Coming Home

Hello blog readers!  I'm Jess, a former student and co-worker of John's.  What follows are my thoughts on returning to a familiar place after being changed by experiences I had while away.  Enjoy!

The first week of September is always a busy and exciting time for those of us in the field of education. It’s when we return to school after the long summer vacation and reconnect with other teachers. We meet our classes for the first time and trade the flexibility of summer for the stringency of a school day schedule with bells ringing every forty minutes to signal the changing of classes. When classes began last Wednesday at St. John the Baptist DHS I was feeling the anticipation of a new school year, as well as the excitement of a home coming of sorts.


Just over two years ago I decided to leave my position as a Religious Studies teacher at St. John’s and dedicate a year of my life to service with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps Northwest. I was placed in rural Montana where I served as the academic tutor and after school program coordinator at St. Labre Indian School. Early in my year in Montana I realized that twelve months of living and serving in the Northwest was not going to be enough and I signed on to do a second year with JVC Northwest. I moved from the middle of nowhere to the Northwest’s largest city, Seattle. There I taught in the YMCA’s alternative high school and helped young adults transitioning out of homelessness to connect with resources.

Over the past two years, many people have asked why I would give up a job I loved to move across the country and work for free. Initially my answer was because a year of service was something I had always wanted to do; because living somewhere other than New York was something I felt I needed to experience; because I didn’t want to wake up at fifty and realize I was still teaching in the high school I had graduated from for no other reason than because it was easy and comfortable.

What I realize now is that I did not give up two years of my life to do service. Rather I gained some of the most formative experiences of my life while serving those in need. Because I was JV, I can ask my students to have a seat using the language of the Northern Cheyenne tribe and I understand the story of Custer’s Last Stand from the Native perspective. Because I was a JV, I can see past the tough exterior of young people I encounter on the street and realize that behind each pair of baggy pants is a kid who just wants his story to be heard. And that’s only the beginning. Because I was a JV, I know that television is certainly not a necessity, that strangers can quickly become friends who take the place of family when you’re far from home, and that not eating meat every day won’t actually kill you!

Last Wednesday I woke up and returned to work at St. John’s, the high school I graduated from, in my new capacity as Campus Minister. In the midst of the busy-ness of the new school year, I found a place that was indeed comfortable and full of familiar faces. Having been a JV, however, I can say that I work there not just because it’s easy and comfortable, but because like home, it’s the place I belong.