Westward Ho!

Well, my faithful blog-followers (can I call you blogowers? Yes? Ok, good), the verdict is in. After months of application-filling, essay-writing, interview-having, and test-taking, I have finally discovered what I where I will be going after I vacate the premises of Baltimore at the end of July. In a mere four months time, I will commence another year with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps in...Phoenix, AZ! (I tried to convey some drama and magnitude with that announcement, but apparently blogs don't allow for such ebullience. So just imagine that I yelled -Phoenix, AZ!- in your ear).

I think it all came down to the fact that I'm not ready to turn the page on this experience just yet. I view a second year in JVC as a whole new experience in which I can go deeper with the mission of this program and how I can incorporate the values into my post-volunteer life. The experience I've had this year, with my community, my job placement, and with Baltimore in general, has thoroughly convinced me that another year in JVC is what I'm meant to do. I am especially excited about my new placement- I will be working as a Job Developer for Catholic Charities. In this position, I will work with refugees (many from countries like Iraq, Haiti, Iran, Burma) to help them get settled in Phoenix and to assist them in finding meaningful employment. The experience I had with the Job Fair event that we hosted back in January sparked my interest in working to facilitate more and better jobs for all of this country's citizens, and I view this new placement with Catholic Charities as a way to fully commit to that line of work. Plus, this will give me an extra year to decide on a grad school, and then decide on how I will pay for said grad school. Needless to say, I'm excited.

So the Great Westward Adventure will commence on August 7th, my first day of orientation in the southwest. But for now, there's a certain Baltimore city pool that may get closed this summer due to budget cuts, leaving our summer camp kids with nowhere to swim...





...and you know this just won't fly with Mr. Moore and I...