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Many college students use their summer break as just that—a break—a time to relax, go home to family, and maybe even earn some extra money.
But rising junior Kristi Haas has taken a break from the ordinary, choosing instead to spend her summers in service through the Center for Social Concerns (CSC). Last year, she was in Hartford, Conn. This year, she is in El Salvador—a far cry from her hometown of Davenport, Iowa.
In Hartford, Haas was a teacher’s assistant in the third-grade classroom of a school that served many immigrant and refugee families. She was there to mentor the students, but also to learn. She hopes, one day, to help remedy some of the problems facing American schoolchildren.
“There’s a great divide in Connecticut,” she says. “It’s one of the wealthiest states in the nation, but Hartford also has one of the highest child poverty rates in America.”
This summer, Haas is serving in El Salvador through the CSC’s International Summer Service Learning Program. Working with locals on an agricultural cooperative, she says that what is most exciting for her is living with a native family and sharing their daily lives.
Of course, she misses her own family quite a bit, but service is extremely important to Haas, both as a Catholic and as a student.
It’s hard, but it’s definitely a crucial part of my learning,” says Haas, who majors in the Program of Liberal Studies with a minor in peace studies. “If I didn’t gain the skills to learn outside the classroom and learn about people with different cultures and different beliefs, my education wouldn’t really be complete.”
“I have grown so much through these service projects,” she adds. “I am learning about my faith not just through my academics, but also in seeing how action, liturgy, and community come together to form us into the people God wants us to be.”
The Spirit of Notre Dame, Newsletter published by the Notre Dame Department of Development, Summer 2008
