03.26.06
Posted in AV 2005-06 at 10:35 am by osavolor
Can you believe we are down to only about three more months?! It’s crazy how quickly time goes by… Well, as most of you know, the sites I’m at are St. Mary’s School and Bellesini Academy. At St. Mary’s, I’m a teacher’s aide for 3rd and 4th grades, but also fill in wherever I’m needed. Bellesini is a nativity school for 52 5th to 8th grade boys and is aimed to break the cycle of poverty for socially and financially at-risk kids. There, I help run some of the after-school programs, like going to the MSPCA (an animal shelter), art, Discovery Corps (a service/leadership program), etc. A week ago, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to go on Merrimack’s Alternative Spring Break trip to Chicago, where I had the pleasure of seeing Bryan, Bri, Katie, and Lauren, got to see most of them at their respective sites, and were spoiled by their hospitality (thanks guys!). We volunteered at St. Margaret’s of Scotland School, where we painted and played with the kids at the after-school program. We painted the 2nd and 3rd floors of the school, and with the different colors of paint and lack of restrictions given to us, we were able to let our creativity run wild. The kids were SO appreciative and lovable. They would just come up from behind and give us hugs. It was really a great experience. The Merrimack students seemed to really enjoy the trip and at the end of the trip they were talking about how they wanted to be in the same group and go back next year for ASB or during the summer. One of the Merrimack students asked me if I always had this sense of accomplishment at the end of each day that I volunteered at St. Mary’s and Bellesini. I’m sure that many of you would tell her the same thing I told her…that no, what I experience on a day to day basis is a bit different. Painting gave us the opportunity to see the final results; chance was fairly immediate. Change, however, in my placement, as I’m sure in most of yours, is slow, gradual, and usually undetectable. Someone, whose name I’m not sure of, said, “trust in the slow work of God.” While on some days, this is harder to do than on others, I try to put my faith in this and trust that God can use me in even the actions I think are rather insignificant. On that note, I’ll end with the second half of Oscar Romero’s prayer, which has become more real to me over the last seven months. “This is what we are about. We plant the seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise. We lay foundations that will need further development. We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities. We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something, and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest. We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker. We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own. Amen.”
Michelle Sherman - Lawrence
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03.17.06
Posted in AV 2005-06 at 10:36 am by osavolor
Cead Mile Failte Romhat - A hundred thousand welcomes to you!!
Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all. As the volunteers know, I am currently the computer teacher for grades K-8 at St. Margaret of Scotland school on the Southside of Chicago. I also was an assistant wrestling coach at St. Rita (2nd best team in the state of IL) and have just recently started as an assistant coach on the freshman baseball team at Rita.
March is always a very interesting month. From St. Patrick’s Day to March Madness to Lent to the beginning of spring, the month of March may be one of the craziest of them all. This March for the volunteers in Chicago has been full of so many different and exciting events. We took our retreat the first weekend of March and went to Michigan to relax and reflect on our experiences thus far and to welcome back our roommate Katie who had just returned to Chicago after being home for a month tending to her mother who is recovering from surgery and cancer. It was a nice way to welcome back a member of our community after all our community has been through. Our topic for reflection on the retreat was vulnerability and I was pleased to find out how much reflection actually took place in my mind during that weekend. I realized that in the past I had not been very vulnerable with my friends and family, and I have made it a personal goal of mine to be more open and vulnerable with people in the future to help strengthen my relationships…
Last weekend just happened to be one of the most exciting weekends of the year. The St Patrick’s Day parades for downtown Chicago, and the South Side of Chicago took place. We were lucky enough to experience both celebrations and took it all in. The Chicago river is dyed Green on this day - what a site that is(if I am not mistaken I believe Mr. Johns..Jackie’s dad…has a lot to do with that being accomplished). The south side parade took place the following day 3 blocks from our house, and even all of the warning from the locals could not prepare us for the mayhem that took place. It was a fun weekend to say the least.
This week has been extremely busy for us as a community. The Merrimack Alternative Spring Breakers were out in Chicago painting at St. Margaret’s. We were invited to dinner at their place on Monday evening, we had them over for dinner on Wednesday evening, and then Thursday evening we were invited to St. Rita for dinner in the monastery. It was a hectic week to say the least, which will now be culminated by a nice Irish feast prepared by the future culinary master Lauren Tyrrell - Erin Go Bragh! The Merrimack ASB did a fantastic job painting the hallways of Margaret. It spiced up and brightened up the hallways so much. Everyone was so pleased with the job that they did. I am glad that I had the chance to meet them all and I hope that our paths cross again soon.
Since being back in Chicago this half of the year, my eyes have opened up a lot at Margaret to see a lot of the issues/problems/struggles that the kids, the school, and the teachers deal with on a daily basis. From lack of discipline, that lack of structure, to people just not caring, I really have encountered a lot more than I could have imagined over the past 7 months. It is difficult to get the junior high students on your side in that school, but luckily I have been able to get at least some of them on my side using different techniques over the past few months. One of the ways I have used to gain the trust and respect of the “tougher” junior high students in the school is to do my best to relate to them. I do not come from a broken home, I am lucky enough to know my father and mother, and I am also lucky enough to have had people in my life who cared about me. I am doing my best to show all of the students at Margaret that I really care about them as people and about their interests in life. Since most of the boys are into basketball and since this is the season for March Madness and the NCAA tournament, I have given the older students a chance to fill out a bracket to post on my wall for fun, and for them, probably bragging rights. It is amazing how some small gesture like that can bring a one year volunteer teacher closer with his students. This past week I have seen a change in a few of the older boys who have been known to cause trouble in the school. It is nice to see that they are trying to make an effort to be better in the regular classes so they can earn the privilege to come talk to me at lunchtime about this weeks/weekends basketball games.
I enjoyed having visitors at Margaret this week too. It is always nice to hear Lauren talking to the Pre-K or to see her during the day because it is a comforting feeling that there are others trying to make a difference too. With a group of 12 volunteers at the school for the week, it really showed how many good people there are in the world that are willing to give their time to help make a difference. It felt good to talk to them about our experience out here, and I pray that a few will decide to apply for the program in the coming years.
The main struggles of late (since I feel extremely comfortable with the students at Margaret) are trying to keep my feet firmly planted in the present time. As we talked about at mid year retreat we are not supposed to be thinking about the future because it will take away from our experience here at our jobs. When your roommates and other volunteers have their minds made up about the next direction they wish to take in their life, it is very unsettling and stressful to try and stay focused on this year, when I have no idea what is to come. Father Joe stated that since I really have no idea where I wish to be next, that my mode of thinking is “very Augustinian-like”. As great of a compliment as that is, it again is unsettling for me, as I am sure it is for Seniors in college (which I feel like I am all over again, minus the crazy parties and skipping classes). In all honesty though, I am so excited and pleased with my choice to be an Augustinian Volunteer and if anyone is reading this who is on the fence about volunteering for a year after college, just follow the Nike Slogan………You will not believe that amount of change that will take place inside you.
Much love and keep smiling! See you all soon, and know that you all are in my prayers!
Bryan - aka the lone ranger in a house full of women (but I secretly love it)
Bryan McGann - Chicago
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