Yearly Archives: 2025


When The Shoe Fits: Finding my Footing at Erie House

As I started my internship this past week I Full of questions and eagerness to learn the behind the scenes aspect of this non-profit organization at Erie Neighborhood House. Since the kids aren’t in for programming yet, this week and last have been a blessing for me to get oriented and get a deeper dive into the summer program. Probably my favorite project so far has been building a new math lesson plan from the book “If The Shoe Fits” to teach students how to use measuring devices and their importance. Right before beginning this internship in my last semester of my undergraduate degree I decided to make a big shift from having studied economics and Spanish to then pursuing education and receiving my teaching certificate. During this time of transition there has been a lot of concern and uncertainty of whether I was making the right choice and whether […]


Thoughts from a Night Hike

I wish I could see in the dark. The thought has crossed my mind many nights walking in the dark after I’ve heard an unsettling sound nearby. While the sky wasn’t too dark last week on our staff night hike, I thought of campers who might also experience heightened fear when darkness comes along. The past two weeks I’ve been in summer staff training at the Dunes Learning Center inside the Indiana Dunes National Park. We’ve been learning the intricacies of camp while also trying out activities we’ll lead with campers. Last week we practiced the night hike we take campers on, and I was reminded how limited my sight is at night. Being a camp based in environmental education, we also learned about nocturnal animals like bats, raccoons, and owls. They all are adapted to the dark: bats use echolocation, racoons feel especially well with their paws, and owls have eyes built for the night. Each […]


Traffic, Nerves, and Calling: The Start of Something Meaningful

This week marks my second week working with Heartland Alliance’s Refugee and Immigrant Community Services Program! As I’ve been reflecting on the start to my internship with Heartland, it seems like every day has brought new learning, new challenges, and in particular, new excitement. At the beginning, all I could think about was how nervous I was as I tried to navigate a different environment. The first challenge that I faced was driving through Chicago alone – which, up until last week, I had promised myself that I would never do. I remember setting my alarm super early on that first day, to plan in advance for the fact that I would probably miss at least 2 exits on the expressway. But even with the extra-early start, I quickly realized that Chicago traffic is way more unpredictable than I had planned for. I swear I could hear the traffic’s evil laugh as I […]


There is Beauty In-between

I have officially been at Save the Dunes for 2 weeks. My office is tucked away within the woods in the Barker House in Michigan City, IN. As you pull into the driveway, you are greeted by a beautiful house surrounded by trees and native plant gardens. My office is at the top of the stairs. It is floor-to-ceiling wood paneling with three windows looking into the tree canopy. My desk directly faces the windows, and I love to watch the leaves sway in the wind with the light shining down on them. Laughter and talking fill the air, making for a very homey feeling in the house. Starting an internship can be a weird spot to be in. Imposter syndrome is hitting you from left and right. You are caught in the middle, not quite a full employee, but you still have a job within the organization. I struggled with this for my first few days. […]


It Takes A Village

From the ecstatic moment a person arrives at Holden Village, an iconic retreat center located in the heart of Washington’s North Cascades Mountains that offers visitors a unique opportunity to step into the wilderness they are greeted with a “Hosti”. This person designs a sign with your name on it to welcome you to the village and answer any questions you may have. From the moment the school bus with Holden Village written on the side was in sight of the village entrance all the way to the time I stepped off said bus I was greeted by most, if not all, of the village waving at me and cheering for my arrival. Before even getting to the village I was required to complete a Child Safety Training which is crucial to the safety, comfort, and well-being of the children that reside in Holden Village.  I realized that I’ve been […]


The River Between Us: Growing with Nature and Community

It’s now been almost a week that I’ve been at the Grunewald Guild here in the mountains of Washington state, and I’m thoroughly excited for the months ahead. I’m staying in what’s called the Riverhouse, as it directly overlooks the river flowing 50 feet away from the back porch. This porch is one of my favourite places so far to sit and enjoy the area, as it’s fully screened in to keep the bugs away (mosquitos remain my arch-nemesis) and is beautifully lit with string lights in the evenings. The quiet rush of the flowing water is a constant and peaceful sound, and a wide range of birds fill the trees and air with their calls too. (There’s one critter that makes a fascinating little clicking sound sometimes and I can never find it, but it intrigues me.) I was surprised by how windy it gets here in the side […]


We don’t need to put on a cape to transform lives

My first week of internship at Opportunity Enterprises was successfully completed this Friday and I am already looking forward to coming back after the weekend! Opportunity Enterprises offers inclusive opportunities for work, transportation, leisure, among other opportunities, for people of all abilities, opening doors to a more equitable and fairer world. In this first week I met incredible people, felt extremely welcome, felt a good sense of home, and learned valuable lessons. This first week of training included several lessons, such as First Aid (CPR) and Crisis Prevention (CPI), which are essential for ensuring the well-being of the children who will be spending the summer with us. However, what was most significant for me was learning about the company’s history, how it arose and why. For many years, people with disabilities were neglected, excluded and mistreated, kept in isolation within institutions with no intention of re-socialization and under abusive “treatments”. […]


Caps and Gowns…and Callings

On a basement bookshelf of my home sits a framed photograph I’d forgotten about until recently. In that picture, I’m beaming in cap and gown, flanked on either side by my smiling parents as we stand in the backyard garden of a former landlord’s property. That day was muggy and hot (not surprising for May in South Carolina), and I remember my nervous anticipation on that celebratory afternoon–the kind of feeling where you’re not sure if your stomach is buoyed with breathless excitement or clenched in apprehension…or, more likely, both. Either way, you’re holding your breath a bit more than usual.   While milestone moments can seem cliched to focus on, they do often define real junctures, and mine that afternoon certainly did.   I had made all sorts of plans, convinced that I needed to map things out in particular ways. Some of those plans would take dramatic turns […]


The Gift and Service of Stories

The unflinching memorist Dorothy Allison writes, “Two or three things I know for sure, and one of them is that telling a story all the way through is an act of love.” A thorough and full accounting is indeed an act of love, and even an act of service.    Following a meaningful spring break service trip in northwest Indiana several weeks ago, I might amend Allison’s formulation a bit further: telling a story all the way through is an act of love and service…and so is attending to that story–listening compassionately, for understanding, and then figuring out what it means to hold and carry that story forward.    In a week spent criss-crossing northwest Indiana and south-southwest Chicagoland, we (Anna and Kat from the Institute for Leadership and Service) joined eight Valpo students on a journey to hear story after story–some ecology, some art, some history, some activism, some […]


“Once-a ponce-a” and the Power of Story

As a young toddler–bright-eyed and babbling happily–I loved few things more than a good story. I was known to pad into a room, book in tow, while clamoring for what I cheerfully called a “once-a ponce-a.” So many children’s books and fairy tales, after all, take narrative flight with the well-worn opening line, “Once upon a time…”  Hence, my half-comprehending shorthand. Slightly older and intent to share (force?) my love of story on my younger sister, I would solemnly intone the beginning for her the same way (to the doubtless mirth of any nearby adult). Nevertheless, “once-a ponce-a” rapidly became a family expression.   Perhaps I could channel this tale from childhood into destiny, invariably paving the way to my status as a justified book nerd with a doctorate in literature. A little tidy, but not without some merit.   Actually, though, this early anecdote has been on my mind recently […]


Sunshine, Limitations, and Vocational Discernment

The tap, tap, tap on the metal roof turned into pitter-patter-pitter-patter, and my mother-in-law and I looked at each other with an expression of urgency.  The clothes we had hung outside on the line the day before hadn’t dried, and for fear of night-time rain we had brought them in, damp in their hamper near the back door.  On this particular morning we had optimistically re-clipped them to the metal wire spanning the entire yard from the neighbors’ wall to the side of the house.  It had dawned clear over the mountains, but seemingly out of nowhere the clouds had rolled in, and it was now raining in what should have been the first days of the dry season in Costa Rica.     In looking at our clothes and shoes and hiking boots in the backyard, it struck me that clothes-drying is a kind of microcosm for understanding vocation.  Discerning […]