On Thursday the "Go New Ro Crew" continued their
journey of leadership and service!
Both groups were treated to a tour of New Rochelle, visiting
jewels of the community Like Glen Island and the Library Green. They also
learned about New Rochelle's rich 325 year history, famous New Rochelle
residents like Lou Gehrig and Norman Rockwell, and the history of some of our
buildings like City Hall, New Rochelle's first high school and many buildings
in New Rochelle's downtown.
Students at Glen Island
They also spend the mornings at either the Adult Learning
Center teaching English or at Trinity-St.Paul's Church making 60 bagged lunches
to serve to New Rochelle's neediest residents. It is powerful to see the
difference you can make in just a morning of service to our fellow men and
women.
To bring our work to an even deeper level, Professor Ilene
Haspel from Iona's Social Work department led a discussion about social justice
and privilege to further our understanding of the work we do and why it is
needed. The Go New Ro students participated in a "Privilege
Line," which can be very hard for some people to experience.
However, our students utilized the experience to engage in a discussion that
shed light on some challenging societal structures and how we can work to
provide more access to those who need it through both service and advocacy.
In the afternoon half of our students travelled to either
the Shakespeare Garden in New Rochelle's Davenport Park, working with the New
Rochelle Garden Club to weed and clean the garden. The other half travelled
to Project Family Soup Kitchen in Mt. Vernon to serve those in need in a
neighboring city. Project Family is one of Mission and Ministry's regular
service projects, so this was a great opportunity to introduce the Go New Ro
team to a way they can continue their service to the community in the fall.
We finished the day with two important programs.
First, the Go New Ro students got to "find their footing" in an
interactive session learning about leadership and involvement at Iona from five
of Iona's top student leader: Trista Rivera, Brian Pristash, Matt Harrigan,
Mike Foti, and Caitlyn O'Toole. The Go New Ro students got to learn about
their leadership journeys and benefit from a question and answer period.
Then we all participated in a wonderful Iona tradition, our
own version of Mission and Ministry's Coffee House. Every member of the
Go New Ro team stepped out of our comfort zones to share our own unique gifts
and talents. Some of our talents included Irish step dancing, singing,
reading poetry acting, and even reciting our US President's in order from
memory (forward and backward). Look out world, this group's got the
goods! It's a great day to be a Gael!
