After participating in a service project every semester during my time in International House, these three experiences were the most memorable and the most influential on my life.
During my freshman year at Le Moyne, my future brother-in-law and I took weekly trips to St. Joseph’s Hospital to conduct a physical education class for a small group of students. Each student was attending an inpatient program for children with emotional and behavioral disorders. This experience eventually influenced my decision to pursue a career in child and family therapy. Looking back, I realize that the love and compassion that the teacher had for each child was what transformed them and impressed me most of all. To this day, I still believe that we grow through caring relationships - more so than actions - in both our personal or professional lives.
Another memorable volunteer experience through International House was spent during a couple of afternoons a week at El Primer Paso, a drop in center for Hispanic youth. As a Spanish minor, I was able to put my Spanish to use in ways that I could not have possibly imagined. At one point, I was co-leading a social skills group of middle school boys along with one of the staff members there. We somehow came upon the topic of physical changes in puberty and one of the boys asked what wet dreams were.
At that inopportune moment, the staff member (a male) was called away from the group to attend to an urgent matter and left me to face a wide-eyed group of boys. Some of them had no clue as to what I was talking about, while others painfully aware of what I attempted to explain in my weak Spanish skills. The leader made a timely return to repair any damaged misconceptions. I vowed to myself to get better at Spanish.
The most life-changing service experience while at Le Moyne was spent in Mexico during the summer before my Junior year. I worked in a girl’s dormitory at the orphanage Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos y Hermanas. I got the girls up and off doing their chores, coached them in baseball, settled them in at night and spent time picking lice nits from their hair during the day. But whatever insight I offered those 90 young girls in that dorm was a drop in a bucket compared to everything that I learned from them.
These girls were teaching me another language, changing my views about other cultures (as well as ours) and showing me that I can feel at home and connected to other people no matter where I find myself.
Service projects most certainly opened my eyes to experiences outside the campus which stretched my comfort zone and increased my confidence. These experiences enabled me to appreciate the reciprocal impact we have on each other, led to a career path and put me in situations of responsibility and learning that are not attainable through employment at that age. I hope this tradition of service continues to be an integral part of a student’s education at Le Moyne College.

Working as a volunteer increased my awareness of the sufferings of those who are poor and disabled. Belonging to a community where people were helping others increased my faith and my belief that there are good people who care about the less fortunate. I volunteered for Project Inner City during my freshman year to work with children at the Vincent House Community Center in an after-school school program. I joined Intentional House during my sophomore year
and worked at Unity Soup Kitchen. During my junior and senior years, I lived at International House and started the Hunger Action Committee on-campus while performing other types of volunteer work as needed. Students should try to find time in their busy schedules to do volunteer work because it will help to provide a balance to their studies and campus life. It's good to be involved with people from other walks of life to assist you in gaining insight into your own life.