This is yet another one of our traditional "Family Tree" Picture. This is MM: New Edition, as it has our new, seventh roommate, Jon. It is always the same tree at the DePaul center here in Montebello. Our community is definitely an intentional community. We work, play, eat, pray and learn together. Our struggles and successes are shared. We're brought from all over the country. We all have our own stories, talents and skills. We're unique and we each bring something awesome to the table. I'm going to share a bit about each of my awesome housemates here:
Jess is from Long Island, New York. Yeah, she has the accent. It's great. She loves life and is always looking to do something new. She's our house social chair. She plans the majority of our outings and coordinates a great deal of dates, times and schedules. Most of the fun things in this blog were planned by her. Her educational background is in English and Education. She is currently a teaching assistant at Mother of Sorrows School. She and I took the more grueling course at Echo Mountain. She is constantly challenging herself mentally, physically and spiritually. She has got me trying new things, going new places and not letting fear and doubt get in the way of finding great joy in the unknown. She has a passion for teaching, especially in intercity environments. She will do great things with her career.
Holly is my good friend from back at St. Scholastica. She is from Brainerd, MN. We met in sophomore year in college. We became close friends through our involvement in our campus's social justice center and through the Nursing program. While we have much in common (We are the only two RNs in the program, the only two Minnesotan, we live in the same house, work at the same site, on the same floor, she is a day older than I am, etc...) we are very different and we each made the decision to come to VSC West independently. When we found out we were going to be in the same community we spent a good deal of time talking about how we wouldn't bring a lot of our friendship to the table upfront as to allow for our full community to flourish. Indeed it did. Holly is a wonderful friend and community member. We have a special bond not just because of our time at CSS, but also being the only other RN and VSC at St. Francis Medical Center. Holly is kind, gentle and patient. She is our house's Den Mother. She may be soft-spoken, but make no mistake-when she feels passionate about something she will fight for it. She desires to be a pediatric nurse.
Alli is from Washington State. She studied Nutrition and Dietetics as the University of Washington, Pullman. GO COUGS! Alli loves food and nutrition. She is the grocery shopper for the house. I told her the other day I made a smoothie and put ground flax seed in it. Her face lit up. We can talk about all sorts of foods and new recipe ideas with great excitement. She gets excited about things whether it is the spectacular or the everyday, and I love that about her. There is a picture that Adrienne took and she and I are on the far end of our group. We're looking up, not paying attention whatsoever. I believe our conversation was something like this: "Do you think we're in this picture?" "Eh, maybe..." She is applying for Dietetic internships now as part of the process towards becoming a Registered Dietician. She studied abroad for a year in Chile. She helps me with my Spanish. It is coming along.
Laura is from Ohio. She studied photography at the University of Dayton. She is artistic to boot though you have to see her work for yourself because she can be pretty modest. Laura is so chill-she can get along with anybody. It may also have something to do with her stellar sense of humor. She has a great appreciation for the absurd and we certainly have plenty of that in our house. She is the only one in the house who is seeing someone. She manages her time well between Ted and our community so well. She doesn't miss a beat. She is at St. Vincent DePaul Cardinal Manning Homeless Shelter working as a case manager. She has no social work background but she is both awesome and chill and takes on her role with great finesse.
Adrienne is from The Bay Area. She studied Political Science and English at Dominican University. She is plugged in to what is going on with the world. She keeps me updated. She has a strong desire to advocate for others. Her sense of humor is everything I want it to be and more. She can by dry, dark, goofy-she's got a stellar sense of humor. Her sense of family and tradition are very strong; she isn't afraid to speak her mind. Her service site is at St. Vincent's Medical Center (As is Alli's). Her role is patient advocate and she works with the community outreach department. She brings great joy and humor as well as intellect and thoughtfulness to the community.We have a new housemate, Jon. He moved in about 3 weeks ago. He isn't on Facebook, so I don't have a picture of him. He is from Orange, CA. He studied US History and Political Science in college and went to law school for a year. We're getting to know him and are excited about welcoming someone into our awesome community.
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