Community-Based Learning Blog

The Donelan Office thanks our senior CBL Interns for their service to our office, to the Holy Cross campus, Worcester, and beyond. Our senior Interns are: Mattie Carroll ’19, Maya Collins ’19, Kara Cuzzone ’19, Caroline O’Connor ’19, and Jerome Siangco ’19. Their efforts and engagement have expanded and deepened the work of our office greatly. Each of the seniors has facilitated reflection sessions, planned Donelan Office events, collaborated with community partners, advised and supported CBL students, served as role models to their fellow CBL Interns and peers, and served as inspiration to us and to so many throughout their years at Holy Cross. It has been an honor and a privilege to work with these students. We will miss them greatly but are also excited to see them take their next steps and continue to enact change. Continue reading for reflections from the seniors on what they are taking away from their time as CBL Interns.

Mattie: The CBL Intern Program has led me to grow as a person and leader. Being an Intern has helped me to realize my own leadership capacities and has pushed me to develop my understanding of the issues I am passionate about in Worcester and beyond. CBL Interns have become a community of people that I look to in times of struggle and in times of great joy throughout these past years. We have pushed each other and supported each other (and eaten many delicious cookies together) in the CBL Office. I could not be more grateful for all that the CBL program has given me and I know that going forward I desire to build community with those around me, no matter where I find myself. 

Maya: As I enter the real world into a clinical research coordinator role, I hope to take with me from the CBL Intern Program the sense of community and support I was so lucky to have in my time at Holy Cross. I don’t think that the Donelan staff and other Interns realize how much they inspire me and how much their work means to the Holy Cross and Worcester communities. Ending my time with this program and cohort of Interns is one of the hardest things to leave behind at Holy Cross, so I hope to create a similar support system in my new job. That being said, the knowledge I have gained from the role will last always, so I hope to take a critical, social justice lens to all that I do and be with others, not just for them. 

Kara: During my time as a CBL Intern, I have grown more than I could have ever imagined. Initially, I sought out the program in the hope of connecting with other students who were passionate about social justice. What I didn’t realize, however, was how much this community would help me hone my leadership skills. Their support and guidance has allowed me to take ownership of who I am and become a strong, confident leader in the process.

Caroline: Through my involvement with the CBL Intern Program, I have learned more than I would have ever thought possible. I have been afforded the opportunity to build transformative relationships with other Interns, community partners, and faculty and staff. These relationships have prompted me to develop a more critical consciousness about our world, our structures, and the way that I exist within them. I have been encouraged and supported in finding my voice, and using it to question the perpetuation of problematic policies and systems. Most importantly, I have found a home among some of the most compassionate, intelligent, loving, and supportive individuals I have ever met. As I move into the real world, I carry with me all that I have learned from each person that I have met through my experience with CBL. For all of this, I will be eternally grateful. 

Jerome: From the CBL Intern program, I will take with me the humility to lead. Thinking of the process to become an Intern, I talked about my achievements and how I would be a good CBL Intern. As an Intern, I had opportunities to speak on panels, and with the Board of Trustees and other College guests. What I take away is not my persuasiveness, but rather the unease I felt during each experience. The unease came from me wanting to listen to what others had to say, rather than share my own experience. I realize now that this unease I felt was me wanting to be humble. As a CBL Intern, I grew an awareness of my own humility and how being humble is an important leadership trait. I am humbled and thankful for how the CBL Intern program has shaped me into the graduating senior I am today.

In Medium, Jake Medina ’16 writes about his experience leaving investment banking to pursue social entrepreneurship. Jake discusses his experience as a CBL Intern and his work with Ascentria Care Alliance as being foundational to his education and factors for his recent career change. Read Jake’s entire post on medium.com.

An excerpt from Jake’s post:

While my pursuit of an investment banking internship took up some time, it was only a small part of my liberal arts education. My days were spent studying, hanging out with friends, and volunteering in the Worcester, MA community. I was originally drawn to Holy Cross for its mission of educating “men and women for and with others” and this mantra permeated every facet of life at Holy Cross. From day one, it was ingrained in students that an education is not meant to only serve you — you are also meant to use it as a tool to serve the world.

In a sense, Holy Cross was a little gated utopia of academic rigor. Nestled on a hill, there was a constant flow of vans coming to and from campus, whisking students off to volunteer in various parts of the city — food banks, middle schools, immigration centers, and more. As a young civic minded individual, this was captivating and I wanted to know where I could make my mark.

Perhaps because my father is a Cuban immigrant who came to the United States as a child, I was drawn towards working with Spanish-speaking immigrants. While my childhood was sheltered, filled with rigorous academic study and a splattering of extra-curricular activities, I always knew that I had it good. Whether from a story told by my father, speaking with my grandparents through a mix of broken Spanglish, or watching my parents’ relentless work ethic, I knew that my opportunities were built upon generations of sacrifice. I threw myself into my studies accordingly.

Now at Holy Cross, watching those vans travel to and from campus, I finally felt like it was my chance to give back. All the studying, generations of sacrifice, and relentless work ethic would finally be put to use solving the world’s problems. When I was presented with the option to tutor refugee children who came to the United States by themselves, I jumped at the opportunity.

I remember pulling up to a tucked-away parking lot, walking up two flights of stairs, and seeing a number of nervous students there to meet us. I felt stupid and out of place in my Vineyard Vines pullover, but was quickly paired with a student who needed help with math as he studied for his GED (high school equivalency) test. Over the coming months, I would work with a number of students, teaching everything from algebra to the alphabet.

Needless to say, I quickly learned that I couldn’t change the world in one day. Back at Holy Cross, once the vans returned, students would huddle up and discuss our experiences while asking hard questions. How did it come about that a 15-year-old has only a 1st grade education? Why are so many former prisoners struggling to adapt to life outside the prison walls? Why are the local food pantries so busy?

Our college professors encouraged us to engage with the gritty reality of the world, to constantly question and search for answers, even if the answers were unsatisfactory. We learned that, while we weren’t changing the world, we were changing ourselves — challenging our world views, checking our assumptions, and growing in the process.

 

This month’s blog post is a collaborative effort by three CBL interns of varying class years who share time with young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities at the Worcester Public Schools Transition Program (Caroline O’Connor ‘19, Jack Chaffee ‘20, & Caitlin Grant ‘21).

In light of recent political events and proposed budget plans, we believe that the community engagement and relationships formed in programs such as the WPS Transition program are of the utmost importance. These relationships defy the culture of exclusion that is perpetuated through proposals to cut funding to the Special Olympics and special education programs. Our experiences have exemplified the importance of inclusive and mutually transformative relationships, as well as highlighted the reality that no budget plan or monetary value can be placed on them. Through funding cuts and the diminishment of the value of programs that support individuals with disabilities, we all suffer. Further, enacting such cuts diminishes the worth of these programs.

As outlined in their mission statement, the Worcester Public Schools Transition Program aims to “prepare students with disabilities for adult life, as lifelong learners and productive community members. Students are provided the opportunity to learn and grow through community learning experiences, travel training, internships, and functional academics based on their needs, interests and vision for their future.” Each of us has been able to share time with young adults in the WPS Transition Program in different ways. Holy Cross students and WPS Transition students partner through various avenues. Throughout the week, Holy Cross CBL students travel throughout the city to meet with WPS Transition students, and on Wednesday mornings the WPS Transition students visit Holy Cross through a Spanish-speaking collaboration.

Jack: Through the WPS Transition Program, I have been able to form relationships with young adults and explore their academic interests during our time together. One of the students recently expressed an interest in science and animals, so we decided to visit the Science Complex at Holy Cross. My academic interests lie in economics and international studies, so it was rewarding and interesting to explore some of the laboratories for the first time together. Together, all of us came across a laboratory with huge stuffed, taxidermist animals and plenty of animal skeletons. While some of the other CBL students were not overly interested, and even possibly grossed-out, it was a lot of fun for all of us, and important to express support for the academic interests of the young adults. I found this to be a meaningful experience because the CBL students were able to learn more about a department none of us had extensive experience in and the WPS Transition students were able to dive more deeply into a subject they love. We all enjoyed the time we shared together.

Caroline: In the time that I have been able to share with the students at WPS Transition program, I have had the opportunity to build meaningful relationships that defy socially constructed norms of friendship. Unfortunately, these inter-ability friendships are uncommon within our contemporary society. Through being in relation with students, we have been able to push each other out of our comfort zones. Last semester, along with many of the WPS Transition students, and a cohort of students from Worcester State University, I had the opportunity to participate in an inclusive theater program. While theater is definitely not one of my strong suits, this diverse community proved to be very supportive and encouraging as I stumbled over lines and very often made a fool out of myself. In allowing myself to be vulnerable among the group of individuals with whom I was working, the relationships formed proved to be very meaningful. This semester, as I continue to work with many of the same students, I am able to continue to strengthen the bonds that I began to form last semester, and which were formed out of shared experience and vulnerability.

Caitlin: The WPS Transition Program has granted me with the opportunity to form friendships with students who I typically would not have had the ability to meet and spend meaningful time with if it were not for my participation with CBL. I began to engage with WPS Transition last semester and have continued to build and strengthen my friendships with the students into this semester.  Each week both the Holy Cross and the WPS students participate in different activities during our time together. One of my favorite activities that we all had a lot fun with was when we made empanadas! We met in the Brooks-Mulledy Residence Hall kitchen, turned up some fun reggaeton music, and everyone was given a different task. Some cleaned the food, others cut and prepared the meat and vegetables, and a group began to heat up the oil that the empanadas would cook in. Until this activity, I never realized how cooking can provide a group with such an effortless opportunity to bond.  There was a task for everyone and it allowed for each individual to contribute to the final product in some way, we all could share in the end goal (the empanadas) equally. Many of the WPS students shared that empanadas were something they ate commonly at home, and having never tried them before it was a great experience to try someone else’s version of “comfort food.” Through working together to make the food and then sharing in a meal together we became a closer group. I believe that Holy Cross students, who are “for and with others,” can share in the WPS Transition mission as “lifelong learners and productive community members.” As cooking highlighted, we all have the opportunity to engage in an activity that may seem unfamiliar to us but that will ultimately lead us to learning something about ourselves and others.  These friendships and bonds that we create enhance our community; we all have something special that we contribute to the community and vital programs like WPS Transition facilitate the ability to share in this.

CBL students and WPS Transition Students visit the Science Complex at Holy Cross.

Last semester I took a course titled “Bilingualism in the Spanish Speaking World” through the Spanish department with Professor Alba-Salas. This class opened my eyes to the encompassing and expansive nature of the concept of bilingualism. I think I found it to be particularly fascinating after studying abroad and more fully understanding what it means to use two languages on a daily basis and to encounter errors and challenges that come with transferring between the two languages in my brain. In class we discussed many of the cognitive benefits that can come with being bilingual, but also about the negative outlook that so many people have toward bilingualism in the United States and how that can contribute to a deficit-based lens among bilingual people and the wider community.

I am currently taking “Seeking Justice” with Professor Michelle Sterk Barrett, in which we are to complete a CBL justice-based project to be accomplished throughout the semester. I have worked with Spanish-speaking populations in Worcester since my first semester at Holy Cross and became eager to share the knowledge I had gained through the “Bilingualism” course with all those I knew as bilingual (or multilingual) in the Worcester community. My goal was to promote bilingualism among the youth I have come to know at Ascentria Care Alliance and the New Citizens Center Young Adults Program. My first step in achieving this CBL project was to meet with Professor Alba-Salas to craft a workshop around the theme of bilingualism to be presented at Ascentria during one of our mentoring workshop sessions. Professor Alba-Salas came to the session with us and helped me to explain the myths of bilingualism and how we can work to promote asset-based views of bilingualism for ourselves and society.

Courtney Esteves ’19 is taking a new CBL class for second semester seniors entitled, “Seeking Justice.”  The class recently read excerpts from Robert Lupton’s “Toxic Charity” as well as Rabbi Sacks’ “To Heal a Fractured World: The Ethics of Responsibility.” In response to this week’s class readings, Courtney wrote the following reflection:

There are many different directions in which I could take this reflection, because I so appreciate much of what these readings had to offer! That said, one meaningful connection I drew between Sacks and Lupton is the critical importance of the “joining” or “marriage” of interrelated concepts. For example, Sacks writes that the untranslatable word “tzedakah” “joins together two concepts that in other languages are opposites, namely charity and justice” (32). Lupton offers a similar assessment, but in his case, about justice and mercy. More specifically, Lupton highlights the frequently quoted verse from Micah with his own spin on it — he writes that “Twinned together, these commands (act justly and love mercy) lead us to holistic involvement. Divorced, they become deformed” (41).

I believe both of these points to be at the core of the authors’ arguments. In my own experience, I have come to understand that charity/mercy and justice must be intertwined, reinforcing, and mutually informing for progress to happen. Furthermore, not only must they be intertwined, but their separation may very well cause more harm than good, as Lupton points out. Additionally, another connection I made was in the way Lupton describes mercy as “a door, an opening, an invitation to touch a life, to make a difference. But it is not a destination” (42). This immediately reminded me of Fr. Greg Boyle, SJ’s image of service as the “hallway to the ballroom” and “exquisite mutuality” as the ballroom itself. In justice-oriented efforts, I believe it is critically important to not throw out service or mercy altogether. Rather, it is important to continue service-oriented and mercy-driven initiatives with a critical awareness that these are merely steps along the way to a greater good (justice and exquisite mutuality, for example). And yet, to only vie for justice or exquisite mutuality without participating in the work of service/mercy can also lend itself to issues.

Quite literally, how can we reach the “destination” or the “ballroom” if we do not open the “door” and walk through the “hallway”?

I was first introduced to community-based learning (CBL) through my Montserrat course, “Exploring Differences”. To be honest, at first I was pretty ambivalent about it. The idea of going to St. Mary’s Healthcare Center once a week and visiting with a resident seemed a bit mundane. After all, what would I really be doing?My previous service experiences had always been concrete. I went in with a purpose like making sandwiches at a soup kitchen, or tutoring elementary school students. My professor’s recommendation to “avoid expectations” and just see what happened seemed a little impossible given my goal-oriented personality. But nonetheless, I decided to try.

By the time I completed my first semester of CBL, that all changed. I was hooked. I was in awe of just how much I had learned by simply showing up, and being present at St. Mary’s. My visits mostly involved listening to my resident talk about her childhood, and filling her in on the details of my life. Objectively, it didn’t seem like very important work. But after she asked for a hug and told me that she loved me after one visit, I realized that assumption couldn’t be further from the truth.

This experience prepared me for my first internship as an editorial intern for Cosmopolitanand Seventeen magazines because in a lot of ways, an internship is a similar to a CBL experience. Since you’re not in a concrete position, you’re basically required to show up and do whatever needs to be done, pitching in any way you can. You’re also not usually doing the “important” work. While this can feel disappointing to some, when I began to think of it in relation to my CBL experiences, it didn’t bother me. I realized that the small, sometimes tedious tasks of interns are often necessary in order to keep the larger operations running. So in that sense, the work is actually is pretty important and meaningful, you just have to look at it in a new way.

I enjoyed my CBL experience so much that I decided to apply to be a CBL Intern during my sophomore year. If you’re unfamiliar, the position involves assisting the daily operations of the Donelan Office of Community-Based Learning and deepening one’s understanding of community engagement. The application process requires a resume, a detailed application, and an interview. Considering I was still a first-year when I applied, this was my first real experience with applying and interviewing for an internship position, so the process served as a great learning opportunity for me.

After being accepted, the CBL Intern program also greatly prepared me for my first internship in the real world. As a CBL Intern, I learned how to interact professionally with supervisors, collaborate with team members, and assist in day-to-day operations of an office. It served as a great stepping stone before venturing into an internship position that was unaffiliated with Holy Cross. Without my CBL office experiences, I definitely wouldn’t have been as confident in my abilities to successfully contribute to a working team.

All of this is to say: take advantage of leadership and community engagement opportunities at Holy Cross whenever possible. They are a great low-stakes way to test the waters and get some experience in the outside world while still having the support of the Holy Cross community when you need it.

Kara Cuzzone ’19 is a senior Anthropology major. Read more of her work at karacuzzone.com

On February 2-5, I traveled with four other members of the Holy Cross community — Yankelly Villa ‘19, Jennifer Feraud ‘21, Motherlove Agbortoko ‘21, and Robert Jones, Associate Director of the Office of Multicultural Education, to the 2019 Catholic Social Ministry Gathering (CSMG) in Washington, DC. CSMG is an annual conference sponsored by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) with the professed purpose of “bringing together hundreds of participants whose faith inspires them to respond to pressing current domestic and global challenges relating to poverty, war, injustice and the promotion of human life and dignity.” Yankelly, Jennifer, and Motherlove were invited to attend the conference as part of their work as Multicultural Peer Educators (MPEs) here at Holy Cross, and I was invited because of my role as a CBL intern. We were all part of the CSMG’s Young Leaders Initiative, which gathers students from colleges and universities across the country to connect with and learn from one another about working toward social justice and the tenets of Catholic social teaching.

The theme of this year’s CSMG was Let Justice Flow (cf. Amos 5:24): A Call to Restore and Reconcile. CSMG organizers were open from the start of the conference about the Catholic Church’s many recent struggles, from the new revelations about clerical sexual abuse to concerns about racism within the Church, especially prompted by the USCCB’s November 2018 Pastoral Letter Against Racism. Restoration and Reconciliation were indeed the key words of the CSMG, acknowledging the Church’s institutional shortcomings but also highlighting the important social ministry that is still occurring within the Church and reaffirming the Church’s commitment to safeguarding the dignity of all peoples.

Over the four days of the conference, we attended a variety of panel discussions, reflection sessions, and community workshops, touching on a range of subjects, including racism, immigration policy, the environment, crisis pregnancies, affordable housing, nonviolence, and many more. I was particularly struck by the CSMG’s commitment to diversity. Throughout the weekend, we heard from a variety of voices within the Catholic church: clergy and laity, men and women, wealthy and working class, African-American, Asian-American, Native American, and Latinx. I was reminded of the true meaning of the word “catholic:” universal. The CSMG stressed that the Catholic Church is not just for one group of people, it is for all.  After a year of scandal and betrayal that has left me questioning the core values of my childhood faith, I was encouraged to hear from all of these voices and to see that the Church carries on, attempting to do better and to minister to and protect the dignity of all people.

On Tuesday, the final day of the conference, CSMG participants broke into state delegations to make advocacy visits to Capitol Hill. Rob Jones, Yankelly, Jennifer, Motherlove, and I traveled with the Massachusetts delegation to meet with Representative Jim McGovern, the congressman representing Worcester. In our meeting, we stressed some key issues: finding permanent legal solutions for Dreamers and TPS holders and maintaining protections for unaccompanied minors and asylum seekers; funding poverty-reducing international development and humanitarian programs; preserving funding to nutrition programs; investing in affordable housing; and supporting environmental stewardship. Representative McGovern expressed a shared interest in and commitment to addressing all of these issues.

I come away from the conference both encouraged in having met a diverse, vibrant community of Catholics committed to social justice but also aware of my own responsibility to bring my new knowledge of these many pressing social justice issues back to the Holy Cross campus in my work as a CBL intern and beyond. I am thankful that I have the opportunity to work in the Donelan Office every week and see how Holy Cross students put Catholic social teaching into action. I would encourage any Holy Cross student who has the opportunity to do so to attend a CSMG in the future as a way to bring greater context to Holy Cross’ mission to be “men and women, for and with others.”

I recently spent last fall semester in Washington, D.C. There, I was fortunate to witness the legislative angle of service, and get a sense of how lawmakers, government agencies and interest groups alike interact to fight for those in need.

Many of the programs, talks, formal events, and happenings around D.C. are designed primarily around the focus of enacting social good. In fact, some of our community partners may even interact with the federal programing and funding that gets discussed on Capitol Hill. Here, agencies are grappling with questions like: how much money should we allocate for this federal grant? Is this government program still working and feasible? Does this issue affect our constituency? What government agencies are currently playing a role in confronting this issue?

Unfortunately, however, far more political topics end up taking hold of Washington, and the greater media landscape as a whole drowns out a lot of these critical questions. Amidst this reality, I believe CBL can be a source of comfort and inspiration for anyone grappling with questions of social justice. In CBL, we are constantly exchanging stories and perspectives that, in my opinion, are critical to engaging with a globalized, empathetic, and critical view in our communities.

Notably, the Washington, DC media landscape offers its viewer a fair share of dramatized, “us versus them,” reactions to American politics. However, I think that when it comes to gaining a perspective on social justice issues, Holy Cross’s CBL program is an incredible place to start, and build an informed lens amidst today’s faced-paced society.

Often, I would find myself wondering what Washington politics would be like if our elected leaders committed themselves to a CBL program as well. Perhaps they might partake in the same gifts we exchange with our community partners – the beauty of listening and experiencing perspectives that differ from our own day-to-day.

It is so wonderful to be back on the Worcester Hill, and be around the incredibly impactful CBL community here at Holy Cross again!

“If I had the chance to become a CBL intern, I wish to not only explore but also spread Worcester’s beauty and diversity among the student body here at Holy Cross.” I remember expressing this during my CBL interview. To this day, I remain passionate about this. Within the past several months, I was able to achieve this in a multitude of ways, which is only made possible by being a part of CBL in the Donelan Office.

One way that I was able to experience and bring a little bit of Worcester back to the hill was by volunteering at a local elementary school called, Woodland Academy. Volunteering at Woodland Academy was a trip down memory lane for me, because it was actually my elementary school. Woodland Academy is very close to my heart because is it the place that taught me my first English word and allowed me to fall in love with learning. To this day, I not only love attending classes and expanding my knowledge, but I also love going out and learning about my community, and what I can do to better it. At Woodland, I tutor sixth graders on the subject of math. The two hours that I get to spend at Woodland is what I look forward to most. The grand smiles that I get to witness after the students bravely conquer a math problem truly make my day. Being able to observe Woodland and the significant impact they are having on these students’ life makes me very proud of where I came from.

In addition to volunteering at Woodland Academy each week, I was also fortunate enough to be able to experience another aspect of Worcester through the 2019 Non-Profit Careers Conference (NPCC). This particular conference served to introduce participants to the wide range of career options in the non-profit sector, engage participants upon reflections on how they can implement their skills in service to the broader society, and prepare them for public service by providing various experiences and skills. The main reason I was interested in the NPCC is because of my strong desire to serve my community and learn more about the non-profit sector. Before the NPCC, I was not very educated on the various options out there, nor the business side of non-profits. In fact, I did not think there were any career options in the non-profit sector for dentists, which is the field I am currently pursuing. Just a few days in, I was proven wrong. There are so many organizations and services that I can take part in, and if I wanted to, I can even start my own organization, which was something the NPCC relayed to the students. From networking and talking to Holy Cross alumna, Amy Fitzpatrick, I learned how important it was to be passionate about the mission that I will be participating in, to know about the business part of non-profits, and, lastly, how to write grant proposals. The Non-Profit Careers Conference solidified my desires to work for a mission, rather than a paycheck.

In addition to equipping participants with various skills needed to succeed in the non-profit sector, participants were also placed in groups to work with a community partner in Worcester. I was fortunate enough to work with four other Holy Cross students to aid the St. Mary Health Care Center, which is a Catholic rehabilitation and skilled nursing facility near the Main South neighborhood of Worcester. The challenge that St. Mary and Metz, St. Mary’s food service provider, is currently facing is that residents, their families, and staff are giving feedback that the meal selection is limited. In addition to this, some residents, especially Spanish residents, do not understand what meals are offered and the alternative options. Lastly, St. Mary staffs work hard to serve hot meals to the residents during meal times; however, once residents actually receive their meals, the food is sometimes cold. To assess this challenge, we conducted a survey to find out more about the residents, their families, and the staff’s opinion on the dining and eating experiences. Specifically, we focused on the seven key areas of Metz food service, which includes the quality of food, variety of food, temperature of food, quality of service, friendliness of staff, accuracy of order, and attention to residents’ needs. With this, the team pooled the data together and were not only able to successfully present it to the St. Mary staff, but also gave some suggestions as to how they can approach the feedback they received. It was truly an honor to work with St. Mary and their residents, who made me feel at home while talking to them one on one. I cannot say enough about my experiences at the NPCC, and I hope that people take advantage of this amazing opportunity next year!

As a second semester senior, I am grateful for the opportunity to reflect back on my community-based learning experience since my first year on the hill. I became involved with the CBL community through my Montserrat course, “Identity, Diversity and Community,” taught by the wonderful Prof. Virginia Ryan. This CBL course required a two hour per week service commitment, and based purely on my class schedule and convenience, I began volunteering at the Marie Anne Center. At first, I was nervous about the time commitment each week, going off campus, and driving a van. However, unbeknownst to me at the time, this experience would become one of my favorite parts of the week.

The Marie Anne Center is an after-school program run out of St. Bernadette’s Church and as a volunteer, I was responsible for tutoring children in the after-school program. Two memories that stick out most in my mind from my time volunteering at the Marie Anne Center are working with a large family who immigrated to the United States from Central Africa, and being asked to facilitate a girls-only group called Girl’s Circle. First, working with the family of brothers and sisters from Central Africa, I was able to utilize the French I was learning at Holy Cross to help them with their homework. Seeing the light bulb go off when I was able to explain something in French and then English was fulfilling. Being able to communicate with them in two languages also taught be much about these kids, their stories, and what they had to contribute. All of the siblings loved to dance, which is a shared passion of mine, so we always had a lot of fun together.

Girl’s Circle was initiated by Sister Michele, the director of the Marie Anne Center, and she asked me to be its first facilitator. Those sessions with girls ages ten through twelve were extremely eye opening. As females, all of us shared similar obstacles, but these young girls were also forced to think about their race on a daily basis, something that I, as a white woman, do not think about as often. Their stories and experiences were sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes uplifting, and other times their stories were hilarious and fun.

Through my growing passion for service, Professor Ryan’s engaging class discussions, and the biweekly reflection sessions lead by Isabelle Jenkins and some past CBL interns, Mary Angevine ‘17 and Elaines Peña ‘18, I was inspired to join this community and do more. Discussions with the interns and my classmates illuminated important topics such as toxic charity, the two feet of service (charity and social justice) and the danger of a single story. Now, as an intern in the Donelan Office, I am lucky enough to have these interesting discussions often with other interns as well as through facilitation in other CBL courses. I am so grateful to be a part of this community of giving, thoughtful people and am doing everything I can to cherish these last few months of CBL on the hill.

If I could give one piece of advice to new CBL students, it would be to go into the experience with an open mind. It’s easy to get frustrated with the time commitment, but going into service learning with a positive attitude and a willingness to open yourself up to learn from those in the Worcester community is an invaluable experience.