Where has the time gone...

This year has flown by. It is my last week at La Salle Academy. It feels like just yesterday I started at this wonderful school. I still have two weeks until my program is over. I have definitely had my up and downs. But thanks to my wonderful support systems here in philadelphia and back home and all over the place, I have gotten through what has been up one of the greatest years of my life.

I am so incredibly sad to be leaving my wonderful students at La Salle Academy. They will always hold a special place in my heart and I will never forget them. Its hard because I have been living and seeing what my students go through on a daily basis but now I get to leave and move on but they are stuck and I just wish I could help them more. 

"Life's most persistent and urgent question is: what are you doing for others".

My dear friend and co-worker sent me this quote the other day and I feel like it is so true. What are you doing for others? There are some days that I feel like I haven't done anything for others and then I look at my students as they are leaving at the end of the day and they say thank you for something that I've done for them that day and it hits me. It's the little things I do for my students on a daily basis that makes a difference. And its the little things they do for me that always brings a smile to my face. 

I have been so blessed to have worked at such a wonderful ministry site that I will never forget and will always hold a special place in my heart. 

A few of my favorites...

“We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It's easy to say "It's not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem." Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes.” 
                 Fred Rogers

“If you could only sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to the people you may never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person.” 
                   Fred Rogers

Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity.

“Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.” 
              St. Catherine of Siena

“Nothing great is ever achieved without much enduring.”

             St. Catherine of Siena

So as some of you may know, I have decided to attend George Mason University to receive my MSW! Well for some strange reason all my students think that I'm leaving...today. Which isn't true! At school there was a mini carnival for the students and there were prizes being given away. One of my students gave me this Guardian Angel because she was going to miss me. It brought a tear to my eye that they were already sad about me leaving. Another student won a stuffed animal leopard, he wanted to give it to me because I LOVE animal print but I told him how about he keeps it and whenever he sees it he can think of me. He agreed but under one condition, only if I gave it a hug. 

I am so blessed to have such amazing students who I am going to miss tremendously. 

"Let us always meet each other with a smile, for the smile is the beginning of love"

         Mother Teresa

xoxo

Katie

We aren't so different after all

Life the past few weeks, or months, have been a little bit crazy. I am currently in the process of applying to Graduate Schools for my Masters in Social Work. The process has been taking over my life but in the end it will all pay off!

A lot of the essay questions are asking me to talk about an experience I have had with a different population. I can’t help but think about my students. I try to relate to them on a daily basis. Tell them, I was there age once. But in reality, I have no clue what they are going through. Yes I was once a teenager and dealt with everything that came with it. But I am a white girl who grew up in the suburbs. I have no idea what it is like to grow up in the city. I don't know what its like to live pay-check to pay-check. I don't know what its like to have parents that aren't really parents. I don't know what it's like to be one of my students. But daily I try to relate to my students some way or another. I know what it's like to deal with peer pressure. I know what its like to have your parents tell you to get along with your siblings and to clean your room. I know that it can sometimes be hard to make new friends. I know that everyone has a bad day every once in a while. These are the ways I try to relate to my students, to try and show them that as different as we are, we are all very similar in the end. 

peace and love

Katie