It’s hard to believe my summer at the Grunewald Guild is already coming to an end. These ten or so weeks have been so incredibly fulfilling, and I’m forever grateful for the vibrant and colourful community that the Guild fosters for all who visit. I’ve grown to appreciate the regular Matins and Vespers gatherings each day. It’s been cool to see how helpful that small bit of routine makes such a difference in my motivation. Taking that time at the opening and closing of each day to focus intentionally on grounding, appreciation, and reflection has helped me to better understand and learn from my time spent here.

I’ve had the opportunity to explore so many new forms of creative expression, and I can tell that both my skills and my understanding have developed significantly from when I arrived two months ago. I was able to take part in the stained glass class a couple weeks ago, and it was an amazing experience being able to experiment and try out this new art form that would otherwise be rather daunting, expensive, and relatively inaccessible to beginners. After spending the week finishing a small introductory project to learn the basic skills and process, I’ve continued to make use of my access to the studio and equipment in working on a larger piece. I also got to participate in an incredibly wide variety of pop-up activities that various faculty led throughout the summer, which allowed me to explore a plethora of new media in a guided, low-stakes environment that encouraged playful creativity and experimentation. These spontaneous afternoon events had more diverse forms of art than I could have come up with, including turmeric sunprinting, clay sculpture, silk painting, linocut stamp carving & printmaking, celtic knot drawing, sacred geometry & iconography, jewelry making, collage, and hand-making natural watercolour paints from materials foraged from right here on campus.

One of the biggest gifts this summer internship has offered me is the encouragement, support, and motivation to follow the call of creative inspiration and curiosity. Learning to give myself space and time to play with creativity has helped me find ways to flourish and thrive in this great big world I’m entering post-graduation. I know my memories and community here will follow me no matter where I go, and I’m excited to see the lessons I’ve gleaned this summer
blossom into my future.

Bianca Olfert, Grunewald Guild

Friday, August 8, 2025, was my last day at Camp Lakeside, and I am going to miss it terribly. There were so many lessons learned, rewarding moments, bonds created, that it became painful to let the summer end. As part of Camp Lakeside’s group of counselors, I spent the summer supporting
the children’s leadership in their activities and providing personal support to each of the campers’ different needs, I bonded with my coworkers and with the campers. I had a wonderful time.

Despite all the joy and appreciation that I experienced during this internship, there were also challenging and exhausting moments, especially during my first contacts with new children. All typical and atypical children have different views of the world and different needs, and learning how to deal with each different type of crisis is an arduous but achievable process. Learning the right approach for a child and being able to overcome challenges with it is rewarding.

As human beings we are constantly evolving, but as a child, small growths become evident in a short space of time. Creating a bond with a child and seeing them develop so quickly fills my heart with pride and makes me wish I could live that summer all over again. In addition, being able to recognize the different needs of different people made me feel that I was in the right place.

The CAPS program not only gave me the opportunity to experience an incredible summer alongside amazing people, but it also opened my eyes to what makes me happy and gives me pleasure. Through the reflections made during the summer I deepened my knowledge of a world I had never been part of – that of people with disabilities, and I realized that working with people is not just about communication, it is about empathy and the desire to transmit joy. My heart filled with joy every time one of the campers, diagnosed with Down’s Syndrome, gave me a smiling “Hi” and opened his arms to hug me. He did this several times a day, and I loved every one of them. It would be a privilege to be able to call this a profession.

CAPS is designed to offer us an experience of leadership and service, but for me it was more than that, it was an opportunity of personal and professional growth. I learned skills of care and affection, I empathized with children and parents, I avoided knowing which children had a diagnosis and which didn’t, giving me the chance to use my perception to notice the different behaviors and needs. I enjoyed the experience 100%, and if I had the chance, I would do it all over again. 

This fall is my last semester, and this summer has served as a compass for me, directing me towards the path I want to pursue after graduation. This summer was the end of a route guided by CAPS, but graduation will be the beginning of a beautiful journey of dedication and work. My calling is to serve people in need, and I will follow it.

Larissa Pina, Camp Lakeside

After my first week at Heartland Human Care Services, I had already picked up on a trend of adaptation within the organization in the face of federal policy change. After a month, I have learned that the term “adaptable” fits no one more than the immigrants and refugees we serve. They come from countries all across the globe, fleeing war, persecution, and denial of human rights. Many of them do not speak English and are completely unfamiliar with American culture and infrastructure. I have met participants who are highly educated and professionally trained in their home countries, but unable to secure employment in the United States due to language barriers and lack of accepted credentials. All of them struggle through complicated bureaucratic processes to secure clothing, housing, and food for themselves and their families.

As I work with participants who are constantly adapting, I have had to adapt too. My first week on the job, my supervisor and I met up with a participant and her mother to address some of their concerns. The participants spoke Spanish, but my supervisor, despite being fluent in several other languages, does not speak much. Instead, she turned to me and asked, “Do you speak Spanish?” I responded that I speak some, and she was quick to have me help translate their interaction. Since then, I have used Spanish almost every day on the job, stretching and growing my language skills with every interaction. I remember being horribly nervous the first few times I had to rely on Spanish alone for communication, afraid I might say the wrong thing or forget every Spanish word I’d ever learned. Sometimes I did forget words I should have known or grammar that should have been obvious, but in the end, I found that pushing through the struggle was what counted. Taking the time to fumble with my words is what has helped me to learn and improve, even over the course of one short month. There is also something truly meaningful about meeting someone halfway by speaking their language, even if you don’t always have the right words. Adapting to the communication needs of the participants I work with has been deeply rewarding, allowing me to not only better meet their needs, but also to build real rapport and trust.

Calling and Purpose in Society, CAPS, this is what the fellowship is all about and how we, as individuals, find it within non-profit work. Over the course of the summer we have had some very thought provoking readings and discussions, in particular over Frederick Buechner’s idea that calling lies “where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet”. And now as I am wrapping up the final two weeks of this internship I turn back to it. Finding the world’s deep hunger is a very daunting task; in the current state of the world there are many hungers that need our attention. Erie Neighborhood House’s focuses on the hunger involving immigration and supporting the Latinx community and within Erie House, the READS program helps engage students in literacy work over the summer. To some this may seem like we are getting further and further away from the truly deep hunger but in reality this program is helping many families receive support and resources that they need. This theme is at the core of most of the world’s hunger and one could consider those supports and resources the small hungers of the world creating the deep.

As I reflect back, I sometimes struggle to see how the work I did has contributed to this bigger picture, deeper hunger. When I come in everyday and fill up 24 water bottles, make four trips to the copy machine in an hour, and play legos with the students, or the day I had to swap out pencils for pens in 24 compasses I ask myself how this is contributing to making society better. The tasks seem so small and sometimes a little silly but it really does take all these small pieces to make the program run and be successful. On top of these smaller tasks, several lesson planning projects have been given to me. Some take more time than others depending on what resources were already created and if the activities need to be developed from scratch. These lesson plans span from ones being used in the summer program to the comprehension units during the school year. It is work like this that is much easier to relate to the bigger picture of being a part of this program, knowing that it will be used beyond my time with Erie House.

This certainly peaks my deep gladness for helping others. Getting to see the students engage with the lessons I was a part of creating fills me with deep gratitude for where I am in life. When I get to engage with the students especially in Spanish, It is incredibly rewarding to both get the experience of teaching children but also knowing that I am helping them grow their knowledge and become more confident readers and individuals.

As I enter the last two weeks I will carry this quote with me, not to question whether or not I have done enough or found the deepest hunger but, as a reminder that the small hungers and small gladnesses are the meeting points of their deeper counterparts.

Amelia Tandy, Erie Neighborhood House