SHA Cordecho Fall 2020

4 C O R D E C H O S P I R I T . M I N D . B O D Y . he first week of June 2020 was a great week for all-girls education! First, June 3rd, the Washington Post ran an article by Jay Matthews discussing the value of an all girls’ education that focused on the high academic ranking of a surprising number of public all-girls schools in the United States. On June 7, the Buffalo News also had an editorial touting the success of all-girls schools. And, on June 9, 2020, Buffalo Business First announced that Buffalo Academy of the Sacred Heart surpassed City Honors to become the #1 ranked high school in Western New York. While all these articles focused on academic success, we know that Buffalo Academy of the Sacred Heart’s mission is more expansive than simply a top-rated academic program. Our mission statement calls for a comprehensive and balanced education rooted in our Franciscan values. The mission statement goes on to state, “We graduate young women with intellectual preparedness, spiritual grounding, commitment to service and the leadership skills necessary to have a positive impact on the world.” Many graduates have taken the leadership skills and confidence developed at Sacred Heart Academy and become trailblazers and advocates in their communities. We see many of our graduates, such as the ones featured on the next page, passionate about leadership, law, and government, the same arenas in which Justice Ginsburg made women’s issues centerstage. For generations, Sacred Heart Academy has been a place where young women develop the skills to serve their community competently and compassionately. It is here young women find their voices and then speak up, take the lead, and take risks. This training has prepared our women to take on greater challenges and lend their heads, hearts and voices to the noble goal of liberty and justice for all. A fierce guardian for women’s rights, the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg spent her entire career as a voice for gender equality. Her death on September 18, 2020 occurred exactly one month to the day after the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment’s ratification. Granting women the right to vote marked one of the most important steps forward towards gender equality. Not surprisingly, Justice Ginsburg’s own mother, Celia Bader, marched as a suffragist when Celia was only 15 years old. Celia Bader went on to use her voice at the polls and to raise a brilliant and determined daughter dedicated to advancing gender equality through her life’s work. For Justice Ginsburg, the 19th Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment were the constitutional foundation of the legal argument for women’s equality in every aspect of life. During her time at the ACLU, Justice Ginsburg argued six different equal rights cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. When she visited Buffalo to receive her honorary degree from the University at Buffalo in August of 2019, just days after she had completed a round of cancer treatment, Justice Ginsburg conveyed that whether it was through the court system, public service or education, women still had a battle ahead to achieve true equality. With her passing, she hands off the proverbial baton to move advocacy for equal rights for women forward. R.I.P., RBG. LIBERTY AND A JUSTICE FOR ALL From Suffragists to SHA Suffragists picketing at the White House photo courtesy of Everett Collection photo courtesy of the North Coast Journal