2008 Woodie Awards
With and for others: Students bound for service after school
Cortney Britton '09
Issue date: 5/10/08 Section: Features
For the past year, Saint Joseph's University graduate, Sarah Jones, '06, has been living and working in Bethel, Alaska at the Bethel Alternative Boarding School. When Jones opens the door to the house she shares with her five housemates, she sees miles of frozen tundra, even though it's April. She doesn't have a car. She doesn't have a cell phone. She works with students who are dealing with learning disabilities, substance abuse, and teenage pregnancy. On any given day she could be teaching algebra, jump-starting cars in the negative 30 degree weather, making 40 school lunches, or counseling students as they deal with the latest teen suicide.
Jones has dedicated a year of her life to volunteering with the Jesuit Volunteer Corp (JVC), a decision that many graduating seniors are also making this year, either through the JVC or other volunteer organizations.
Through the JVC, recently graduated students are sent to various locations throughout the country and assigned specific service jobs within the community where they will live and work with other volunteers. The JVC does a tremendous amount of work for those in need while instilling its four core values on volunteers - social justice, simple living, community, and spirituality.
Julie Gilbert, '08, will be joining the JVC after graduation.
She is currently in the middle of the heavy application process, which includes four letters of recommendation and twelve pages of essays. The JVC has an extensive application process in order to force applicants to consider the commitment they are trying to make.
"Applications are more for the individuals to process themselves through this," said Gilbert. The JVC needs to be sure that candidates are volunteering for the right reasons.
The JVC and other volunteer organizations are surprisingly difficult to get accepted into. One would assume that any volunteer would be wanted, but the application process is intense in order to be sure that the volunteers accepted will stay for the required term, and truly fit with the ideals of the volunteer program.
Jones has dedicated a year of her life to volunteering with the Jesuit Volunteer Corp (JVC), a decision that many graduating seniors are also making this year, either through the JVC or other volunteer organizations.
Through the JVC, recently graduated students are sent to various locations throughout the country and assigned specific service jobs within the community where they will live and work with other volunteers. The JVC does a tremendous amount of work for those in need while instilling its four core values on volunteers - social justice, simple living, community, and spirituality.
Julie Gilbert, '08, will be joining the JVC after graduation.
She is currently in the middle of the heavy application process, which includes four letters of recommendation and twelve pages of essays. The JVC has an extensive application process in order to force applicants to consider the commitment they are trying to make.
"Applications are more for the individuals to process themselves through this," said Gilbert. The JVC needs to be sure that candidates are volunteering for the right reasons.
The JVC and other volunteer organizations are surprisingly difficult to get accepted into. One would assume that any volunteer would be wanted, but the application process is intense in order to be sure that the volunteers accepted will stay for the required term, and truly fit with the ideals of the volunteer program.
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