Releases

 

Kathleen Cooney currently serves as a Jesuit volunteer at Sacred Heart Nativity School in San Jose, California as a Teacher's Assistant.

 

 

 

When comparing your life in JVC to your previous experiences, what has been the biggest shift or change?

This has been one of the most fulfilling years of my life, namely because I have had the opportunity to connect with so many different people each day. I wake up excited to go to work—knowing that I'll be greeted with smiles and handshakes from students and staff. Throughout the day, I share experiences with the community at Nativity Schools: in the classroom, in the lunchroom, during recesses and after school activities, on field trips, and in all the conversations in-between. And I couldn't ask for a better JV community than Casa Nelly; each time I'm home, I laugh a ton and learn something new about each of them, and about myself. So, I suppose the biggest shift in my life has come from understanding that life is about connecting with people and appreciating them each day. I think it is in these relationships that I find compassion, love, God, justice, faith—all those interconnected values that are a part of JVC.

 

 

Has JVC affected your perspective on issues of spirituality, simple living, community, and/or social justice? In what ways?

I think it's difficult to know what kind of person you want to be in life—and how to identify your priorities amidst all those things that are supposed to be so defining and important. JVC has opened me up to a new way of discerning my values: through my interactions with all different kinds of people. In serving others, I enter into a relationship with them: I get to know them and I care about them; I come to learn what they have been denied and what they deserve. I'll always remember these experiences, and I know that they are what will shape me into the person I would like to become.

 

 

What is one thing you've learned to appreciate as a Jesuit Volunteer?

I've really come to appreciate positive role models in communities: parents, teachers, mentors, older siblings, committed friends, etc. I hear some of my students' stories and I wonder how their families cope with so many stressors. How do they have so much faith? Why are they always smiling? We need to be there for each other— and learn from each other— to build a better community. It's been a beautiful thing to realize that everything we do matters.