Back to DePauw...

Returning back to school after a Winter Term in Service trip is a smack in the face.

After three weeks of living at the StandUp for Kids center--getting to know the homeless youth and spending our time learning about homelessness in San Diego--coming back to a world of classes, sorority/fraternity recruitment (for many of us), snow, and innumerable friends with vastly different winter term experiences can be an odd, disjointed transition. No less than 36 hours after arriving in Indiana, I was back at my sorority house practicing rush cheers and scrambling to prepare for a semester that was quickly approaching. For me, I was miles away (both literally and figuratively) from StandUp and the teens we met. For the teens, had anything changed? Weren't they still living on the streets as they had been in days prior?

We asked this question of ourselves often through reflections sessions. With the luxury to return to our cushy college lives, how do we: 1. grapple with the fact that the teens at StandUp are probably still facing the same challenges they faced prior and during our time in San Diego, and 2. incorporate what we learned and experienced in our daily lives?

Perhaps we will never truly know the extent of our--hopefully positive--impact on the teens. They certainly more than tolerated our company (or intrusion) for three weeks and opened themselves up in ways that I cannot imagine doing so to complete strangers. For some, this was the beginning of unique friendships across newly established Facebook accounts and lists of phone numbers scribbled down on notebook paper. For others, perhaps they never want any contact with us again. To us DePauw students, or at least to me, I will always feel that I gained much more than I can ever give. I had the opportunity to view life, if only a glimpse, from the streets. The teens, on the other hand, cannot so easily enter into the world from which we came.

I feel that we owe it to the teens, for everyone that assisted us in any way in making the trip possible, and for everyone that taught us something about homelessness in San Diego to continue to be engaged on the issue. This could mean becoming a volunteer, it could mean being a willing advocate, or it could even mean evaluating the way that civic service could be a part of one's future career or avocation.

In any case, we are excited to bring our experiences back to the DePauw and Greencastle community. On March 4th from 5:00-6:30 p.m. in the U.B. Ballroom, we will be hosting an interactive homeless banquet. Essentially, the goal is to explore/demonstrate various facets of homelessness as we experienced as well as present pictures and stories from our trip. As the root causes of homelessness are not unique to San Diego, we feel this is a great opportunity to engage and encourage others to be aware and involved.

In service,

Paige, Project Intern