cold oatmeal: 718 days as a Dominican Volunteer

As a college sophomore in May 2010, I met three Dominican Volunteers at the College Preaching in Action Conference. After hearing their joy and passion and enthusiasm for their experience in this program, something clicked. I'm going to be a Dominican Volunteer when I graduate from Edgewood College... and so, I did.

2010 College Preaching in Action Conference - Meeting the DVs

Overview of the last two years:
In my first year as a Dominican Volunteer, I moved to San Francisco to live with 2 other DVs and 15 Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose in a convent. In SF, I taught Sophomore Scripture and helped coordinate academic support at Immaculate Conception Academy (the school was literally right next to the convent). Though a rewarding and worthwhile experience, I realized that teaching wasn't for me.

Teaching my 2nd Period Scripture Class

I decided to renew with DVUSA and check out a new placement at Dominican University near Chicago. I lived with a few other DVs and 2 Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa at House of Connections. At Dominican University, I worked in University Ministry as a program coordinator for a new internship program for Latino/a students, Ministry en lo Cotidiano, as well as taking on anything and everything that came my way. It was a crazy busy year, but I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

Members of the 1st cohort of Ministry en lo Cotidiano

In the beginning of my second year with DVUSA...
The 2014-2015 cohort of Dominican Volunteers had a unique chance to meet the founders of Apostolic Volunteers (which later became Dominican Volunteers USA)-- Sister Marcella Connolly, OP, and Sister Mary Kremer, OP. With great joy and gentle warning, they said to us:

"Being a Dominican Volunteer is going to change the way you see the world. It will change you in ways you'll never realize."

2014-2015 Dominican Volunteers with Sister Marcella and Sister Mary

Reminiscing to that moment fills me with tears at the difficult truth of that statement. Being a Dominican Volunteer has changed the way I see the world. It might sound like rainbows and butterflies, but not always is that the case.

See, there are many joys that come with being a Dominican Volunteer:

living with a total of 17 Dominican Sisters over two years
room and board in San Francisco and Chicago
sharing in prayer with the community
cooking for my community
living with Ashley, Angela, Chris, Amelia, and Cory
spiritual direction
enthusiastic birthday and feast day celebrations
a 15 second commute from ICP to ICA
a 41 minute commute in Chicago traffic with Copernicus... I listened to so much music!
the "dreaded" community meetings at ICP
unlimited access to a limited-release Dominican Praise book
working with some amazing people at Immaculate Conception Academy and Dominican University
living on $100/month stipend... not necessarily a joy, but definitely a challenge that called for some financial creativity
passive-aggressive post-it notes
... also, friendly post-it notes
retreats in New York, Kansas, Michigan, Chicago, Wisconsin, and New Orleans
and, of course, a network of current DVs and DV alumni that understand and have lived through this experience with me

In two years, my worldview has evolved a whole lot. All of those joys and fun experiences helped shape who I am right now.

What about the difficult stuff?

As I re-enter back into the real world after my two years of full-time volunteer service, I find it impossible to go back to who I was when I entered DVUSA. Issues around privilege, immigration, education, language, homelessness, poverty, race, class, voting, accessibility, marriage, hunger, and the environment are no longer issues I might passively read about on my Facebook newsfeed. These are concrete realities for the people I worked with and walked with in the last two years. I was challenged and changed so deeply by my ministries and communities.

In my two months of transition out of DVUSA, some questions have been swirling around my head-- sometimes helping me enter into deep thought, sometimes creating harsh anxiety.

I can't go back to who I was... So where do I go from here? Who am I now?

What makes this 2 year experience worth it?

What experiences do I leave in my photo album? ...What experiences do I take with me in my everyday reality?

How the heck do I even begin to share my transformative experience?

So, here I am. I'm on the cusp of a new chapter in my life, full of transition and promise and uncertainty. I don't have many answers, but I have tons of questions. Here we go!

718 days as a Dominican Volunteer.
Reminiscing...

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