PURITY PONDERS as she begins year 3

Purity, a second student from St. Clare Centre for Girls, is beginning her junior year at Siena Heights University.  Below she shares some of her summer 2016 experiences at the university and her time spent with her fellow St. Clare junior, Mercy.

Purity standing under Kenya's flag

"This summer was awesome.  In the beginning of May, I attended the International Youth Conference, which is held every year for different colleges run by the Dominican Sisters. We had students from different states come to Siena Heights University, the host campus this year. The main focus of the conference was to create a community with safe space, where student can gain a deeper understanding of God.  Every day we had different activities including worship, study, and recreation. Activities included morning energizers, music, keynotes, small group meetings, recreation activities, and worship. The last day of the conference we attended mass with Dominican Sisters at St. Catherine chapel where every school had to say what it would do back at their various schools to help other students encounter Christ in similar ways. At Siena we will emphasize our mission, which is to “Respect the Dignity of All.”

On June 20th, I started my internship with the Goodwill Industries. I worked in their accounting office where I performed various tasks so that I could also receive college credit.  For example, I created the company’s budget for their annual family picnic, did trend analysis to determine future success of the company, analyzed financial data, analyzed potential business opportunities among other things.

Immediately after my internship, which ended on July 22nd, I flew to Philadelphia where I spent the remaining part of my summer with Mercy. For the two weeks while I was there, Mercy still had a job at school and I would go with her and do my homework while she was working because I still had my summer accounting classes.  After her work and my homework, we would go for walks, work out, swim and watch movies together. She also took me to Philadelphia and we visited various places like Love Park, Liberty Bell, Art Museum, and I got to see the remaining part of the city with her host parents. We then went to New Jersey where we went to the beach every day and attended some concerts.

Purity (l) with Mercy (r) at the shore

I then returned to Michigan to start my fall semester. I am taking 16 credits for this semester and so far I like all of my classes. I can’t believe I am already a junior. In no time I will be graduating and I must say that the last two years of my stay here have been successful and I can’t wait to see what the remaining years have to offer.

My summer was very exciting and productive. Other than the fun I had, I really learned a lot about myself:  I am able to clear space for encountering God, discovering and deepening a vibrant and durable faith in Jesus Christ, and hearing an invitation to make a personal commitment to embody the love, justice and righteousness of Christ as well as making new friends.  And I also performed well on my summer courses."