hi there :D
Julie here. welcome to my page, where I share everything from my passions to my journey through SERVE. ---------------------------------------------- a couple cool facts about me: -religion and culture major (aka best major) -I love cats and i'm very much allergic to them -I'm left handed -when I was little I wanted to be the next Steve Irwin (rip) -I have the sassiest beta fish in the world |
where I'm from
I am from the thickets in my backyard,
From mud stains in loose cargos,
And dirt encrusted nailbeds.
I am from the chestnut trees in the autumn air,
From summer nights and still skies.
I am from skipping stones and plucking clams,
From poised plies to interpretive dancing
Running with boisterous conviviality,
Within the borders of this wooden fence.
I am from seven minus one,
Or six plus zero;
From HOV lanes
To middle-class Suburbans.
I am from hand-me-downs
To confident sisters with scissors,
To tears streaming down my face,
And one more bad haircut to add to the list
However,
I am also from a world unbeknownst to all,
Where one speaks in prose of grace,
And words fill the sky in endless tremor.
I am from the darkest of nights,
From Alone versus Solitude.
I am of the Fauna and Flora,
Of the pencil in my hand,
The endless lines of graphite over a clear white canvas.
I am from my mind.
what does it mean to SERVE?
Service. To serve. The act of servitude. The very notion stuck to me when I was kid. When I was little I used to follow my mother to church on Saturday mornings to help clean the church. That is where it all began. The meditative task of mending the garden and cleaning the bathrooms fueled what was only a small flame into the wildfire of a passion I have today. I try to live under former president John F Kennedy’s notion, “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” This small portion of his inaugural speech was been the sole foundation of my life for as long as I can remember, dating way back to my arrival in America.
My family falls into the lower-middle class strata, and with a family of six -plus a cat- that’s a lot of mouths to feed. When we first arrived to America the economy was booming and my family was as happy as could be. My family valued the idea of selflessness and servitude, being the typical Christian family that we were. Saturdays were reserved for helping with church clean up and going around the community with trash bags, picking up trash while looking like a bunch of crazy people. Things were looking bright until my family fell into a hole and things went from bad to worse. Bills were piling up and financial issues were always talked about at the dinner table and government aid was no foreign concept. Receiving financial aid for a big portion of my life, I slowly found myself looking for ways to give back all the support I was given. I immersed myself in numerous service projects and got involved as much as I could to help my community and to aid building new ones. One of my most memorable service projects was Habitat for Humanity. The summer of junior year in high school I decided to go out of my comforts in the metropolitan area and help in efforts to build housing complexes for an impoverished area in North Carolina. All my prior experiences consisted of park clean ups and getting involved in public affairs so this was a big step for me.
During my stay at Habitat I grew as a person and also experienced genuine humbleness and appreciation that could only be felt in the act of servitude. Despite the intense labor I cannot seem to recall feeling a toll on my body solely due to the fact that I loved what I was doing. Being in an environment with people who had the same motive as me I got to understand the community aspect of service as well. Being immersed in a service oriented community for a span of two weeks, I developed relationships that are hard to build when doing day service projects. I found myself longing to take part in a community once again where I could build relationships with people of similar minds.
That is when I found SERVE. A community dedicated to servitude. I knew that I wanted to go to Virginia Tech because of the motto Ut Prosim but when I learned of the learning community I set my mind on Tech. I wanted to immerse myself once again in a loving community of like-minded individuals all interested in the act of servitude. At the time I had no idea what I was getting myself (and my roommate) into, but I just went with my gut and so far I am not regretting my decision on SERVE. My love for servitude is easily reflected in the other members of SERVE and I can feel the connection between all the members of the community; despite our differences, we are united under service. What the community holds for me in the future is a mystery but I can honestly say that I am excited and anxious for what lies ahead. I hope to better understand the meaning of service and more of the learning aspect of service. Although I enjoy the feeling I get from performing an act of service, I believe servitude holds more than just mere feelings and I hope my definition of service will mature during my time at SERVE.
My family falls into the lower-middle class strata, and with a family of six -plus a cat- that’s a lot of mouths to feed. When we first arrived to America the economy was booming and my family was as happy as could be. My family valued the idea of selflessness and servitude, being the typical Christian family that we were. Saturdays were reserved for helping with church clean up and going around the community with trash bags, picking up trash while looking like a bunch of crazy people. Things were looking bright until my family fell into a hole and things went from bad to worse. Bills were piling up and financial issues were always talked about at the dinner table and government aid was no foreign concept. Receiving financial aid for a big portion of my life, I slowly found myself looking for ways to give back all the support I was given. I immersed myself in numerous service projects and got involved as much as I could to help my community and to aid building new ones. One of my most memorable service projects was Habitat for Humanity. The summer of junior year in high school I decided to go out of my comforts in the metropolitan area and help in efforts to build housing complexes for an impoverished area in North Carolina. All my prior experiences consisted of park clean ups and getting involved in public affairs so this was a big step for me.
During my stay at Habitat I grew as a person and also experienced genuine humbleness and appreciation that could only be felt in the act of servitude. Despite the intense labor I cannot seem to recall feeling a toll on my body solely due to the fact that I loved what I was doing. Being in an environment with people who had the same motive as me I got to understand the community aspect of service as well. Being immersed in a service oriented community for a span of two weeks, I developed relationships that are hard to build when doing day service projects. I found myself longing to take part in a community once again where I could build relationships with people of similar minds.
That is when I found SERVE. A community dedicated to servitude. I knew that I wanted to go to Virginia Tech because of the motto Ut Prosim but when I learned of the learning community I set my mind on Tech. I wanted to immerse myself once again in a loving community of like-minded individuals all interested in the act of servitude. At the time I had no idea what I was getting myself (and my roommate) into, but I just went with my gut and so far I am not regretting my decision on SERVE. My love for servitude is easily reflected in the other members of SERVE and I can feel the connection between all the members of the community; despite our differences, we are united under service. What the community holds for me in the future is a mystery but I can honestly say that I am excited and anxious for what lies ahead. I hope to better understand the meaning of service and more of the learning aspect of service. Although I enjoy the feeling I get from performing an act of service, I believe servitude holds more than just mere feelings and I hope my definition of service will mature during my time at SERVE.