We plant the seeds that will one day grow

Notes from the Field includes reports from young women volunteering in ministries of Catholic sisters. A partnership with Catholic Volunteer Network, the project began in the summer of 2015 This is our third round of bloggers: Brenna Neimanis is a Good Shepherd Volunteer at a juvenile justice residential detention facility serving adolescent girls in Brooklyn, N.Y., and Kerry DiNardo is a Notre Dame Mission Volunteer AmeriCorps member serving at a Cristo Rey school in Boston. This is Kerry's first blog; read more about her here.

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It was through a series of coincidences that I ended up at Cristo Rey Boston High School. Since I attended a Jesuit university, I decided to take these coincidences as signs, and, feeling moved by the Holy Spirit, I detached myself from the expectations others had for me.

As a business major at St. Joseph's University, I felt pressured to follow my classmates into well-paying jobs in the tech industry, but something just wouldn't let me do this. I always had a great interest in education and wondered what it would like to be a teacher. I had learned a bit about the Cristo Rey model while I was a student: The students work one day a week at businesses in the area to help pay the cost of their tuition. I thought this was an innovative model, and once I visited Cristo Rey Boston, I knew I needed to end up here.

My first year, the 2014-2015 school year, was a complete whirlwind. I had no experience in a position of authority at a school — I was used to being on the other side of the desk.

My role is in the Student Life Office, so I was put in charge of the extracurricular program, chaperoning 14- to 18-year-olds on ski trips, museum trips, a trip to Block Island, and volunteering stints at local organizations. It was overwhelming, to say the least, on both the micro and macro levels.

Though the days were long, the year was incredibly short. I would constantly battle the stress of planning events and learning the practicalities of my role versus being present with students.

A turning point in my year was when I was responsible for planning an event for the entire school, about 300 people.

One day leading up to the event, I was uneasy about all of the details that needed to be addressed beforehand. It had been a particularly long day at school. I had a lot of work to finish, but I was also responsible for leading an after-school trip with students volunteering at a food pantry.

I hate to admit that I wasn't really looking forward to it, as I was just thinking about the list of things I had to complete.

Suddenly, the last bell rang, the students flooded my office, and I soon forgot about everything except that I was there to serve with them. We spent the afternoon learning about food deserts and getting to meet people who would benefit from our time at the pantry. It was in this moment that my rationale behind doing a year of service and my current actions as a volunteer came to fruition for me.

There is never an end to what can be done to support our students, but as nonprofits go, only so many people are available to contribute to this effort. It is in these daunting moments I have to remind myself of the prayer composed by Bishop Ken Untener of Saginaw, Michigan, in memory of Blessed Oscar Romero, which I was introduced to in college: "A Future Not Our Own."* 

The days of serving lunch, proctoring study blocks, chaperoning trips, and taking care of so many other practical duties slowly but steadily blend together. These aren't monumental, groundbreaking things I am doing. They are humbling and necessary functions. It is through these actions, however, that I got to see the best in my students. I am helping to plant the seeds that will one day grow — "one day" being a time ahead, when I won't see the outcome of this work. But as Untener wrote, "We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs."

I attended a Jesuit university where I learned to be a woman with and for others. I wanted to use what I had learned, in addition to my gifts and talents, to serve others by being present with them.

My administrative duties at Cristo Rey are important, but more significantly, I am here to be with my students, give them my undivided attention, and show vulnerability. It is incredibly important to serve others, but it is just as imperative, if not more so, to meet those you serve where they are. For me, this means ensuring my students know I am willing to do anything to understand their perspectives. "We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that," Untener wrote. "This enables us to do something, and to do it very well."

Though I may never know what happens to all of my students in the future, I have to trust that my part in their step along the way, though small, will help them grow. Whether it's staying at school late on a Friday to play Scrabble with them or making the time throughout the school day to personally get to know individuals so I can better serve them, my job is to show up for my students wholeheartedly every day.

*An earlier version of this blog post incorrectly identified the author of the prayer as Romero.

[Kerry DiNardo is a Notre Dame Mission Volunteer AmeriCorps member in her second year of service at Cristo Rey Boston High School, where she works in the Student Life Office.]