I had a feeling that being a part of community would be second nature to me. I felt a strong sense of community from my dance group growing up. The influence of my instructors and peers shaped the person I am today. The word was central to student life when I attended Villanova University. After […]

In early June, I had the opportunity to return to the Sisters of Loretto’s Motherhouse in Nerinx, Kentucky. The purpose of the trip was to bring three small groups of high school students from each of the Loretto schools to the Motherhouse to engage with service and Loretto values, while making tangible connections between their […]

I was recently sitting in a staff meeting for the Siena Youth Center, the youth center where I serve for part of my ministry with Dominican Volunteers USA. The topics ranged from the recent run-ins with budding adolescence, summer camp logistics, our upcoming obstacle race, to putting ourselves on discount. In this short year, Rafael […]

I’m coming up on two months left of my service program. And it truly feels like time is flying by so quickly. These two months will feel like two seconds. In one of my community’s recent weekly prayer meetings, we reflected on our experience as an educational endeavor. We looked at it as if it […]

Earlier this month, I sat in a room with about 20 school faculty and staff before two workshop facilitators. The participants ranged from elementary and high school administrators and teachers, representing a variety of areas, from elementary principal to 7th grade geography to 11th grade social studies. Our reason for gathering? To learn about best […]