Last day at FLOC

Today is my last day at my placement, For Love of Children.

I have been deeply inspired by the many workshops and sessions I have had with our students. Several of our students are now on the track to successfully graduate high school and work towards a college or post-secondary degree - in fact 100% of our senior class will be moving onto a post-secondary program this fall!

The last few months have been quiet, as a majority of our students have been working summer jobs through the D.C. Summer Youth Employment Program. Though some of our middle school and high school students have been attending summer camp at FLOC's Outdoor Education Center in West Harper, WV. For the past several weeks the high school-middle school program has merged into a condensed after school program now known as the Scholars program.

My community consisting of Lauren, Andrew, Rachel, Laura and I are ending our year with sincere goodbyes and preparing our JVC house for next years JVC community. We have experienced everything together / uniting as acquaintances together at the beginning of the year / adjusting to life in Washington, DC / taking roadtrips to other JVC houses/retreats/gatherings / Mass at St. Augustine's Catholic Church / meeting each others families / amazing dinners / great converstations / extreme weather/ and an eternity of friendships ahead.

So what's next for us?

Lauren will be staying on a second year with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps at her placement, Samaritan Ministries. Rachel is heading back to her ala mater, UNC-Chapel Hill to attend medical school. Laura, also returning to her ala mater, Penn State University, for law school. Andrew will be joining me in Portland in a couple of weeks for a visit, then meeting with his father and uncle for a bike ride through Oregon and California. Andrew will end at home in San Diego. And I am heading back to Portland for a couple of weeks, will be attending my cousin Liz's wedding, then moving to the mid-west to Wausau, Wisconsin where I will be entering my journalism career as a multimedia journalist / reporter at WAOW-TV, an ABC affiliate an hour from Greenbay.

I am very sad to leave JVC, my community, and the greater JVC community. But I am also very excited to take what I learned this year and to put it into my career and in life.

Thank you all for your support to me and the JVC over the past year.

College access at College Summit

Last weekend, five of my students and I attended a College Summit workshop at Trinity College in DC. My placement FLOC is partnered with College Summit. College Summit is a "national nonprofit organization that partners with schools and districts to strengthen college-going culture and increase college enrollment rates, so that all students graduate career and college-ready." Upstairs of my placement is College Summit's national office. Members of the national office staff have been guest speakers in a number of my program's workshops.

The workshop was held Thursday-Sunday and offers inner city students the tools they need to write a personal statement for their college applications, create a college list, and offer sessions for students to express themselves and recognize their personal successes, hardships, and vulnerabilities. Students in my program and in the greater DC area have remarkable stories that they were able to express through this program.

Volunteers, alumni leaders, and staff of this program came from all over the country. Over the course of just four days, I quickly became familiar and comfortable with the chaperones, college coaches, and writing coaches. Students left the weekend with an established college list, a solid personal essay, and many new trusting relationships. I am very grateful that I got to witness and experience the growth I saw in my students. Since experiencing the weekend, I have been recommending the volunteer opportunities with College Summit to many of my friends and family members. I look forward to being involved in another workshop in the future.

Only two more weeks remain at my placement in Washington, DC. In three weeks, I will be returning home to Portland, Ore and my Jesuit Volunteer Corps year will be complete. More soon.

More on College Summit: http://www.collegesummit.org/aboutus