Day 365!!!: Collington Square Club

Olivia here. Wow!! Day 365. I can't believe this project is finally almost over! It has been a great year of selflessness, generosity, as well as fun and exciting adventures!

For my last blog entry, I spent the morning with the Community Service Council. The CSC is an organization on campus affiliated with the Center for Community Service and Justice that has one-time service projects throughout the year. I am one of the most committed members in the club as the student coordinator tells me (he went to New Orleans with me) so I really must like the events the club runs!  Today, the group went to Collington Square. It is a building made of three row houses (sort of like the houses in NOLA) and is used for a teen youth after school program for kids in Baltimore. Since it is a Saturday, the high school kids were there for SAT prep. We decided to bring them a healthy lunch, so we made turkey and ham sandwiches, and brought tomatoes, cheese, and condiments for them to use. We also brought along sliced apples, chips, drinks, and doughnuts for dessert.

We were told about 18 kids were going to be there, but with the rainy weather and such, only 5 kids were there. Although it was a smaller crowd that we expected, we got to talk with the kids and learn why they participated in the Collington Square Club. One was struggling in English, the other Math, and others wanted to learn how to take tests better. The program is also designed for teens to not go down the "wrong path", living in the rough area of East Baltimore.

We learned that the Club hosts a summer program, where the older high schoolers make lesson plans and teach the younger members subjects such as Science, Math, Reading, and Writing. The kids we met today were enthusiastic about the program and were excited about this summer's activities. Most of them were pretty shy when we arrived, but they quickly opened up to us and even gave us a tour of the building before we left.

I hope Loyola starts a weekly trip to Collington Square. Apparently we had a program there for about 5 years, and stopped going for an unknown reason.

I was unable to take pictures due to confidentiality reasons with the teens there, but here is a (rotated, I can't fix it...) picture of the food we brought!

It has been such a great year. It has got me much more involved in service on campus, and I'm glad I will continue to be involved.

I'm sad I won't be posting my night at Relay for Life this year as it is next weekend, but I will be thinking of a year ago when we started this wonderful service blog with the event.

Auntie Ree, I love you and so glad we could do this project in your honor <3