWCA

YAC's Action project for National Volunteer Week 2018 was making 51 care packages for the YWCA moms at their shelter.  While delivering the packages, Ms. Mary Cornelsen, Director of Outreach Education, and Volunteer services shared with us that April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month and in October, the YWCA raises awareness of domestic violence.  Ms. Cornelsen, mcornelsen@ywcaokc.org, 405-948-170 stated that the mothers will be very thankful because the items in the care packages are of great daily need.  Ms. Cornelson also stated that she would be happy to speak at UD chapel about the YWCA mission, vision, and volunteer opportunities  

After the meeting, Mrs. Clay brought to YAC's attention a Casady resource connected to the YWCA, Cyclone Susan Steward Russell  

Susan D. Russell-Stewart '66

Alumni Achievement 2017
Director of Services for Logan County, Family Builders
Oklahoma City, OK

Susan Russell-Stewart is on the staff of Family Builders, Oklahoma City, as director of services for Logan County, where she runs the batterers intervention and child abuse prevention programs. She also provides parenting courses at Palomar: Oklahoma City’s Family Justice Center.

Ms. Russell-Stewart works with several other community programs, several of which she co-founded or restarted, including the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner program, the Coordinated Community Response Team of Logan County, Palomar, and the Oklahoma Prevention Leadership Committee, which she chairs. Ms. Russell-Stewart served on the committees that established Leadership Midwest City and Leadership Oklahoma.

YAC's National Volunteer 2018 Action Project-Care Bags for YWCA

YAC's Action project for National Volunteer Week 2018 was making 51 care packages for the YWCA moms at their shelter.  While delivering the packages, Ms. Mary Cornelsen, Director of Outreach Education, and Volunteer services shared with us that April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month and in October, the YWCA raises awareness of domestic violence.  Ms. Cornelsen, mcornelsen@ywcaokc.org, 405-948-170 stated that the mothers will be very thankful because the items in the care packages are of great daily need.  Ms. Cornelson also stated that she would be happy to speak at UD chapel about the YWCA mission, vision, and volunteer opportunities  

After the meeting, Mrs. Clay brought to YAC's attention a Casady resource connected to the YWCA, Cyclone Susan Steward Russell  

Susan D. Russell-Stewart '66

Alumni Achievement 2017
Director of Services for Logan County, Family Builders
Oklahoma City, OK

Susan Russell-Stewart is on the staff of Family Builders, Oklahoma City, as director of services for Logan County, where she runs the batterers intervention and child abuse prevention programs. She also provides parenting courses at Palomar: Oklahoma City’s Family Justice Center.

Ms. Russell-Stewart works with several other community programs, several of which she co-founded or restarted, including the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner program, the Coordinated Community Response Team of Logan County, Palomar, and the Oklahoma Prevention Leadership Committee, which she chairs. Ms. Russell-Stewart served on the committees that established Leadership Midwest City and Leadership Oklahoma.

SEE Period: 7th Grade at Johnson Elementary

7th Grade Service Education Experience

Seventh grade went to Andrew Johnson Elementary to share their storybooks today; this was the culminating activity for SEE "Reading Buddies." 

We donated the stories to the AJE library. Casady students had the choice to write an ebook with audio or to write a hard copy. 

I hope you enjoy their creations.

Cherylynn O'Melia


2018 Spring Storybook Project
Ms. O’Melia’s 7th Grade English Classes

Click a book cover below to view these books and hear the audio in your web browser!

Access this page by visiting this short link: bit.ly/7thstories

 

Advisory Assignments:

O'Melia & Scott - Second Grade/Ms. Kongs A113

Titus - Kindergarten/Ms. Freeman A106

*Sappington - Pre-K/Ms. Ferguson B116 (This is a new assignment for this advisory)

Lester & Staats - First Grade/Ms. Ellis A108

Spring Fling, April 26th at 5:30 pm

Spring Fling Visual and Performing Arts Event Featuring MD and UD

Thursday, April 26, the Casady Community will have the opportunity to enjoy performances and view student artwork at the Spring Fling Visual and Performing Arts Event featuring Middle and Upper Division students. 

The Spring Fling will begin at 5:30 p.m. with performances scheduled every 30 minutes until 7:00 p.m. in various venues within Bennett Athletic Center. 

Food trucks will be on campus, and families are welcome to bring blankets for picnics on the lawn near Jimmy's Concessions or dine inside at tables in the Bennett Athletic Center lobby.

All Casady families are invited to come and listen to all choirs, bands, orchestra, and scenes and monologues. The art show will be in the lobby. 

Six Habits of Highly Compassionate People

Follow these steps to feel more compassionate toward others and toward yourself.

BY HOORIA JAZAIERI | APRIL 24, 2018

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Would you describe yourself as a compassionate person?

Even if you don’t necessarily see yourself that way, I bet you’re compassionate at least some of the time (e.g., when you’re well-rested and not in a hurry), or with certain people in your life (e.g., with your closest friends). Compassion can be thought of as a mental state or an orientation towards suffering (your own or others’) that includes four components:

• Bringing attention or awareness to recognizing that there is suffering (cognitive)
• Feeling emotionally moved by that suffering (affective)
• Wishing there to be relief from that suffering (intentional)
• A readiness to take action to relieve that suffering (motivational)

Contrary to what many may believe, compassion is considered to be like a muscle that, as any other, can be strengthened with relevant exercises—or can deteriorate and atrophy. In other words, your capacity for compassion can expand, if you choose.

You likely never learned in school that you can intentionally strengthen inner skills such as compassion. The good news is that there are specific habits that you can practice in order to begin honing your abilities to expand compassion for yourself and for others.

Habit 1: Try the research-tested compassion practices

Preliminary research from a variety of randomized controlled trials suggests that compassion can in fact be enhanced through systematic training programs. For example, the eight-week compassion cultivation training (CCT) course that was developed by Thupten Jinpa, Ph.D., and colleagues at Stanford University’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education suggests that adults can indeed improve compassion for themselves, and reduce fear of compassion for themselves and for others.

Even if you don’t or can’t take a research-validated training program, there are numerous ways to build your compassion muscle—many of which are described on Greater Good in Action (GGIA), the GGSC’s library of science-based practices. Some of these practices involve meditation, such as loving-kindness. Others are writing exercises, such as one that asks you to describe a time when you felt a strong bond with another person.

• 

Feeling Connected

• A writing exercise to foster connection and kindness

  Try It Now

Many of the practices in both GGIA and the structured training programs range from 10-30 minutes in length. As with most exercises, the more you do them, the more you will likely reap the benefits. However, something is better than nothing. For example, if your physical exercise goal is to take 10,000 steps a day and you only take 3,000, that’s still better for your health than taking none.

Meditation is similar. While the intention may be 20-30 minutes of daily compassion meditation, some practice is better than no practice—and you are maintaining your intention and routine, which will only increase the likelihood of your continuing this intention and routine the next day. Notice if this “all-or-nothing” mentality with your compassion practice is hindering you and see if you can test the “something is better than nothing” theory.

Habit 2: And try informal compassion practices, too

While there’s lots of research supporting those kinds of compassion-cultivating practices, there’s also a place for informal, moment-to-moment practices throughout the day.

For example, you could notice when compassion comes easily or spontaneously for you throughout the day (e.g., watching the evening news). You could notice when you resist acknowledging or being with suffering (your own or others) throughout the day (e.g., when passing someone on the street who is asking for money or an extended family member who is challenging). Throughout the day, you could notice when you judge or minimize suffering (e.g., saying that it doesn’t count or is insignificant compared to someone else or something else going on in the world). We often notice suffering (our own and that of others) but quickly dismiss it and thus do not allow ourselves to be emotionally touched or moved by the suffering (the second component of compassion). This kind of awareness of the presence, or absence, of compassion can provide some valuable information to you.

• 

Letting Go of Anger through Compassion

• To foster resilience, think about a hurtful event in a different way

  Try It Now

So, the next time you’re standing in line at the grocery store, instead of looking down at your phone or watching how quickly the surrounding lines are moving (I’m guilty of both), take a moment to consider the common humanity of the people who made your grocery trip possible—the people who grew the food, transported the food, and stocked the shelves, or even the cashier who is about to help you. Perhaps you could take a moment of appreciation for each of them.

If you choose, this could be an opportunity to acknowledge the interdependence that surrounds us. Our lives, even simple trips to the grocery store, are supported by countless others.

Habit 3: Set an intention

Renowned meditation teacher Jack Kornfield once wrote that setting one’s intention is like setting the compass for one’s heart. Our intention helps guide our efforts to be compassionate and helps remind us why we are choosing to set time aside for compassion-cultivating practices. When I teach compassion, I pose questions for my students, such as these:

• What is bringing you to the practice today?
• What do you want for yourself?
• What do you want for your life?
• What do you have to offer the world?

While these are indeed “big” questions, asking them allows us to ponder our intentions of why we are trying to strengthen our inner skill of compassion.

For a week, try setting an intention before you start your compassion meditation practice and notice whether this intention helps clarify your purpose. At times, this intention can come up again throughout the day as a means of renewing your commitment to practice compassion, even when you are living life “off the cushion.”

Habit 4: Collect your own data

Research is probabilistic. Just because something works for most people (or people in research studies) does not mean that it will work for you. As I always tell my students, in order to get the most convincing data, “Be your own laboratory.”

Run a short experiment (e.g., a couple weeks or a couple months) and collect your own data. Do you feel more compassionate (towards yourself, loved ones, strangers, difficult people) when utilizing formal (e.g., sitting meditation) and informal (e.g., silently reciting loving-kindness phrases to yourself while waiting in line at Trader Joe’s) compassion practices?

• 

Loving-Kindness Meditation

• Strengthen feelings of kindness and connection toward others

  Try It Now

Students in my compassion training classes receive a workbook, which contains a daily practice log and space for comments. Since the practice is different every day, it’s important that we spend time, even if just a few minutes, reflecting on what the practice was like for us: what came up, where did our attention wander to during the practice, how did our intention guide our practice, and so on. Without reflection, these practices can become another thing on a lengthy daily “to-do” list. It is only with reflection that we can get a sense of whether these practices are actually benefitting us (immediately or in the longer-term).

Additionally, I invite students even when they do not practice to still log a “0” for practice time for the day and to also write down what they did instead of doing the practice (e.g., caught up on emails, slept in, went to the gym, watched TV, etc.). This allows us to continue the routine of logging and reflecting and also allows us to examine patterns to the days where we are not practicing—perhaps what we are choosing to do instead of meditating is a higher priority, or perhaps what we are doing instead is not actually adding value to our lives.

Running this experiment does not require a workbook, purchasing a fancy meditation cushion, or buying trendy new yoga clothes. These practices, which are thousands of years old, can be done right in the comfort of your own home, at the office, in your car, or really anywhere, just as you are. Afterward, reflection can take many forms—and you should adopt one that works for you.

Habit 5: Get support

In my experience as a meditation student and as a meditation teacher, the practices are initially helpful when done with the guidance of an instructor. The instructor can answer questions, help troubleshoot and problem-solve, and, most importantly, help you stick with and come back to your practice.

One of my favorite things about teaching compassion courses is the supportive environment that gets created within the group—it’s a unique opportunity to participate in community-based practice. I find it also helps renew one’s optimism as it reminds us that we are not alone in these practices. Many others are choosing to acknowledge suffering (their own and others’) and wish to see the relief of suffering. This notion can get lost at times when doing these practices in solitude.

• 

Feeling Supported

• Recalling how others have comforted us can make us more compassionate

  Try It Now

If you don’t have the time or money for a class, don’t despair. You might find support at a religious community or center in your area, if you have one. If you don’t, enlist a friend or relative to support your effort to make compassion more of a habit—someone who can encourage and remind you to stay on track and help you (non-judgmentally) troubleshoot the times when you just don’t feel very compassionate in the midst of suffering. 

Habit 6: Be open to possibilities—and compassionate toward yourself

There are lots of good reasons why sometimes we intend to do compassion meditation practices, and yet, for whatever reason, we drop the ball. Often, what people do when this happens is engage in “negative self-talk” by implicitly or explicitly saying things to themselves, such as “I never stick with anything”; “I’m a failure”; or “I can’t do this.” Interestingly, there’s no empirical evidence to suggest that beating ourselves up will actually help us change our behavior; in fact, some data suggests that this type of criticism can move us away from our goals rather than towards them.

Additionally, one of the interesting opportunities that arises when we do not do our compassion meditation practices is to see if, in that moment, we can practice compassion for ourselves. While a bit meta (compassion for missing the compassion practice), this is essentially one of the “tests” of our practice. When we’re tempted to be harsh, critical, and judgmental with ourselves, can we instead choose to have compassion: acknowledging our suffering, noting how this makes us human and that we are not alone, and trying to be gentle or kind with ourselves (or at least refrain from beating ourselves up—“if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all”)?

• 

Compassion Meditation

• Strengthen feelings of concern for the suffering of others

  Try It Now

Often the story that gets told about meditation is that it will be “relaxing,” “stress-relieving,” and “blissful.” While all of these experiences are possible, for many people the experience with meditation or compassion practices is the exact opposite of peaceful, relaxing, and positive. For some, depending on the practice, just focusing on one’s breath can bring about extreme anxiety or worry thoughts, bringing to mind a loved one can bring about grief and loss, imagining oneself as a young child can bring about sadness or pain, considering the suffering of all beings may bring about guilt or overwhelm.

It is important to notice whether we are bringing any expectations to the compassion practice. Often people will say that the compassion practices are not “working.” When we investigate what they mean by this, they are often referring to the experience of not feeling relaxed after the meditation. While relaxation and stress relief can be the goal of some meditations, in general this is not the case with compassion meditation. Compassion is ultimately about suffering, which can at times feel difficult to sit with.

Finally, people often bring the expectation that because a compassion practice generated a certain feeling or experience before (e.g., yesterday or last week), it “should” or will generate a similar feeling or experience today. As I often tell my students, reality is constantly changing (time is passing and the earth is rotating as you read this), and thus it is a bit of a fallacy to expect that we, and the practice, will be the same day in and day out. Because the practice is different every day, we have something “new” to reflect on after each practice.

It may simply be the case that the activities aren’t right for you. If loving-kindness doesn’t seem to be increasing your compassion, try something else, like writing about a time when you felt like someone showed compassion toward you, or a time when you felt spontaneous compassion for another. It is important to be open to another possibility: Perhaps compassion practices aren’t what you need right now. The good news is that there are many varieties of different contemplative practices available that can help you to become more present and non-judgmental.

Establishing new habits takes time. Be patient and keep trying. One day, you might find yourself more open to suffering—and more capable of addressing it—than you’ve ever been before.

Greater Good wants to know: Do you think this article will influence your opinions or behavior?