My alarm begins to beep and I roll out of bed to flip my coffee maker on. It’s Tuesday. I love Tuesdays, just like I love Thursdays, because those are the days I go to work at St. Jude. Driving down N. Parkway today, I breathe in the piercing blue sky and the energetic trees with their branches drooping over the road and I find myself thinking of the freshman Bonner who arrived at Rhodes 2 and a half years ago and where her journey has led since then. Bonner was the reason I got to come to Rhodes and it has defined my time here in incredible ways. And while I could regale you with the role Bonner has played in sending me around the country to conferences, setting up trips I have gone on with fellow Bonners, paying me for an amazing summer as a camp counselor, and supporting me on a semester abroad; I would like to share the remarkable road I have walked with Bonner as a volunteer at St. Jude.
St. Jude captured my attention from the first weekend I visited Rhodes. It was a place where my passions for children, healthcare, and hope perfectly intersected and I found myself imagining what it would look like to serve there over my four years as an undergraduate.
Enter Bonner Fellowship and my Wild College Ride of Service.
With Bonner, not only was I encouraged to serve but I was invited to explore how my talents and interests offered unique solutions to the problems around me. College quickly became a time of pursuit and discovery as I learned more about myself, and St. Jude quickly became my venue of choice for bringing about the change I knew I could and for connecting with the lives I desired to touch. I am stunned to look back over the past 3 years and mark the progression of my service and how that has played out at St. Jude.
Now, I am managing and evaluating a pilot Respite Care Program for the hospital. Not only do I have the joy of personal interaction with kids and providing the relationship and encouragement they need as they fight life threatening diseases, but I am improving patient care at the hospital as a whole. I love my work and I love seeing that what I do matters. I matter to every child I make laugh, every volunteer I help train, every administrator who reads my program reports. As a Bonner, I have begun to taste the change that I can bring by just being myself.
And that’s why I love Tuesdays and Thursdays.
