1. How did today differ from how I expected it to be?
2. What are the high points of the day?
3. What are the low points of the day?
4. What is one experience that caused me to grow today?
5. What am I excited about for tomorrow?
1. Oh my gosh, what a day. OPENING DAY! I guess I expected the ceremony to be in a huge room with a huge number of people attending. It was fairly small; with corps members included, probably about 250 people. I wasn't disappointed. It was really kind of cozy in that room. PLUS. I did not expect Ambassador Sichan Siv to be so amazingly inspiring! This man grew up in urban Cambodia, escaped the Khmer Rouge killing fields by crawling, biking, and hitching his way to Thailand, came to the U.S., flipped burgers and drove a taxi, and served as US Ambassador to the UN during George 41's presidency. I can't describe how awesome it was to hear his story, and one of my favorite quotes from his talk graces the title of this post. I even asked him a question in front of everyone (very squishy for me)! He remembered that I had asked it when I shook his hand after the ceremony and even complimented my question. I'm happy. :)
2. There are too many high points to record here, let's just say that. I'll list some in brief.
- When I had to leave a class I was observing early to go to the convention center, a student said, "Aw, Miss, you're leaving now?" Highly probable he just wanted to speak out of turn and get a little attention, but it still made my heart sing.
- Drove with Dennis to the convention center and sang a little Guys and Dolls on the way. "Sit down you're rockin' the boat!" :)
- Practiced speaking in front of the room several times and only messed up once. And DIDN'T mess up during the ceremony even though our Diplomas Now partners were there and they were video recording me!
- We dedicated the jackets that we received to a person or cause that we are serving for this year. I'll explain more about my dedication later, but it was ah-mazing to listen to other corps members stories about their families and friends that they are dedicating their bombers to. I cried more than once and I felt so close to everyone!
- Reunited with Team Traveler after the ceremony!
3. Well, Shelby and I missed the bus for the first time today. She didn't have to get to school until a little later, but we had timed the later bus wrong and missed it! So I had to drive to school for the first time, which was laaaaame.
Also, we got super sweaty in our long sleeve-bomber jacket combo, so that was kind of gross for everyone.
4. I grew today when I thought about who/what to dedicate my City Year bomber to. The suggestion was to dedicate it to someone/thing that inspires us to serve this year and has been influential to us in our education or life of service. I choose to dedicate my jacket to the Wesley Foundation @ Purdue. It is a campus ministry, but more than that it is home for all of us that belong there. I met a number of my best friends and mentors there, including Pat, who has had a huge influence on me wanting to live a life of service and give this year to San Antonio with City Year. I also met Alex Rouse at Wesley, and she is my more direct City Year inspiration as she serves as a Team Leader in San Jose, CA. Most of all, Wesley has taught me that service is more important than self and that you can get so much more satisfaction out of a life if you give it away. That message is SO IMPORTANT in college when a lot of things are in flux and it's so easy to focus on oneself. I love the Wesley Foundation and everyone I met there and I hope and pray that it is around to encourage college students for many years to come.
5. Tomorrow we get to stay in our schools all day!!!! I'm really excited to finally see what the afternoon is like!
2. What are the high points of the day?
3. What are the low points of the day?
4. What is one experience that caused me to grow today?
5. What am I excited about for tomorrow?
1. Oh my gosh, what a day. OPENING DAY! I guess I expected the ceremony to be in a huge room with a huge number of people attending. It was fairly small; with corps members included, probably about 250 people. I wasn't disappointed. It was really kind of cozy in that room. PLUS. I did not expect Ambassador Sichan Siv to be so amazingly inspiring! This man grew up in urban Cambodia, escaped the Khmer Rouge killing fields by crawling, biking, and hitching his way to Thailand, came to the U.S., flipped burgers and drove a taxi, and served as US Ambassador to the UN during George 41's presidency. I can't describe how awesome it was to hear his story, and one of my favorite quotes from his talk graces the title of this post. I even asked him a question in front of everyone (very squishy for me)! He remembered that I had asked it when I shook his hand after the ceremony and even complimented my question. I'm happy. :)
2. There are too many high points to record here, let's just say that. I'll list some in brief.
- When I had to leave a class I was observing early to go to the convention center, a student said, "Aw, Miss, you're leaving now?" Highly probable he just wanted to speak out of turn and get a little attention, but it still made my heart sing.
- Drove with Dennis to the convention center and sang a little Guys and Dolls on the way. "Sit down you're rockin' the boat!" :)
- Practiced speaking in front of the room several times and only messed up once. And DIDN'T mess up during the ceremony even though our Diplomas Now partners were there and they were video recording me!
- We dedicated the jackets that we received to a person or cause that we are serving for this year. I'll explain more about my dedication later, but it was ah-mazing to listen to other corps members stories about their families and friends that they are dedicating their bombers to. I cried more than once and I felt so close to everyone!
- Reunited with Team Traveler after the ceremony!
3. Well, Shelby and I missed the bus for the first time today. She didn't have to get to school until a little later, but we had timed the later bus wrong and missed it! So I had to drive to school for the first time, which was laaaaame.
Also, we got super sweaty in our long sleeve-bomber jacket combo, so that was kind of gross for everyone.
4. I grew today when I thought about who/what to dedicate my City Year bomber to. The suggestion was to dedicate it to someone/thing that inspires us to serve this year and has been influential to us in our education or life of service. I choose to dedicate my jacket to the Wesley Foundation @ Purdue. It is a campus ministry, but more than that it is home for all of us that belong there. I met a number of my best friends and mentors there, including Pat, who has had a huge influence on me wanting to live a life of service and give this year to San Antonio with City Year. I also met Alex Rouse at Wesley, and she is my more direct City Year inspiration as she serves as a Team Leader in San Jose, CA. Most of all, Wesley has taught me that service is more important than self and that you can get so much more satisfaction out of a life if you give it away. That message is SO IMPORTANT in college when a lot of things are in flux and it's so easy to focus on oneself. I love the Wesley Foundation and everyone I met there and I hope and pray that it is around to encourage college students for many years to come.
5. Tomorrow we get to stay in our schools all day!!!! I'm really excited to finally see what the afternoon is like!
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