Am I Officially a Holy Cross Crusader Now?

I know, I already have a semester and a half under my belt, but until yesterday I didn’t truly know what it was like to embody and represent what it truly means to be a Holy Cross student.

Yesterday was my first day as a member of Holy Cross’ renowned program called SPUD (Student Programs for Urban Development). SPUD has been a staple at Holy Cross for almost half a century and over 800 students, which is approximately 1/4 of the student body, volunteer and participate. Many students volunteer in different roles whether it is cleaning up trash in Worcester, volunteer at soup kitchens, tutor other younger students in Worcester, or in my case volunteer at Worcester’s Boys & Girls Club.

As a camp counselor for 4 years I’ve had my fair share of experiences with kids (i.e. bloody noses, “he/she called me stupid” accusations, capture the flag successes/failures, “he/she won’ t share [insert most recent Christmas present here]). During those 4 years I’ve learned a great deal about kids and how to work with them. However, in order to work with kids and be successful/enjoy yourself: you need to be a kid.

I took that mentality with me into the Boys & Girls Club yesterday not really knowing what to expect in a new environment. I chose to help out in the recreation/gym center for the afternoon knowing that I would enjoy it.

Despite getting beat in H-O-R-S-E by an 11 year-old and then losing in 1 on 1 to a 13 year-old, I had an awesome time. Whether I was rebounding and passing the basketball to one of the kids in the gym, or asking another kid who their favorite basketball player was, the smile on their face made up for my degradation in H-O-R-S-E and 1 on 1.

After leaving the Boys & Girls Club I knew why I chose to go to school at Holy Cross. After a tough couple of weeks in the classroom, all  was forgotten in the 2 hours that I spent volunteering.  Volunteering made me appreciate what I have at Holy Cross and knowing that a B- on a paper was not the end of the world. After playing with kids who may not have had as lucky of a childhood as I did, and seeing them genuinely smile over something as small a made jump-shot made me appreciate not only my family and friends, but also my education that I was receiving at Holy Cross.

I now understand why SPUD has been such a successful, and historic program for Holy Cross and why so many students are so eager to join. So I guess I can say that I now know what it is like to be a Holy Cross Crusader.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011 at 4:17 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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