Month: March 2023

An Ignatian Examen of My Spring Break Experience in Wheeling, WV

Ignatian spirituality is defined by repetitive reflection and contemplation. After an impactful Spring Break Immersion experience last spring in Alamosa, Colorado that ignited internal contemplation, I decided to go on another immersion trip this past month. I was placed at an Appalachia site, The Soup Kitchen of Greater Wheeling in Wheeling, VA. After a snowstorm delayed our flight, I finally embarked to West Virginia on Sunday night with 5 of my peers. When we arrived in West Virginia on Sunday morning, we were greeted by our site contact, Becky. I could immediately tell it was a cause close to her heart. After a quick orientation of the kitchen and dropping our luggage and sleeping bags upstairs, we got straight to work: chopping produce, serving food, cleaning, and sharing meals with members of the Wheeling community.

Over the course of the week, I met many members of the Wheeling Community and was exposed to a different story than the one I had previously been told and believed about Appalachia and its people. The people coming to the soup kitchen came from different walks of life, backgrounds, and situations. I didn’t expect the people of Wheeling to open up to me – why should they? Nothing about our circumstances for being at the soup kitchen was the same. And yet, they did.

As Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie put in her TedTalk “The danger of a single story,” single stories about groups or types of people are powerful and pervasive. And yet, it’s not exactly our fault for believing them in the first place. It is human nature to stereotype and categorize, a survival instinct. However, once we are aware of our tendencies, we should seek out opportunities to rewrite the stereotypes in our heads. As Adichie eloquently states, “the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete.” My week in Wheeling  changed my perspective and opened my heart to the stories of a community I hadn’t had the chance to listen to before.

Many people hold stereotypes about people who use social services or soup kitchens. Whether it’s that they are very poor, unhoused, using drugs, or somehow lesser human, these stereotypes are prominent in the media and are believed by many people, even people who don’t realize they think them. While it is undeniable that some people who are homeless are struggling with substance use or addiction, many community members who I met were not. The Wheeling community was multidimensional: a community undoubtedly dealing with poverty and hunger but also full of happy young children, new parents, and elderly people full of wisdom and good stories.

I think my experience in Wheeling is valuable for the Holy Cross community at large. We are fortunate to be studying here, surrounded by a supportive community. We are also a campus on a hill, secluded or sheltered from the Worcester community both physically and symbolically. That is the value of CBL, the opportunity to dispel the own stories you hold. To find new empathy in your heart. To form connections with people across differences of identity and lived experience.

There are always going to be people who “prove” the stereotype right or who take advantage of a system aimed at helping them. But the few do not, and should not, speak for the whole. There is never a reason to stop listening, engaging, empathizing, and helping when possible.

My time as an intern for the Donelan Office of Community-Based Learning (CBL) on campus has certainly shaped my college experiential learning experience. Volunteering at Ascentria’s Unaccompanied Minors Program has created a deeper connection between my parents’ story and my own that I never imagined would happen. I don’t think I really understood what crossing the border on your own meant until I interacted with refugees. Helping them break the language barrier by ensuring that they are able to complete their homework assignments and also learning English meant everything because I knew this was the support that my parents needed themselves, yet never received. Having this connection with the students was incredibly important to me because I am living proof of Peruvian and Guatemalan immigrants crossing the border and breaking the language barrier. Mami y Papi ensured that language barrier was never something to impede me from excelling academically. I never thought being bilingual would have such a meaningful message behind it. The Ascentria students allowed me to work toward change for social justice issues in Worcester such as the language barrier that refugees experience when coming to a foreign country and being forced to learn English. 

But my experiential learning journey did not end with Ascentria. I was able to volunteer with another CBL partner: Worcester East Middle School. There was certainly a distinction from Ascentria because instead of seeing students after school, I was actually in the classroom with them. I was heartbroken to see so many students struggling because of various reasons. One thing I noticed was: the educational system is not only designed against them but also not supporting them academically. An observation I made was how English as a Second Language (ESL) students approached math distinctively. Even though they did not speak/know English, some students still did well. However, some students did not. Their teacher revealed how for some, the concepts are easier because they come from countries where they are exposed to a stronger math background. Those students who struggle the most are most likely from countries with weaker math backgrounds. Being in the classroom showed me the horrors that can happen in public education. For instance, Spanish and Portuguese students in the 6th grade math class had a classroom translator available to them, but then the teacher was moved to a different class with children who “needed her more.”  I sympathized with students who continued to need the additional help but were not able to receive it. The lack of support created an environment where students are left behind to fend for themselves with a teacher who does not even speak the language they do. 

Commitment to pursuing social justice is engraved in my CBL experiences at Holy Cross. Volunteering and working with both Ascentria and Worcester East has shaped my perspective toward immigration, refugees, and the educational system in the U.S. Refugees participating in Ascentria’s programming provide support for students; however, what happens to students who are not in Ascentria? They are left alone in the education system with no assistance. Being able to make a difference, even if it is as small as the students smiling when they see me is important because it is crucial for refugees to interact with students they relate to. ESL students need to see others with similar backgrounds to them in college and working toward a future since that can serve as an inspiration to them. Sometimes all they really need is just someone to talk to. I am humbled to say that I was that person for many of the students at Worcester East and Ascentria. Representation matters. It is one of the many factors that intrigues my interest in law. It is also one of the many reasons why experiential learning has made such an impact on myself not only as a student but also as a person. Seeing these social justice issues firsthand empowers me to continue my law school journey and also work toward finding spaces where I can potentially work with a team of other powerful lawyers to address them.

SPUD leader, Daisy Fanter ’23 and CBL Intern, Valentina Maza ’23 were selected by the Community Engagement Steering Committee to offer speeches at the annual Community Partner Appreciation Reception (on 3/3/23). Daisy and Valentina’s touching remarks were the highlight of the reception. Read their speeches here!

Daisy Fanter:

Hi, my name is Daisy Fanter. I am a junior here at the college studying Biology and Religious Studies. Being from Nevada, my connections here in Worcester were slim to nothing before coming to Holy Cross. Us west coasters are few and far between! However, thanks to some of your organizations and the programs offered here at Holy Cross, I have been able to build connections throughout the past three years through both my academic life and my personal life. With that, I have come to realize Worcester is truly a special community

My freshman year, I decided to move to Worcester on my own. It was in the peak of COVID, and the campus was closed, but I still wanted to experience this city and what it had to offer, so I decided to rent an apartment in downtown Worcester. It was quite a unique and scary experience, being 3,000 miles from home knowing no one. But I had the opportunity to explore Worcester on my own. From riding the WRTA to working out at YMCA on Main St., I learned just how amazing Worcester is by getting a sense of the people during this unique time.

Once I arrived on campus, I realized I wanted to continue to get to know Worcester and its people. So, I began working in the SPUD program my freshman year as a tutor for the ANSAAR of Worcester program. Here I tutored one student in Chemistry every week. While everything was virtual, it was such an awesome way to step out of the isolation of COVID and begin making my very first Worcester connection. Flash forward to this year, I am a  Program Director for our SPUD program at the  Nativity School of Worcester, and my time there  has totally changed my life and who I am striving to become. We learn, grow, and become who we are through relationships and the people we meet. Working at Nativity has impacted who I am today,

The staff and students at Nativity have given me so much more than I have given them. I remember my first day there and  feeling so nervous and afraid of not remembering how to do long division or helping with Spanish homework. Yet somehow, when I arrived all that fear instantly left me, and I was just happy to be a part of this community. On my very first day of working with my student, we spoke extensively about his love for music. I remember being in awe when an eighth grader began telling me his favorite artists were groups like Coldplay, Nirvana, and Van Morrison. A few visits later, something happened that reminded me that these relationships are, at their best, mutually transformative. We were speaking about music, like we usually did, and he was telling me about how he wanted to learn how to read sheet music. I had told him it wasn’t as scary to learn as it may look. I remember him almost immediately questioning if I could play an instrument. Almost dismissively I had said that I played the piano growing up. He almost leaped out of his chair with both curiosity and excitement to ask me all about it; however, his biggest question was why I hadn’t told him sooner about my old hobby. I gave him an honest answer and told him it wasn’t ever something I was proud of that I almost was embarrassed that I was always practicing and playing the piano when I was younger. His demeanor changed and he said, “Daisy, I think that being able to play the piano is so cool. I’m sorry that you were embarrassed to play, but I think it’s something to be proud of.” We went back and forth for a few moments and got back to work, but I couldn’t stop thinking about what he had said.

It’s moments such as these that make community engagement so important for me and for so many students . Coretta Scott King once said, “The greatness of a community is measured by the compassion of its members.” It’s the compassion we all see in the Worcester community  that makes it so special. I would like to thank you all for your compassion. For opening your doors to all of us students and giving us the opportunity to learn and love the community of Worcester just as much as you all do.

Valentina Maza:

Good morning everyone, my name is Valentina Maza and I’m a current senior at Holy Cross. As my journey as a Holy Cross student comes to an end, I can confidently say that I was able to find a home away from home here because of community engagement. By the end of my sophomore year, I became an intern for the Community-Based Learning Office. Our work as a group continues to be one of my greatest joys at Holy Cross. Indeed, through CBL, I have learned that in the end, there’s always joy. 

Four years ago as a first-year student, I constantly tried to fit somewhere and failed time after time. It was not until I volunteered at the Marie Anne Center during my freshman year through CBL that I finally grabbed onto a missing side of who I am. 

At the Marie Anne Center, I was lucky to work with English Learners. I was once an ESL student, still am, who had migrated from Venezuela. Therefore, it made sense to join this center for my CBL. To my surprise, I met people from all over Latin America, mainly from Brazil, which means they spoke Portuguese, and I did not. I spoke Spanish. So, it seemed that my initial logic no longer made sense. 

Nevertheless, we did share something; just like them, I also aspired to become fluent in English to achieve the dreams we all got to share with one another. We all shared who we are and where we come from. As a common denominator, we used to always go back to food as one of our main topics of conversation. The students shared their delicious dishes at home and at family gatherings. I then understood the deep meaning of our roots and how we can always go back to something as a reminder of our identity, whether food, music, or language. CBL allowed me to return to a part of mine. Being with the students felt like we were creating our sense of community, a family. Through this experience at the Marie Anne Center, I learned that it wasn’t me who had something to give them, partially because I didn’t speak Portuguese, but also because I was the one who walked away from the experience with endless lessons.  

In addition to my experience at the Marie Anne Center, I have been blessed to see Worcester outside of Holy Cross, which would not be possible without any of you. For instance, during the CBL Intern training, we had the opportunity to visit El Buen Samaritano. The missions and goals Mari, the Director of EBS, shared with us inspired me. Following our visit, I knew I had to contribute to El Buen Samaritano’s amazing work. I then applied to our Holy Cross Marshall Grant and brought items to their winter drive. Once again, I felt at home within El Buen Samaritano space. It is people like Marim and people like each and every one of you here today, that allow students like me to feel that way. 

So, what does community engagement mean to me? Endless learning experiences and challenges, as well as immeasurable joy. I also have to say that gratitude fuels my understanding of community engagement. Throughout my soon-to-be four years at Holy Cross, I wasn’t sure what college and life would be like. Although my time here is ending, I am endlessly grateful that I had the opportunity to create my own sense of community because all of you allow students like me to be part of your work. On behalf of the Holy Cross community, thank you, our community partners, for all that you do.