Congratulations to McAuley senior Mary Scully, who was featured in the September 14, 2009 edition of the Portland Press Herald for being a “Hometown Hero.”
“Hometown Heroes” is “a series about high school athletes who are more than just names in the box scores or roundups.” They are students who “subscribe to the volunteer spirit, involve themselves in community projects, and serve as mentors to other students.” The McAuley community is proud that one of its own was selected for such an honor.
Scully was chosen for going above and beyond McAuley’s 15 hours of required community service work, for giving back to her community, and for sharing her love of soccer with the extended community.
The more, the merrier for this McAuley senior
By Rachel Lenzi, Staff Writer for the Portland Press Herald
Mary Scully prepared to work with only 10 children during the summer, but each day she volunteered to coach soccer in Portland’s Kennedy Park neighborhood, a new face would show up, drawn to the prospects of playing soccer and making friends.
Each time another one appeared, Scully didn’t blink. Instead, she found a way to incorporate each new child into the day.
“You’d turn around and a new face would show up,” said Scully, a senior on the McAuley High soccer team. “There would be anywhere from 10 to 30 kids a day we’d work with, but we found a way to include everyone.
“Those are kids who need someone in their lives and I wanted to be a positive force for them.”
For the past two summers, Scully has volunteered with the Portland Housing Authority by working with a youth soccer program in Kennedy Park. During the school year, she volunteers at the Sagamore Village Education Center, tutoring elementary school children in an after-school program.
“She’s so outgoing and so enthusiastic about working with anybody who wants to work with her,” said Emily Fitch, the education center coordinator. “She really goes after the kids and with her it’s like, ‘let’s do this, let’s go play soccer.’
“Her attitude carries her so far with the kids. She’s not much older than them, even in some cases she’s their age, and it’s easy for her to connect with the kids.”
Scully’s appreciation of and devotion to volunteering grew through the opportunity she received to work with the Portland Housing Authority’s Soccer Start program. She found a way to fully utilize her interpersonal skills and a way to give back to the community through soccer.
Soccer Start recently completed its third year, and it gives children the opportunity for their first involvement in organized soccer. For some children, it’s their first involvement in an organized sport.
Kennedy Park, a public housing complex in Portland, is one of four family neighborhoods that hosted the Soccer Start program this summer. Mark Adelson, deputy director of the Portland Housing Authority, explained that many of the Soccer Start volunteers learn about the program by word of mouth.
Scully learned about the program while volunteering with Cultivating Community, a Portland-based nonprofit geared towards achieving sustainability through local farming and urban gardening, and migrated toward working with the Portland Housing Authority after participating in a pickup soccer game between a team from Kennedy Park and volunteers with Cultivating Community.
“Knowing her from the team, people gravitate to her,” McAuley Coach Vincent Aceto said. “She’s used soccer as an avenue and she’s tied soccer into the social aspect and into volunteering. Why not promote the game?”
Scully is president of McAuley’s social action club, which explores and educates students on women’s issues. She is involved with several other student organizations, including student council, the varsity club and speech and debate.
She is also working with Jo Ellen Rand, McAuley’s field hockey and lacrosse coach, on writing a grant that would help students create a video about the hazards of text messaging while driving – inspired by a public service announcement from Wales, a graphic video that shows the potential hazards of text messaging while driving.
This fall, Scully will coach a U-8 girls’ soccer team in the Portland Area Youth Soccer Association.
In June, Aceto named Scully one of the Lions’ three captains and gave her the responsibility of coordinating summer workouts, in addition to her volunteer work.
“She found out how much more she could do,” Aceto said.
McAuley requires students to participate in 15 hours of community service each school year.
Scully acknowledges some choose to go above and beyond that mandate and she believes that in volunteering, she is learning the value of contributing to her community.
“Volunteering teaches you that you have to give back to the community, and to me, it’s about giving back something that has given so much to me in my life,” Scully said. “I grew up playing PAYSA soccer and I want to be able to make that continue for someone else.
“Personally, I’ve been very fortunate with family and with school, and it’s my duty to give back to people. It’s my duty.”
