By Sydney BennettWeekend Highlight: Lending a Voice & an Ear.
So, classes have started to become more and more intense! I am managing pretty well and I think a key to my overall success is having a balance in life! Even though I strive to get good grades, a degree, and then a job, I also live for a greater purpose. Keeping that in mind requires constant inspiration. Other than using my Bible, inspirational blogs, and music to keep me inspired, I have found ways to serve others.
As a staff writer for Goddess Magazine I interview inspiring young girls, motivating women, and celebrities of positive influence. That in itself is rewarding for me, but going out and talking to young girls is equally or even more rewarding. Since Goddess is a magazine that strives to inform and inspire young urban girls we do a lot outreach. We host workshops at schools and other events for girls. I’ve had the pleasure of volunteering a few times, each time I leave feeling like I’ve gained just as much as I give.
This past Saturday we volunteered at the Swish Dreams Girls Clinic. Swish Dreams Girls is designed to provide academic, social, and physical enrichment to young girls w/ a special emphasis in sports. With our team of four young women, we held about five different sessions with girls in their pre-teens.
Our sessions including asking them a series of questions and also lending a listening ear while they poured out to us. Our questions pertained to the definition of beauty, self-esteem issues, negative relationships, violence, bullying, and the most popular term “swag”. We also talked to them about opportunities for them to be featured in our magazine in various ways. Some of the girls were shy or seemed to not want to open up at first. However, I know that holding an honest dialogue with them was valuable.
During the dialogue, my team and I found ourselves having to be honest and share personal experiences with the girls. To tell a young person what they need to do is an easy route; to be honest about mistakes we made was a real route. One of the girls that touched me the most was a girl that admitted to making fun of others as a defense mechanism. Of course she did not say it was a defense mechanism, she said that she did not care when peers talked about her. Our team spent a few minutes trying to get her to understand that talking back and forth about others was a vicious a cycle that often did not end well. She never really seemed to agree. Towards the end I asked the girls did we influence them in anyway and she raised her hand. “You influenced me to buy that shirt you’re wearing and wear it to church”, said the young girl. My shirt read: “I Love Jesus.” To know that I was able to be a positive influence on a girl that needed it was amazing.
In sharing this with all of you all I hope that you can find ways to give back to others. Yes, we are in college but there are so many ways we are needed to serve a bigger purpose. Maybe you could lend a hand. In my instance you could lend an ear or a voice. Perhaps there are talents you have that can be used! Saint Xavier is big on service and is always providing ways to do volunteer work on and off campus. I encourage you to give it a shot, it just might provide the inspiration you need!
Sydney Bennett is a junior from Chicago, Illinois. She is a Mass Communications major with minors in both Sociology and Art & Design. She is President of Ambassador's for Christ(AFC) and a member of their Gospel choir at Saint Xavier.
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