A journey to find the right activity

At the start of this year, my enthusiasm for the following months was at an all-time high because August 2016 marked the beginning of my college career, a chance to embark on a new journey, and an opportunity to try new things.

The activities fair was one of the first stops in opening myself up to new experiences.  In high school, I was heavily involved in service but I wanted to ensure that I did not end up doing the same activities I had been doing for the last four years. While I had great experiences doing service in high school, I wanted to embrace the unique experiences that college could hold for students looking to try something new.

That is how I ended up in the Jiu Jitsu Club, though I only lasted for two and a half weeks. My decision to quit was mainly prompted by the bruises covering my body and the occasional headache from smacking my head against the mat when I fell.  I was also the only female, which was not ideal either. Don’t get me wrong, I would never let my gender stop me from doing something, but there was no one even close to my size there.

So, two and a half weeks later, I found myself signing up for weekly service.  I forgot to specify a service site, so when I went to the orientation meeting, I asked the woman in charge which site needed more volunteers.  I was given two options: the Correctional Outreach program for Students or the “Welcome Center,”which aims to assist new immigrants to the country.  After seeing how poorly I lasted being willingly thrown around in Jiu Jitsu Club, I recognized that the male prison was probably not the best decision for an 18-year-old, 110 pound female.  So, without knowing anything about it, I gladly signed up for the Welcome Center.   

As it turns out, the Welcome Center is a home in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia that lets new immigrants take English classes and volunteers prep immigrants for their upcoming citizenship tests. When I signed up, I assumed that I would be assisting a trained, experienced teacher with his or her class. That was not the case..   

Myself and another Saint Joseph’s University student were given our own class of 12 students.

None of them spoke English, and myself and the other St. Joe’s  student did not speak Spanish, so we had our work cut out for us.

After eight weeks of classes, our students had made great progress.  We learned that most of them were from the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, or Mexico.  They were hard working individuals and were patient with my broken Spanish.  When our classes had ended, I found myself missing my students.

This semester, I signed up to serve at a soup kitchen.  Even though I did service in high school, every experience with service is different. Turns out, sometimes sticking with what you know is the best decision. I found out the hard way that there was a reason I had never signed up for jiu jitsu before. 

When you find that one thing you love, which for me, is doing service, there is no reason to push yourself into activities that you do not enjoy.  I was fortunate enough to figure out early in my college career what activities I am passionate about pursuing.  However, for those who still have not found that one activity, never be afraid to try new things.