Being on such a student-driven team at The Bridge has encouraged me to be more intentional about my connections with students and take every opportunity to make a program more excellent and learn about the purpose of specific programs. Recently, I was able to volunteer to help with our Welding program where the students made steel farm animals while practicing their welding skills. As I was talking to the professional welders who came to volunteer for this program, we conversed about how important student exposure to skilled trades was and how teenage students do not get many opportunities to learn more about trades like welding, let alone get hands-on experience with it. This informed my connection with students during that program because I knew to encourage them that it was not about making the finished product perfect but that mistakes are needed to get better and that they can sign up for more programs like this in the future. Some students were hesitant to try a new thing like welding but as they listened to the volunteers’ instructions and creative analogies, they put their helmets on and got to feel what it was like to be a welder.

Recently, I assisted in a program where the students were making Bug Bite Balm. The lead volunteer incorporated a camping aspect into the themed program by asking questions about who went camping and where as well as sharing her recent experiences camping at various national parks. As the program continued, we realized that we were going to have a lot more time than expected left after the balm was made. I quickly recalled my own camp experience working at a summer camp last summer as well as my ministry experience in InterVarsity and started to teach the students at my table a hand coordination camp game that drew everyone’s attention. At first, they were hesitant and confused about learning this new game, but it quickly drew everyone’s attention and sparked a lot of laughter in the room. Soon enough, the lead volunteer asked me if I could teach the game to everyone and I joyfully drew everyone into a circle and caught their attention with this engaging game and a couple others for the rest of the time we had left. Afterwards, I was speaking with the lead volunteer and she was thankful for my help and ingenuity. I was able to tell her about how my camp experience, ministry experience, and teaching experience had trained me to be prepared for something like this. I was elated to be able to share a different side of myself with the students and volunteers while incorporating a camp theme into this program. After this, I essentially got recruited by the Bridge staff to be the “camp games intern” for the rest of the summer to fill in any gaps of time during programs.

In addition to this, there is a student at The Bridge who struggles with behavior and I made it a point to connect with him well. I wanted to make an impact, which started with simply playing a game of Uno with him and some of his friends during a more relaxed program intended for students to hang out and make social connections. I was able to get to know the students at the table more as the hangout program continued and I asked them all what their favorite part about The Bridge is. Hearing about their perspective and experience helped me see how much this facility and organization means to the students. They use The Bridge for a creative outlet, a place to learn new things, and a place to belong. Towards the end of the program, the student I had made a point to connect with asked me if I was coming to the Friday night program and was so excited to hear that I would be there. That made a difference because just by being open minded to who this student was and what they had to offer, I was able to truly connect with them and add one person to their list of positive influences.

Along with this, another highlight of my time at The Bridge includes my interaction with students at a Friday night program. During our Socks and Sandals themed Friday night, I was asked to help lead outside in The Patio area and teach students how to play a rubber duck game that led to some interactive student connection. Since the game was fairly simple, I made up some challenges for the students, kept a high score, and had students go against each other. During this time, I was able to keep an avid conversation with the students and I met a new student in particular who was at The Bridge for the first time. He was so excited to be at The Bridge, and I asked him if he was doing karaoke that night as one of the activities we had. He seemed hesitant and told me that he was considering it. I asked him what he would sing if he did try it and he was not quite sure but was thinking about it. I noticed he had a Star Wars shirt on and just by asking, came to know that he was a dedicated Star Wars researcher in his own time and got on his own well-deserved platform about it while playing this simple rubber duck game. I found out later during our debrief staff meeting that he not only signed up for karaoke but always came around to see when it was his turn to make sure he did not miss it and finished out the night with the last song, his version of “I’m Still Standing.” The Bridge staff that night was able to experience the joy of making a difference in students and how they perceive themselves and their own abilities and I was able to be a joint part of it that only works if everyone is dedicated to the students. Thankfully, this is the climate at The Bridge every day and everyone who works and volunteers models a heart of service and care for each and every student that walks through the doors.

– Isabelle Kalil, The Bridge Teen Center

Since my last blog post, my time here at the Bridge has remained busy, and it is hard to believe that I only have two more weeks of work left. In the past weeks, I have been able to start planning the fall volunteer appreciation event, attend a behind-the-scenes field trip to a local church, and assist in training volunteers. I have also continued to help with volunteer events and student programs, and I even had the chance to lead a few of my own, something that previously would have scared me.

While most volunteer groups will only come for two or three hours, there was a group a few weeks ago that dedicated six hours of their day for three days in a row to serving at the Bridge. This was a group of fifteen hardworking high school students and five dedicated chaperones. On one of the days, we took a half hour out of the day to do a worship session outside. During this time, we talked about why we are here and what work we are called to do. The founder of the Bridge mentioned a bible verse that became our motto for the week: “and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us” (Heb. 12:1). Throughout the rest of the week, we talked about how not all of us are necessarily called to ministry or non-profit work, but we still all have races to run that are still important, and that we can run our races as we are; we do not need to change who we are or wait for a specific time in our lives. That week, their race was to sort clothes to serve the community, and by the end of it, the group had sorted over 700 bags of donations, which is enough to fund programs for thirty-nine students for a year. This made me think about what my race is. Some people know exactly what they are called to do and what their purpose is, but I have always been someone interested in so many things I could never choose what exactly I want to do with my future. Recently, however, I have begun to accept that this is okay, and that for now, my race is to continue to learn about myself as I finish my internship a nd my final year of school. And while running through life blind can be scary, I have learned that eventually I will reach the finish line.

While I do not know where exactly life will be taking me, I still have some important takeaways from my time at the Bridge. I have determined that one of the most rewarding aspects of my internship has been able to connect people with the opportunity to serve their community. Service has always been an important aspect of my life, so it has been very impactful to help people make it a part of theirs. Additionally, my time here has made me think about the role of service in my future. Many of the volunteers I have interacted with take time out of their busy lives every week to serve at the Bridge, and it has made me realize that helping your community does not need to be a full-time job or a week-long event; it is something almost everyone can do. So despite still not knowing what exactly my calling and purpose in society is, I still plan to keep on running my race and see where life takes me.

– Sophia Panfil, The Bridge Teen Center

I find it difficult to believe that my time here at the Grünewald Guild is coming to a close. Over the past two months I have met such incredible people! There is a magic to this sacred ground. The people, hands-down, have been the greatest part of my summer. The staff and rotating volunteers are such a joy to work with. We approach our weekly duties with humanistic focus. The directors do not micromanage or nitpick, rather everything is a conversation, a dialogue, and we are truly a team. In one of our last weeks a participant noted that the tone of the community was set by the way the staff interacts with one another. This brings up another facet of my Guild experience that is so rewarding. I get to take part in and see the way the community dynamic emerges each week. I’ve gotten to meet people from all over the country, to form a community that is intergenerational, vulnerable, and expressive. Most of all, it has been exciting to meet the masters of their various crafts and see how they go about teaching veterans to the Guild as well as first time participants like myself.

Arguably, the most important, and obvious, lesson I have learned from this summer is that ALL work has dignity. While I have always been an advocate for this sentiment, it was not until I found myself feeling as though I was not doing enough nor doing anything of substance that I was shaken in my understanding of work/labor. My major duties here at the Guild include hospitality and facility upkeep. I prepare lodgings for participants, tend to bathrooms, take shifts on the dish team, and do yardwork around the grounds to ensure that all who visit are able to feel secure and experience the magic that I have found in the Guild. Thanks to the trio of directors, I began to take pride in the work I was doing. I was helping to build security in both shelter and food so that people felt comfortable and secure enough to enter into a creative process. I seemed to stumble through the summer feeling that I wasn’t doing enough or that I should be doing more, but was always met by innumerable praises from the staff and participants.

The more Guild–centric lesson that I have learned is the value of the neutral zone. In our lives, both as individuals and organizations, we are traveling in an endless cycle of beginnings and endings. Here, that change is understood by a new hierarchical era. The Guild is slowly exiting the recovery stages of losing both their founders and experiencing a global pandemic. The three directors are brand new, and are working with those who have been around for decades to try and understand the next beginning, the next phase of life here at the Grünewald Guild. All summer we have been observing and encouraging rest in this neutral zone, the time between an ending and a beginning. It took me nearly my entire time here to realize that I, myself, am floating in a neutral zone. And truthfully, there’s nothing wrong with that. It is necessary to mourn the loss of an ending, and open your arms to the opportunity of a beginning. That is the ultimate lesson I am bringing away from my summer experience here. While my calling and purpose are still fuzzy, I can at least acknowledge where I am in the cycle.

I am beyond grateful for the experience I have had over these two months. I want to thank everyone for the contributions they’ve made to my summer. The most powerful goodbye was when my final week of participants, programming week five, held a moment of prayer and blessing over Natalie and I as we begin our journeys back to the Midwest and into our senior year. It was so moving and that is a feeling, a memory, that I will carry with me for a lifetime.

– Katie Endres, Grünewald Guild