Summer Service Project

Each year, the OCSE invites applicants for our summer internship program. This program involves working for a local non-profit agency for 8 weeks, 35-40 hours per week. Those who are accepted into (and finish!) the program are awarded a $2000 tuition credit and are provided with on-campus housing and a food stipend. We meet weekly as a group for dinner and discussion, a time for talking through the events of the week, problem solving, and just enjoying one another's fellowship. Agency placements are done very carefully, seeking a match between you and the people you will be working with and for, including concern for similar values, personalities, and interests.

In 2005 and 2006, a total of 21 students were accepted into the program, 17 through the OCSE and an additional 4 supported by CWIL Community Connections. Below you will find a listing of the participants, their agency, and a paragraph about their work over the summer. If you are interested in applying for the program, contact Carrie Call at ccall@saintmarys.edu.

Connie Adams (major: Social Work): YWCA (2005)

The YWCA is a women's shelter for chemical dependency and domestic violence victims. It is a great opportunity to understand women who are at a different place in their lives than you. You will have the opportunity to answer crisis phone calls, do intake paperwork, and sit in on group sessions of all kinds. The staff and volunteers at the shelter are inspirational and supportive. Although not an easy job, it is rewarding. It will challenge you beyond your means, but you will still come out on top. I would recommend this position to someone who wants to challenge herself and grow in ways she does not understand at this time.

Mary Buehl (major: Elementary Education): Take Ten (2005)

This summer I worked at the Robinson Community Center which is affiliated with The University of Notre Dame. There, I worked on the Take Ten project. Take Ten is a violence prevention program that seeks to educate students grades Pre K- 12 about how to deal with violence and conflicts in school in positive and peaceful ways. This curriculum is taught by college volunteers in schools and community centers. With the recent problems in school violence we feel that educating young people about violence prevention and conflict resolution is the most positive and responsible way of promoting peace amoung our young people in teh community. My resposibilities this summer included editing and formating the curriculum that has already been used in several of the South Bend primary centers from grades K-8. I also sat on a committee and was able to actually write the curriculum for the new High School portion of the curriculum that is based on a mentoring program. This curriculum will be put on the web during the fall of 2005. Our curriculum is now being used abroad in the Phillipines and also Kosovo. Recently we have had requests to start using this program in Santa Fe, New Mexico and Los Angeles, California.

Ann Carpenter: Potawatomi Zoo (2005)

This summer my service placement was at the Potawatomi Zoo, here in South Bend. I worked with the zoo's education departmant and was in charge of the zoo's summer camps for children. Each camp was four days long, and there was no overnight stays. Besides helping the zoo out with its camps, I was in charge of taking care of the animals in the Learning Center. Everyday I had to feed the animals, clean their cages, and play with them. Overall, the zoo was a great placement site and I enjoyed every day of work.

Dana Christiano: St. Margaret's House (2006)

St. Margaret's House is a place where women in poverty can go during the day to relax, socialize, get a meal, or other social 
services.  My main job over the summer was to help plan and coordinate a summer program for the children. 
Kids of every age are there, and I planned daily activities, such as arts and crafts, making cookies,games, and field trips.  
Some of the field trips were going bowling, to the zoo, a tour of Notre Dame, and Healthworks museum.  
It was a really fun and rewarding experience. It is rewarding because many of the kids there do not experience 
a lot of structured play or personal attention and providing them with fun activities is a great experience for them, 
they get excited about a lot of the activities.  The mothers really appreciate you playing with their children and 
having activities planned. St. Margaret's House is a great place to work; overall it is a friendly environment 
and the staff members are wonderful to work with.    

Christy Dietz (major: Psychology): Women's Care Center (2005)

As a counselor at the Women’s Care Center I was able to develop the skills necessary to provide service for women facing unexpected pregnancies in a woman-centered yet life affirming environment. I received excellent training during the first half of my time spent at the WCC and was then able to work on my own as a staff counselor for the second half of my time with the agency. My role as a counselor was to provide information, material help, and support to women in crisis. My primary task was to conduct intake interviews with clients and assess their needs. Most clients came in seeking free, confidential pregnancy testing. As part of these counseling sessions I was able to discuss with women their options if faced with an unplanned pregnancy, their relationships, their lifestyle choices, and their decision making processes. My goal was to provide women with the information they needed to make fully informed decisions, especially in regard to issues such as abortion, adoption, birth control, and abstinence. I was also responsible for helping women meet their physical needs and those of their children by providing them with community referrals as well as material assistance.

Megan Kennedy (major: Social Work): Center for the Homeless (2005)

The Center for the Homeless, located downtown South Bend, houses around two hundred guests each night. In addition to housing, the Center provides guests with food, clothing, and a variety of programs and services for guests of all ages. As a summer service student I worked in Family Services. During the summer when school is no longer in session, the Center is pressed to provide programming for the many children. My responsibilities varied greatly but, for the most part, I was responsible for planning and supervising daily activities for the children. Activities included gardening, horseback riding, picnics, going to the swimming pool, crafts, and much more. For a three week period at the end of the summer I was responsible for providing day care for the zero to six year olds. This involved a lot of planning of activities, and basic care of the children including feeding, taking naps, and changing diapers. In order to enjoy this placement it is important to be flexible because there are constant changes at the center. Also, it helps to be creative in terms of thinking of things for the children to do. Lastly, it is also important to enjoy working with kids.

Joanna Mackiewicz (major: Social Work): Charles Martin Center (2005)

The center is a great place for local youth to go and enjoy camps, after school programs, and art classes. It also helps facilitate programs that influence the youth for example SAT classes and different college prep classes. While working at the center this summer I was able to help with the local Girl Scout camp, an art class, and sit in on important meetings that were aimed to help the youth of South Bend. When I was not in meetings or helping with camps, I answered phone calls and referred people to different agencies that could help them.

Carolyn Madison (major: Accounting): Center for the Homeless (2005)

This summer I worked at the Center for the Homeless of South Bend. I worked in the volunteer services department where I was able to help with daily activities ranging from child care to adult education instruction as well as organizing community service activities for guests to do outside of the Center. I interacted daily with the guests and got to know their stories and desires to change their lives. Often times the stories were sad and sometimes people were comfortable just living in the moment. There were also numerous situations where people were committed to making a positive change for themselves and their children. It was a good summer for me despite the sad stories because it was a summer of hope and growth.

Megan Medlock (major: Political Science): Saint Margaret's House (2005)

This summer service location requires the student to Coordinate the Kids Summer Program. This past summer I had scheduled and ran field trips, hosted visitors, and had activities and art projects planned daily. This is a FANTASTIC location if you love working with children. No previous experience is necessary, keep in mind I can't even draw a circle evenly, so no worries on the art projects. SMH has children 12 and under, although the majority of the time was spent with pre-schoolers and babies.

Erin McQueen (major: Biology, pre-med): Chapin Street Clinic (2005)

The Saint Joseph Health Center, known locally as the Chapin Street Clinic, is a wonderful place to spend a summer of service. It is particularly beneficial for those who hope to enter the medical profession. At the clinic, the student is able to prepare patients for the physician. This includes obtaining weight, height, blood pressure, blood glucose levels and pain location and intensity. The student is also given the responsibility of maintaining and preparing charts. The physicians also serve as mentors to students, offering advice and knowledge. The second department is Community Outreach. This position mostly entails clerical work. The student is exposed to the bookkeeping needs of a health organization. A few health fairs and health awareness events are included.

Sondra Solloway (major: History): Cass County Council on Aging (2005)

This summer I split my time between two organizations. One was the Cass County Council on Aging. It is an organization for seniors to meet other seniors as well as the chance to particpate in various activites. There I spent my time writing down life stories and attending some interesting seminars such as "Love and Sex after 50". As a history major, it was so much fun to meet the people at the council because I got to listen to first hand accounts about the Great Depression, World War II, and the social movements of the 60s. I also spent time at Home Management Resources where I conducted a large survey.

Rachael Stowe (major: Math and Humanistic Studies): Refugee and Immigration Services (2005 & 2006)

I worked at Refugee Services of South Bend this summer. Most of my responsibilities included scheduling appointments for refugees and taking them to the appointments.This also included arranging translation services when needed, a knowledge of the office I was dealing with, and the specific documentation and guidelines for various offices. Minor responsibilities included copying, faxing, and filing. Anyone with a passion for service and a desire to understand other cultures, who is willing to ask questions and dive into the work, would thrive in this position.

Kate VanDamme: Chapin Street Clinic and Healthworks Children's Museum (2006)
      The Chapin Street Clinic is a health center whose patients are without medical insurance and are also inelidgeable for medicare and medicade.   Volunteer physicians, dentists, and nurses serve hundreds from Saint Joseph county at the Clinic.  Student volunteers also extremely important to this organization.  Responsibilities include greeting and checking in patients; locating, preparing, and filing medical charts; preparing patients for their physician, which includes taking their weight, height, temperature, and blood pressure; and assisting nurses and doctors as needed. Volunteers are given proper training and validated in each area of responsibility before performing the tasks alone.  Opportunities to visit the homeless shelter, soup kitchens, and area churches on medical endeavors and to shadow an array of physicians are available at this site. This is an excellent volunteer experience.

    Healthworks! is a division of Memorial Hospital.  In the summertime the museum hosts field trips for area schools and organizations, day camps for children, as well as general public visitors.  This volunteer experience requires creativity, energy, and enthusiasm.  Responsibilities include greeting customers, assisting with and representing Healthworks! at special events such as health fairs and festivals, interacting with children in the museum, and assisting with summer camps and classes.  The camps and classes include wacky science projects, cooky crafts, health and fitness topics and everything in between.  This is a terrific place for working closely with children and combining ones' interests in creative arts and health sciences.

Jacque Werling (major: Psychology): In-Home Autism Services (2005)

I worked with children diagnosed as having Autism Spectrum Disorder. I provided Applied Behavior Analysis Therapy (ABA). I also applied Greenspan's floor time with two of the children, which is more interactive/receptive play. The in-home therapy was extremely challenging, but always interesting, and rewarding when you pick up on the small joys of the job. The children are all varying in ability relating to attention, verbal and social interaction, as well as physical and mental abilities. Time outs were used with multiple children to stop unwanted behaviors such as scratching, biting, throwing, and pinching, but overall the therapy is based on positive reinforcing wanted behaviors. The therapy is done at a table repeating tasks varying from oral motor, object discriminating, identification, and fine and gross motor skills. The programs progressively change and keep the child engaged and learning. After the therapy there were extra perks depending on the families you work with. Most times I was able to have some outdoor time with the child just generalizing information learned at the table and playing with them as I would with any child. All the parents know the programs well and were incredibly helpful, supportive, and appreciative throughout my time with their child. One particular challenge was trying to get to know the strengths and weaknesses of each child in order to best know how to interact and encourage them individually with such time restraints. I might not have seen progress everyday with every child, but from week to week or at least by the end of the internship it was completely evident the progress made whether they were leaps or just baby steps.