OCE Fall 2011
OCE FALL 2011
Please scroll down to read our Highlights and Reflections. Thanks!
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FAST FACTS
- In total, 406 students served 5784 hours in the neighboring communities.
- 148 students served 2764.9 hours in Lynn through The Great Conversation service classes.
- 118 students served 1069 hours on student-led Outreach Teams.
- 10 faculty incorporated service into their curriculums with 80 students engaging in 263 hours of academically-based service-learning.
- 37 students tutored and mentored Lynn youth for 1619 hours through our College Bound program.
- OCE Student Leaders Fall 2011
Gordon in Lynn Interns: Amnoni Myers, Ashlie Busone, Chris Mawhorter, Christian Shahzade, Ginny Daugherty, Kayla Schwanke, Laura Donworth, Danielle Gehman, Megan Stark, Lauren Arzbecker, Lauren Burns, Nikki Turk
College Bound Interns: Jess Allen, Kara Fieger, Brian Craig, Megan Grant, Jess Beidel, Sam Senna
Outreach Team Leaders: Aashley Thompson, Matthew Jass, Matti Nightengale, Hannah Bentum, Hannah Strauss, Teresa Boone, Jordan Carr, Lauren Parker, Natalie Carvalho, Nina Voli, Claire Maillefer, Jessica Hunkler
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HIGHLIGHTS
- Joining in our Advocacy + Awareness efforts, student Sarah Riad '14 helped bring the film, Nefarious, to Gordon in September. Nefarious is a documentary exposing the global sex trade. It was a film made over the past few years by a ministry called "Exodus Cry" based in Kansas City, MO. The team traveled to several countries and explored various aspects of slavery, interviewing both trafficking victims and perpetrators.
- Peer Servants, a nonprofit in the City of Lynn, works to help materially poor with economic, social, and spiritual transformation. Director Todd Engelsen spoke at the September convocation "Micro Loans, Mucho Love, Mega Impact". The event was part of a series of convocation choices for students. Following the event, Peer Servants worked with Gordon's Office of Community Engagement and returned for another more-focused discussion based on micro-finance as a sustainable development strategy.
- On Friday, Sepember 30th, the entire fifthgrade from Harrington Elementary in Lynn joined students from Kaye Cooke’s Developmental Psychology class for our bi-annual En Camino college access event. En Camino translates from Spanish to “on the path” and the goal of this partnership is to expose the students to college as a path they might take one day. The children were held in rapt attention by the beautiful space in Phillips Recital Hall as they were lead through learning the Virginia Reel.
- Leigh Maynard, a homeless man who has become a dear friend to many students at Gordon College through the Homeless Ministry Outreach Team, came to speak to a group of twenty students on Saturday, November 12. While sitting around the table in Tavilla Conference Room, twenty students had the privilege of hearing Leigh share his life story while they shared a meal. (see photo)
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REFLECTIONS
I have really enjoyed working with the KAYA kids this semester. It was difficult at first to build relationships, and it took awhile for them to trust us, but the hard work has paid off. I am going to miss seeing them every Tuesday, but I am excited for the next group of Gordon students that gets to work at KAYA.
Lizzie Vollmer '15
Talking to students, I am struck by how much re-wiring potential there is for their service-learning in Lynn! This ‘renewing our mind’ business…is such a good way to describe what's going on at Gordon - a lot of repairing of harmful, narrow, starved understandings of God and the world. And Gordon in Lynn is such an important part of this process!
Joanna Gallagher '12, OCE student fellow
Through the relationships I built in Lynn, I learned about the blessings one can receive from serving others. I remember my first day serving at Ford school in Lynn and walking into the classroom for the first time. I wore the biggest awkward smile that you could've seen, but then was returned the favor with thirty little smiles. In the small voices of kindergarteners I learned about joy, peace, and justice. Living like Christ and treating people with respect didn't have to be some exuberant action, but could be simple and small like playing with kindergarteners an hour and a half once a week. I am starting to see that God works in the small, simple, and ordinary and I learned this volunteering in Lynn.
Samuel Craig, '15
Not only did I learn a lot about myself [serving in Lynn], but I also learned how to be more compassionate, caring and patient. It's amazing how quickly I was able to connect with these young kids; they began to look up to me! At first it felt weird being in an elementary classroom with all these little kids, but I got used to it and sometimes I was able to feel like a kid again.
Anna Kospetas, '15
I farmed fruits and vegetables for about two hours almost every Saturday. This included planting, harvesting, and sometimes other tasks on the farm such as cleaning out the shed. It was an amazing learning experience that taught me about ethical farming and the importance of knowing where your food comes from.
Anonymous