Second year volunteer Katie Jann is a teacher/TA for 6th grade religion, coordinates art and study hall, serves as a prefect, and directs campus ministry. First year volunteer Paul Avvento teaches 7th grade social studies, 7th and 8th grade phys. ed., and is on the campus ministry team.
Founded in 2001 by the Daughters of Charity and the De La Salle Christian Brothers, De Marillac Academy provides an innovative, comprehensive, and accessible Catholic education in the Vincentian and Lasallian traditions for children from underserved families of the Tenderloin neighborhood and other at-risk communities in San Francisco. De Marillac is open to students of all faiths and cultural backgrounds.
Unlike any other private school in San Francisco, De Marillac offers a tuition-free, high-quality education to children from low-income and underserved households in the Tenderloin neighborhood, where 41% of the estimated 3,500 school-age children live in poverty. De Marillac is the only middle school in the neighborhood and recently expanded its program by adding a fourth grade in 2006 and a fifth grade in 2007, increasing the size of the student body to close to 100 students.
Students typically enter De Marillac below grade level, but the school bridges educational deficits with an intensive educational curriculum designed to prepare graduates to compete successfully in demanding high school environments. Additionally, De Marillac partners with Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory and Catholic Youth Organization to provide a mandatory summer school and summer camp program. The California Pacific Medical Center and the University of San Francisco also support De Marillac’s counseling and health and wellness programs.
Volunteers serve the De Marillac School as teachers, teacher’s assistants, tutors in the after-school program, and as moderators for the yard and lunch duty. Other school tasks include development work, proofreading school documents, translating, and other areas of personal interest.
