personal reactions to our research and findings
gretchen bruggeman
[email protected]
My passion against poverty had begun before I took action on the problem. My heart always hurt seeing kids, sadly my age, living on the streets. I never really thought I could ever do anything about it until my Junior year in High School I was reminded of the difference I could make. I began volunteering at St. Vincent DePaul’s homeless shelter on Apple St. I served dinner and sometimes breakfast once a week to the families staying there. I began looking forward to seeing the smiles on some of those kids faces and waiting for the hugs and comments like “I want to take you to school with me!” As much as I was making a difference in their lives, they were making a bigger difference in mine.
After my required 25 hours of service was completed, I still felt drawn to go back and keep volunteering at St. Vincent. We had created our own little family in the kitchen making and serving dinner and I loved every minute of it. So when I had heard about the Capstone Project I knew right away what I would be focusing on. Children in poverty is something that deserves to be researched more often. Something needs to be done in our society to prevent cycles like this from continuing. Why is it that I am lucky enough to never have to worry about having a meal on my plate three times a day? Why is it that going to college has never even been a question for me? It is OUR obligation to make a difference in this world. Like Thomas Paine once said, “We have it in our power to change the world over.”
My passion against poverty had begun before I took action on the problem. My heart always hurt seeing kids, sadly my age, living on the streets. I never really thought I could ever do anything about it until my Junior year in High School I was reminded of the difference I could make. I began volunteering at St. Vincent DePaul’s homeless shelter on Apple St. I served dinner and sometimes breakfast once a week to the families staying there. I began looking forward to seeing the smiles on some of those kids faces and waiting for the hugs and comments like “I want to take you to school with me!” As much as I was making a difference in their lives, they were making a bigger difference in mine.
After my required 25 hours of service was completed, I still felt drawn to go back and keep volunteering at St. Vincent. We had created our own little family in the kitchen making and serving dinner and I loved every minute of it. So when I had heard about the Capstone Project I knew right away what I would be focusing on. Children in poverty is something that deserves to be researched more often. Something needs to be done in our society to prevent cycles like this from continuing. Why is it that I am lucky enough to never have to worry about having a meal on my plate three times a day? Why is it that going to college has never even been a question for me? It is OUR obligation to make a difference in this world. Like Thomas Paine once said, “We have it in our power to change the world over.”
Clare GERAGHTY
[email protected]
As a senior completing my final year in high school, I have had more than quite a few things occurring in my life. The stress of getting great scores on standardized tests, completing college applications, completing scholarship applications, and getting into and affording college ON TOP OF maintaining good grades, staying involved in extracurriculars, keeping up with a social life and relationships, enjoying my last year of high school, and being held responsible for duties at home. One could easily get lost in that mess. On top of that, I decided to try this Capstone Project. At the beginning, I had lofty goals for the project and only the best intentions. I saw this as an opportunity to put my values out there, work towards something I felt strongly for. However, I learned that to promote my values, and to work towards justice is hard. For me, it was hard to prioritize. I had to really think about what was important to me and balance everything going on in my life. For me, volunteering and a commitment to justice had been very easy and manageable in the past. However, with a busier schedule, I had to fully commit myself. I realized that outside of highschool, I will be even more busy and have even less structure helping me to stay an active volunteer and community member. I think that this project was a good transition into the next phase of my life where it will be totally up to me to live out my beliefs.
Junior year, I focused my service requirement on preparing and serving meals for women and families at St. Vincent DePaul, the local homeless shelter. I really enjoyed my time working and was rewarded by seeing little ways I had had an impact on the community there. I continued my involvement with the organization out of interest and love for the cause. Naturally, I decided to continue on that path. Throughout my time volunteering, I especially noticed the children in the shelter who would come up for more food and I would sneak them a piece of bread or an apple. I wondered where they would end up, I hoped that they had a bright future and that our society’s system would work and help them towards success. That is what narrowed the focus of our interviews to children and how homelessness had an impact on them.
I am very proud of my final project and the journey it has taken me to get here. I have learned so much more than I imagined and only hope that this website will offer that insight to others.
"For when everybody tries to become better off, nobody is better off. But when everybody tries to become better, everybody is better off" Peter Maurin
As a senior completing my final year in high school, I have had more than quite a few things occurring in my life. The stress of getting great scores on standardized tests, completing college applications, completing scholarship applications, and getting into and affording college ON TOP OF maintaining good grades, staying involved in extracurriculars, keeping up with a social life and relationships, enjoying my last year of high school, and being held responsible for duties at home. One could easily get lost in that mess. On top of that, I decided to try this Capstone Project. At the beginning, I had lofty goals for the project and only the best intentions. I saw this as an opportunity to put my values out there, work towards something I felt strongly for. However, I learned that to promote my values, and to work towards justice is hard. For me, it was hard to prioritize. I had to really think about what was important to me and balance everything going on in my life. For me, volunteering and a commitment to justice had been very easy and manageable in the past. However, with a busier schedule, I had to fully commit myself. I realized that outside of highschool, I will be even more busy and have even less structure helping me to stay an active volunteer and community member. I think that this project was a good transition into the next phase of my life where it will be totally up to me to live out my beliefs.
Junior year, I focused my service requirement on preparing and serving meals for women and families at St. Vincent DePaul, the local homeless shelter. I really enjoyed my time working and was rewarded by seeing little ways I had had an impact on the community there. I continued my involvement with the organization out of interest and love for the cause. Naturally, I decided to continue on that path. Throughout my time volunteering, I especially noticed the children in the shelter who would come up for more food and I would sneak them a piece of bread or an apple. I wondered where they would end up, I hoped that they had a bright future and that our society’s system would work and help them towards success. That is what narrowed the focus of our interviews to children and how homelessness had an impact on them.
I am very proud of my final project and the journey it has taken me to get here. I have learned so much more than I imagined and only hope that this website will offer that insight to others.
"For when everybody tries to become better off, nobody is better off. But when everybody tries to become better, everybody is better off" Peter Maurin