Before moving into my dorm at Loyola University Chicago, I participated in a Start The Fire Retreat through Campus Minstry called "Urban Immersion." Start the Fire is a campus-wide program in place to expose students to different opportunities at the university, an avenue to meet fellow peers before classes begin, and uncover the surrounding Rogers Park and Edgewater communities.

"Urban Immersion" participants stayed at the Br. David Darst Center in the Englewood/Bridgeport neighborhood on the southside of Chicago. On this faith-based retreat, I performed various service assignments including taking care of children who lived with their single mothers in a narcotics addiction facility and visiting recently released convicts in a halfway house who were convicted of assault, armed robbery, and second degree murder. Some of the men had been in prison for so long that they forget what trees looked like and didn't understand how the internet works.

"Urban Immersion" lit a spark within me to continue serving others. Above is a picture on the last day of our retreat standing on the steps of the Darst Center.