What's Happening

March 5, 2025, Sección San José, Bani, Dominican Republic – A sense of celebration permeated Sección San José, Bani, a small village in the Dominican Republic, as 300 people gathered to enjoy speakers, a marching band, a brigade of batons and flags, and refreshments on February 15, 2025. Sisters Basilia De la Cruz, OP, Nery "Luchy" Sori, OP, and Eneida Santiago, OP, were in attendance for this joyful inauguration of the Centro de Capacitación Téchnica Integral Hermanas Dominicas de Adrian, a technical and comprehensive training center that could make a difference in the lives of many of the residents throughout the province.
  
The event brought the vision and nine years of work and planning of the Adrian Dominican Sisters’ Resilient Community Committee for the Dominican Republic closer to reality.

“I do not think it is an exaggeration when I say that this Centro represents all that is good in our world – and what our world so urgently needs today,” said Sister Elise D. García, OP, Prioress of the Adrian Dominican Sisters, during her talk at the inauguration ceremony. She addressed the community in Spanish.

Sister Elise said the Centro is the “concrete result” of a dream and a vision “to provide comprehensive technical training that will impact not only the lives of your families but the larger world beyond.” She said it is also the “concrete result” of a “mission to work together for the common good of the community” and of a “commitment to seed hope for a brighter future.” Read Sister Elise’s comments in Spanish and in English.

The training center is the centerpiece of the resilient communities plan, Developing Resiliency in the Community of San José, the Dominican Republic. This and five other regional resilient communities initiatives were created in response to the Adrian Dominican Sisters’ Enactment on Resilient Communities, approved during the Congregation’s 2016 General Chapter.

Partners with the Adrian Dominican Sisters in developing the technical training center include the Dominican Republic’s Institute for Professional Technical Training (INFOTEP), which will offer internationally recognized certification to graduates of the technical center, and Fe y Alegría, a federation of local organizations that provide education in poor areas in 19 nations, particularly in Latin America. Centro Espíritu Santo Fe y Alegría is a school in Sección San José founded 30 years ago by members of the local community and Adrian Dominican Sisters Maurine Barzantni, OP, and Renee Richie, OP. The school is part of that federation, which also works with technical and vocational schools.

The training center will offer technical and vocational training to the people in the region offering certification needed for well-paying jobs. It will offer tuition-free training in areas such as electrical work, plumbing, recycling, welding, hospitality, cooking, and jewelry-making. Graduates will earn certification from INFOTEP.   

Along with hands-on workshops, the technical center includes a community garden and seven classrooms, four of them named in memory of Adrian Dominican Sisters who ministered in Sección San José: Sisters Maurine and Renee, along with Sisters Margaret Lane, OP, and Sharon McGuire, OP, who often ministered in healthcare, said Sister Luchy, who ministers at Centro Espíritu Santo. 
 
“We hope [the Center] will be ready to open in two months or so,” said Sister Eneida, who also ministers at Centro Espíritu Santo with Sister Luchy and Sister Basilia, the principal. She said the technical center is waiting to be connected to electricity to allow for the completion of the workshops. “When everything is ready, [INFOTEP] will give us the approval. Then we’ll open the school,” Sister Eneida said. 

The technical center “is for every town around our little town” and for people at all levels of education, Sister Luchy said. Programs are available to working adults who need the training and certification to earn higher wages; adults who have completed high school and those who have not; and high school students who seek extra training on weekends and in evenings. 

The new center is also causing excitement among Adrian Dominican Sisters and Associates who came to the Dominican Republic to attend the inauguration. Sister Carol Gross, OP, who ministered in the Dominican Republic for more than 30 years, said she was pleased to return and to see the growth of Centro Espíritu Santo. Four of the school’s original teachers attended the dedication of the technical center, she said. 

Sister Carol described the technical center as a “dream come true” for Sister Maurine. “Maurine, right from the very, very beginning, was concerned about vocational education and helping people to get those skills that they could use to be productive members of society,” she said. “It was special for me to think that that dream was right there from the beginning.”  

Lloyd Van Bylevelt, an Adrian Dominican Associate and member of the Resilient Community Committee that planned the technical center, recalled the committee’s hard work. “Basically, we had a lot of meetings, probably once or twice monthly for close to a year, figuring out the ideas and getting some resiliency into the plans,” he said. 

Lloyd was impressed by the celebratory nature of the dedication – and by the technical center itself. “To see it become real was very fulfilling,” he said. He anticipates that it will be a “major contributor” to the lives of the local community members and will augment the benefits that Centro Espíritu Santo has brought to the community over the years. 

Dee Joyner, an Adrian Dominican Associate and former Director of Resilient Communities, also attended the ceremony and was pleased by the construction and dedication of the technical center. “Just to see the project come together like that and the end result was a real highlight for me,” she said. “It was the vision the Sisters had when we first started working with them to develop the plan.”

Dee was also pleased with the local community. “The level of engagement of the community in the project was exactly what we were hoping for,” particularly the commitment of the local community to bring the project forward and make it sustainable – so that it can be continued in years to come. “It’s so apparent that they’re invested in the project,” she said.

As Director of Resilient Communities, Dee oversaw the committees whose initiatives were approved by the Adrian Dominican Sisters General Council. These included five initiatives in addition to the project in the Dominican Republic.

•    McKinley Park Resilient Community Initiative: Creating a More Resilient Immigrant Community, Chicago.
•    Growing Up Resilient: The East Adrian Youth Resilience Collaborative, Adrian.
•    An investment to construct a second building at the Dominican School of Angeles City in the Mining barangay, Province of Pampanga, Philippines.
•    Affordable Housing as a Platform for Education, Equity, and Community Resilience, Seattle.
•    The Empowering Resilient Women Initiative, Flint, Michigan. 

View a highlight reel of the inauguration below, in Spanish:

Caption for feature photo at top: Sister Elise D. García, OP, Prioress of the Adrian Dominican Sisters, cuts the ribbon during the inauguration of the Centro de Capacitación Técnica Integral Hermanas Dominicas de Adrian with Father José R. López, SJ, Director of Fe y Alegría Dominicana. Among the community members are representatives of the Adrian Dominican Congregation: Associate Dee Joyner, behind Sister Elise; and from the left of Sister Elise, Sisters Basilia De la Cruz, OP, and Eneida Santiago, OP; Associate Lloyd Van Bylevelt; and Sister Nery (Luchy) Sori, OP.    

October 31, 2023, Adrian, Michigan – Siena Heights University undergraduate social work students and clinical mental health master’s degree students now have a dedicated space to practice their counseling skills and receive feedback. On October 14, 2023, during Homecoming weekend, the University dedicated the Sister Peg Albert Social Work Simulation and Practice Lab.

A classroom in the lower level of the science wing of Sacred Heart Hall was renovated to create the social work classroom and lab. The lab was named in honor of Sister Peg, who retired in July 2023 after serving 17 years as President of Siena Heights University. Before serving in administration, Sister Peg ministered as a social worker, particularly with college students.

Sister Peg Albert, OP, PhD

“I’m humbled and honored to have the Social Work Simulation and Practice Lab named in my honor,” said Sister Peg, who could not attend the dedication. “Social work is a much-needed profession today with all the mental health issues people are experiencing, particularly since COVID. Siena Heights social workers will be well trained, given the opportunity to learn by using the lab and receiving feedback from others.”

Sister Peg said she “loved every minute” that she practiced social work, especially with college students. “I knew that my time with them was sacred because of their willingness to share their deepest thoughts and emotions with me … I used my social work skills throughout my whole life, whatever I was doing.” 

Douglas Palmer, PhD, President of Siena Heights University, said the University was founded “to bring light in places that were cast in darkness – the light of education but also the light of service. I can think of no better dedication for Sister Peg, nor better outreach of our mission here at Siena Heights, than training the future generations of social workers to go out into the world and bring light into the darkness.”

Elizabeth Davis, Director of the Social Work program, noted that, of about 12 social work programs in Michigan, Siena Heights University is one of only five that offers students a simulation and practice lab – and one of only two bachelor’s degree programs to do so. “This has been a dream for seven years, and it has finally come to fruition,” she said. “Typically, students would have to wait to get to the MSW level to have such a space …. We are really on the cutting edge here.”

The lab includes a classroom with two smaller rooms in the back: one replicating a typical social worker’s office and the other a home situation. Students have the opportunity to practice their skills in these rooms. Cameras will allow classmates to watch the practice on an 86-inch screen and offer feedback. Another portion of the lab includes a circle of chairs, allowing students to practice leading groups.

Susan Shelangoskie, Vice President of Academic Affairs – who brought Elizabeth’s proposal to the President’s Cabinet for approval – noted the hard work that Elizabeth put into the project, from cleaning the floor to preparing the room to be painted. “She has put a lot of sweat equity into this, as well as a lot of her intellectual skill and expertise,” she said.

Sister Sharon Weber, OP, who served with Sister Peg as Vice President of Academic Affairs, led in the blessing of the lab. “We ask you to bless the individuals, the faculty, and students who will use this space to teach and learn the skills that will help them and the many lives they will touch in the future,” she prayed. “Most especially, we ask you to bless the relationships that the skills in social work and counseling will develop here and through many years into the future through the work of our future alums.”

Sister Sharon also prayed for blessings on Sister Peg, “for whom we dedicate this space and who brought her own social work education and skills to benefit so many in her lifetime, and especially in her time in leadership here at Siena Heights.” 

After the blessing, the approximately 35 Social Work faculty members and students, administrators, alumnae, and friends stayed to enjoy refreshments and tour the new lab before participating in other Homecoming events.