Introduction and initial thoughts...

Hey everyone! As a senior in the honors program at Loras College, we are required to complete a service project in the Washington neighborhood of downtown Dubuque, IA. It serves as a capstone to our college education at Loras. Service work has been an active part of my life for many years now. I have attended Catholic schools my whole life, and they always encourage us, sometimes even require us, to get involved in the community and help out others who aren’t as fortunate as us. As a result, I have participated in various acts of community service over the past 8 or so years (from high school till now). The majority of the things I have done are only one-time events, such as helping out with the set-up of parish fundraisers or participating in a fall or spring clean up days around town. The one main exception is my weekly trip to the Oak Park Place retirement center in Dubuque as part of the Loras Reach Out program. Once a week we spend a few hours playing card games with the elderly as a way to keep them in touch with both the outside world and the younger generation. For me, it is a nice break every week from schoolwork to get to know some elderly people who have lived through a lot in their lives. By doing this once a week, we really develop a relationship with some of them that we get to talk to every week. This semester long course will be another step up from the Reach Out program. We will be spending many hours working with the same families, and I hope by the end of the semester we will not only have helped improve the Washington neighborhood, but we will have also come out of the experience with some new friendships.

Loras has done a good job of preparing me for this course. They not only strongly encourage us to get active in the community as much as possible, but they also present us with an array of service opportunities and trips every year. The only real challenge and difference in this service experience is the amount of time that will be devoted to it. Spending 15 weeks working in the same neighborhood will take a lot of commitment and patience on my part, but I am sure the end result in December will be very satisfying.

I recently took a tour of the whole neighborhood area with Tyler and came away with some initial reactions. The condition of the neighborhood was a pleasant surprise, actually, as I was expecting a much more run-down area, based on things I have heard previously about this area of Dubuque. It seemed like many of the houses were either in the process of being renovated or had just been renovated. As a result, with the streets lined with all the very old brick houses that are located in the neighborhood, I thought it was a pretty nice area. In addition, the number of churches in such a small area surprised me. That really emphasizes how diverse the Washington neighborhood is. The only observation I had that made me somewhat uncomfortable was the number of people sitting on the porches just watching us drive by. It almost seemed intimidating and unwelcoming, but I hope that after working in the neighborhood for a semester, I will better understand the residents of the Washington neighborhood and their lifestyles. This semester will be challenging and interesting, I am sure, but I am looking forward to it as a great way to cap off my college career.