I decided I wanted to be a teacher when I was 17. I imagined growing up and having my own classroom. I thought about how I would decorate it, how I would arrange the desks, and how I would make sure that every student felt comfortable there. When I decided to spend the year as...
Community is the charism, or spiritual gift, of the Augustinian Order and a pillar of the Augustinian Volunteers. “What is community?” is often asked as we strive towards achieving a fruitful community of volunteers throughout the service year. Before, I had a surface level understanding. It was a group of people united over a single...
When it came time for orientation this August, I was super nervous about living with two strangers in intentional community for the next year. Upon meeting Meg and Hank, I became assured that this year would be one wild ride. The three of us spent the entire week laughing until tears were pouring out and...
Never in my life would I have ever imagined that one day I would be dressed in an Eeyore costume with a fluorescent orange vest and holding a hand-held stop sign at a K-8 school in California. Yet, that is exactly where I found myself on Halloween morning. Since it was a Wednesday morning it...
I have always loved the sun. I love the feeling of its warmth on my face. I appreciate how it makes the avocado tree in our front yard abundant with fruit. I look forward to the amazing show it puts on every morning and evening, each day different than the one before. I recently remarked...
I have very distinct memories of being back home during my high school days, driving my sister to school every morning. Normally, we would be too tired to talk in the early morning but have plenty of jokes to share on the ride home. In the present day, the days begin and end very similarly....
Four years of college, a degree later, and I somehow find myself back in the bustling halls of high school. It’s a Friday night and I am driving an eight passenger white van down the 101 with fifteen-year-olds screaming in the back. This is the kind of moment I dreaded when I thought of a...
Even though I grew up Catholic, I must confess that I was a bit nervous with the thought of working with religious orders while completing my year as a volunteer in an Augustinian program. To add to my nervousness, I was going to spend almost a full year in Peruvian society in a small city...
At the beginning of our year in Peru, my community and I listened to Father Greg Boyle, a priest who serves the gang community in Los Angeles, talk about what service means. He speaks of the call to delight in the other and states that “it’s a delighting that enters into full kinship with each...
My assignment as an Augustinian Volunteer is at St. Patrick’s Grade School, as the Physical Education and Technology teacher. A couple of days ago, I was having a conversation with some of the faculty at St. Patrick’s and we were discussing some of the best sports movies. One of my favorites is Field of Dreams....
