Class of 2014

Economics & History major

Business Administration & International Studies minor

I worked with Taller de Jose to complete service hours and a research project that focused on connecting Taller de Jose to domestic violence shelters and resources in Chicago to assist the community it served. In addition to making initial contacts and finding areas of mutual need, I created a map and guide of the shelters as a resource for Taller de Jose to reference for its community in need. The class also involved a research paper detailing the needs of the community, research into effective methods, and our implementation of the method. There was also an ePortfolio created for this class. The connection I made with Taller de Jose was maintained for a few years after the class, as I organized a couple service trips from a youth group that I volunteered at in the suburbs to come and assist Taller de Jose. Taller de Jose engaged the youth group with a history of the Little Village neighborhood and the community it serves, while the youth collected donated furniture to bring to families in need and helped with projects at the charity's location.

Chicago is a city with many different stories and experiences, and being a college student can at times make for a narrow experience of it. Experiential learning served in many ways as a check against that, providing me the opportunity to not only engage with the city, but learn how to approach communities with vastly different experiences than my own.

The Seminar in Community-based Research and Leadership was very focused on not just doing community service, but doing effective and positively impactful service. The class taught me how to engage the world not through my lens, but the lens of the communities that were in need. Essentially, it brought to light the biases that the privileged bring with them when helping those in need, which has informed the way I look to make a difference since.

Loyola's emphasis on social justice and engagement is so ingrained into me that it is impossible to discuss my ambitions without acknowledging my drive to work in the service of others. Loyola armed us with so many opportunities that anything short of setting the world on fire seems like a waste. Experiential learning was at the heart of that social justice and engagement, it gave us the tools and challenged us to use them. Post-college, I've found not all careers feed our desires to make an impact as thoroughly as others, such as the alumni who become doctors and nurses or do a tour as a Jesuit Volunteer Corps or AmeriCorps volunteers, but an impact can be made everywhere. I currently work in financial regulation, working to keep markets fair and the public safe from fraud, but I find value in it all the same.