Nothing can prepare you for the moments that may come. Just last week a mother at St. Margaret’s Women and Children’s Shelter informed me that the bright signs all over the shelter containing a black and white image of a man, were signs informing others to look out for her husband who was searching and hoping to hurt her again. No lesson in a classroom can teach you the reality for the kids we watch who struggle everyday with bullying because they can’t afford clothes without holes in them.
By choosing a university that highly believes in their Jesuit mission statement, students here have the obligation to carry out that mission and spend time improving the world in which they live. There is no course at Gonzaga that can truly teach you what it means to be a valuable member of a community. Service is the only way for anyone to prepare themselves to be part of the larger world around them.
I believe that my piece is engaging because I chose a topic that I value and therefore I can write with a strong tone. Along with this, asking rhetorical questions engages my audience by making them think and reflect on their own experiences and thinking. This topic is original as it reflects a few of my unique and personal experiences in Homeless Outreach here at Gonzaga. This firsthand experience allowed me to include considered opinions that I believe strengthened my piece. These opinions are ones that could only be shaped through direct knowledge from my participation in Homeless Outreach.
Ava Welch