2023 Catholic Schools Week

A life changes through the love of God and the touch of angels in human form

As the smiles of some of her students at Marian University in Indianapolis show, Rolanda Hardin, forefront, has always had a way of sharing joy and kindness with young people. (Submitted photo)

By John Shaughnessy

Rolanda Hardin believes there are moments in a young person’s life that are shaped by the love of God and the touch of angels in human form.

She embraces that belief because she has lived that reality, starting with a life-changing choice when she was a little girl.

In the era of busing in Indianapolis in the 1970s, her grandfather and her mother decided that instead of sending her to a county public school far from her eastside home, they would send the Baptist-raised child to the nearest school in the neighborhood—St. Andrew Catholic School.

Now 52, Hardin shares all the ways that choice has made a difference in her life.

“My three best girlfriends to this day came from there. I’m still friends with some of my teachers. Even the guy I’m dating now was in the first grade with me.”

As much as those realities delight her, she says the biggest impact of her education at St. Andrew is that it led her on a path to the Catholic faith—a foundation she has used to help shape the lives of many children and young people, including her current role as the coordinator of the 21st Century Scholars program at Marian University in Indianapolis.

“My sixth-grade teacher—Providence Sister Elizabeth Cecile Gardner—and our pastor, Father James Farrell, were very integral in my life. For Sister Elizabeth, it all started with the word ‘service.’ It was all about taking care of your community, giving back to your community. We would visit nursing homes. At Christmas, we took toys and clothes and trees to people in need.”

She also loved participating in the school Masses celebrated by Father Farrell.

“I loved how it was very ritualistic. It taught me how to pray, and it taught me the importance of the sacraments. All of it was my foundation.”

That foundation continued in her education at Cathedral High School in Indianapolis.

“It was fabulous,” she says about her high school experience. “I went there with about 10 of my friends from St. Andrew, and we remained friends there. Father [Patrick] Kelly was a very big part of my Cathedral experience. He was the principal. He was really big about making faith as important as everything else. He really made you believe in Cathedral being a family and an extension of my family. He was there for me after graduation, too. He officiated at my grandfather’s funeral.”

Four years after she graduated from Cathedral in 1988, she embraced the choice that she had first thought about making as a student at St. Andrew. She entered into full communion with the Church at St. Andrew Parish in 1992.

“It was a full-circle moment,” says Hardin, who is still a member of St. Andrew 30 years later. “It just felt like the right thing to do.”

So did the emphasis on making a difference in the lives of others that she learned at St. Andrew and Cathedral.

Hardin was a special education teacher for 20 years before becoming the coordinator of Indiana’s 21st Century Scholars program at Marian in 2020.

The state-funded program is designed to make college more affordable. Eligible students who meet requirements that start in the eighth grade receive a two- or four-year scholarship that pays up to 100% tuition at an eligible Indiana college or university.

“It’s all about keeping our most valuables resources—our young people—here in Indiana,” she says. “I still get to help people in our neighborhoods, our communities. I work alongside the students. I’m there to support them academically and connect them to the resources on the campus.

“I also teach a first-year seminar to some of the freshman students. We get to talk about Franciscan values and the legacy of Marian. Of course, we’re accepting of all faiths. I try to find the commonalities between us instead of the differences.”

Hardin often sees herself at that age in the students she helps. She also tries to emulate Sister Elizabeth in the way she tries to help them.

“The fun thing about being on a college campus and working with these students is they need some coaching, mentoring and support to be all they can be. To know that you’re supporting them and that you are part of their legacy, that’s important to me.

“For me, it always goes back to the foundations of my Catholic education—the principles of being good to people, being kind to people, and that education is the foundation for life. I really think the very core of being a Catholic school student is that a simple act of kindness goes a long way.”

In living that focus, she has seen how it has shaped her relationship with God.

“It draws me closer to him. Every day before I put my feet on the floor, I ask him to order my steps, to order my day.

“May the lives I come into contact with, may they see God through me. May I be an extension of him in human form.” †