OCE Spring 2012
OCE SPRING 2012
Please scroll down to read our Highlights and Reflections. Thanks!
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FAST FACTS
- In total, 396 students served 8027.25 hours in the neighboring communities.
- 158 students served 3319.25 hours in Lynn through The Great Conversation service classes.
- 118 students engaged in 1008 hours on student-led Outreach Teams.
- Faculty incorporated service into their curriculums with 36 students engaging in 1540 hours of academically-based service-learning.
- 40 students tutored and mentored Lynn youth for 2044 hours through our College Bound program.
OCE Student Leaders Spring 2012
- Gordon in Lynn Interns: Amnoni Myers, Ashlie Busone, Chris Mawhorter, Christian Shahzade, Ginny Daugherty, Kayla Schwanke, Laura Donworth, Danielle Gehman, David Rodriguez, Lauren Arzbecker, Lauren Burns, Nikky Turk, Joanna Gallagher, Lorenza Bronkhurst
- College Bound Interns: Kara Fieger, Brian Craig, Megan Grant, Sam Senna, Gretchen Lick, Phil Clossey
- Outreach Team Leaders: Aashley Thompson, Matthew Jass, Matti Nightengale, Hannah Bentum, Jordan Carr, Lauren Parker, Natalie Carvalho, GennyLou King, Jessica Hunkler, Ashley Miller, Peter Schultz, Mollie Enright
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HIGHLIGHTS
- SALTeams were placed at Ford School, Family Dinner Project, Bridgewell, New American Center, Girls Inc, KAYA, Teen Scene, Lynn YMCA, Boys + Girls Club, Night School, Catholic Charities, East Coast International Church, Living Fields Lighthouse youth ministry. Highlights included a new mentoring program (“Gordon buddies”) at Boys + Girls Club and the establishment of two new community partnerships with the Family Dinner Project and Teen Scene.
- We initiated a Lynn Plunge at the beginning of each semester to help introduce the TGC SALTeams to the city of Lynn and our philosophy of service. In the fall, all the freshman went down to Lynn for a Saturday morning. They heard from a panel of Christian Lynners about what is means to live the good life in the city of Lynn, toured various community partners, and enjoyed lunch on the waterfront with their TGC professors. President Lindsay also made it down and joined a small group of Lynn leaders for a roundtable discussion. In the spring, our plunge was held in KOSC and we had workshops on topics like ESOL and Urban Education led by Lynn community partners along with guest speaker Hong Net who is a newly elected Cambodian councilman.
- The Day in the Life of Lynn project was a collaboration between two Lynn non-profits (Centerboard and the Lynn Museum) , three creative writing classes (ENG212 A, B + C with professors Mark Stevik, Bryan Parys and Jonathan Bennett) and Tanja Butler’s illustration class (ART367). Forty-six students gave 200 hours in documenting the stories of 36 diverse Lynners including a female police officer, an elderly African-American couple, a Lithuanian poet and a Chinese-American restaurant owner. Some of the stories and illustrations will be featured on a forthcoming website.
- En Camino: 27 ED112-114 (Intro. to Ed.) students under Professor Janis Flint-Ferguson hosted 4th graders from Harrington Elementary School for a morning of educational games and workshops. Additional faculty and staff who supported this were D. Boorse, K. Crisman, S. Doneski, M. Park, A. Stroven.
- KIPP Visit: 33 ED118 (School + Society) students under Prof. Flint-Ferguson hosted 9th graders from the KIPP academy in Lynn for a morning of leadership and vocational discernment activities and workshops. Additional faculty and staff who supported this were: Jeff Miller, Jamie Knudsen, Dan Tyman, Ivy George, Abby Stroven, Judith Olsen, Michael Munroe, Val Gin, John Tyman.
- This year, College Bound collaborated with the Education Dept and Dr. Nelson’s Teaching Reading class, to have each child tested with the DAR assessment for reading. This enabled the tutors to more specifically cater their time to individual learning needs. 34 tutors completed 3663 hours of tutoring. The program was also supported by an Assistant Coordinator, Steven Benson, who met regularly with the interns for leadership development and discipleship.
- The Outreach Teams served at: The Food Project in Beverly, Fellows Farm in Ipswich, Apple Street Farm in Essex, The Salvation Army in Salem, Art Haven in Gloucester, Windrush Horse Farm in Boxford, Briarcliff Adult Day Center in Lynn, KIPP Adult ESOL in Lynn, Girls Inc in Lynn, Homeless Ministry in Boston and the Reach Drama Ministry with Apple Street Farm, ArtHaven and Girls Inc being new Outreach Teams added.
- On Saturday, April 21, 2012, Gordon helped organize a joint service project with Endicott College students at The Food Project’s farm in Beverly and at Apple Street Farm in Essex. Twenty Gordon students served that morning alongside the Endicott students who hosted us for a pizza lunch at Endicott afterwards.
- Other highlights included another visit from our homeless friend Leigh to campus to share conversation and pizza with Gordon students, REACH drama ministry performing for Gordon’s symposium as well as NAC kids sleeping over at Gordon, and the Arts Ministry leading an arts activity for our on-campus College Bound program.
ADVOCACY + AWARENESS
- OCE hosted one night of a two day Educational Summit entitled Sowing Seeds of Justice in partnership with the Center for Responsibility and Justice at Eastern Nazarene College and the National Latino Evangelical Coalition on Friday, March 30, 2012. The goals were to share resources around the issue of social justice and education and to build a movement for quality education. Eighty students attended the Friday night event in KOSC Auditorium.
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REFLECTIONS
“Mentoring elementary schoolers at the Boys and Girls Club in Lynn has given me a deep appreciation for the power of relationships to change lives. However, it has also strengthened my awareness of how deeply we sometimes need to invest in others in order to touch them in a meaningful way. Surface-level relationships, while painless and easy to achieve, leave shallow impressions and are easily erased from memory. True love, real mentoring, inevitably involves sharing in both the triumphs of others and their pain. Going forth from Lynn, I feel compelled to continue to reach out into the lives of those who need me, stretching beyond the shallows to invest meaning into "deep love." Jack Hanke, Gordon in Lynn
"Coming from a small town in Maine with limited diversity to working with the College Bound program has been an incredible experience. It has been an awesome exchange of growing and learning together as they move through elementary school and I move through college. I feel so blessed to have worked with these kids." Karis Sawyer, College Bound
“The students at Teen Scene live in a world so different than mine, but for a little while, our worlds got to intersect. We shared space. They became humans to me, not just names in a program or faces in a viewbook, and through those relationships, we each got to learn and grow, about each other and about ourselves.” McKenzie Watson, Gordon in Lynn
"Service learning has opened my eyes to the fact that, because of the immense blessing the Lord has poured out on me, I must find a way to direct that blessing through myself and into those around me. I must steward the blessings God has entrusted me with in a way that brings flourishing to those around me." Nathan Landis, Gordon in Lynn
“I've realized after leading REACH Drama Ministry for 3 years the journey has been such a learning experience. I've learned that giving back to the community can be done creatively and still impact the lives of teens whether it's done through simple interactive acting games or profound conversations afterwards. Either way, the best part of it all is recognizing when even one teenager looks up to you and trusts you enough to be vulnerable and ask some of life's hardest questions. That's when you know, it's all worth it.” Natalie Carvalho, Outreach Teams
“My service has taught me how to love my neighbors. It has been a lens through which I have seen the heart of injustices, the beauty of community development, and the success that comes from mutually beneficial partnerships. It has grown me personally, relationally, and certainly spiritually. Looking back I realize that I was the true beneficiary. Before I entered Lynn, I was an introverted Christian. Now, by learning to invest in those around me in truly meaningful ways, I have discovered how to be an effective servant of Christ' mission for Shalom.” Haley Drolet, Gordon in Lynn
"No matter our background or present situation, everyone has a story to tell. It is because of our journey to this moment that we are who we are. The homeless of Boston have a magnificent story of joy and sorrow that has led them to their current situation. Gordon College's Homeless Ministry is far more than serving food on the Boston Commons. To reduce this ministry to being solely about food service would not do it justice. This ministry is about hearing those stories and building relationships. Through hearing those stories and building of relationships, we actively take part in the restoration of the Kingdom." Peter Schultz, Outreach Teams