Report From the Field: Shayna Israel's
"Procession of Lessons" in a Summer of Service

Shayna Israel '08, a performance poet and sociology major who has played a major role in reviving Bryn Mawr's student-operated Women's Center, spent the summer break participating in the College's Summer of Service program. Hosted by the Civic Engagement Office, Summer of Service is a funded opportunity for students to live, serve and learn together. Five students live together in a house on campus, spend 32 hours each week volunteering for a service or activism organization in the Bryn Mawr/Philadelphia region and spend an additional three to five hours each week in service-learning activities. Israel, who hopes to become a teacher, did her volunteer work at the Chester Education Foundation in Chester, Pa., where she taught poetry to high-school students. Her reflections on what she learned from the program follow.

An enthusiastic and bright-eyed me entered the Civic Engagement Office with high hopes on the day of my Summer of Service interview. Answering each question, I spoke passionately from my heart. In retrospect, I can diagnose myself with an acute case of idealism. A summer later, I still consider myself an idealist, but my idealism is matched by a sharp realism that has made my vision — vision for my life and vision of life — more acute.

My summer of service began with a ropes course, a physical challenge designed to build teamwork. "This will be a drag," I thought. Here is where the first surprise came: the ropes course challenged me in unexpected and welcome ways. Working with the other Summer of Service participants to get through the course taught me to tolerate different methods of attacking a problem. While frustrated that some of my other teammates did not have the athleticism and height that would easily allow us to get through the course, I realized that in life you are not usually going to be able to hand-pick your team. You have to learn flexibility and openness to new ways of operating in this world. We got through the ropes course together, and I was proud of my team's success.

Throughout my Summer of Service, there was a procession of lessons and reflections that happened just as this one did. The procession went something like this: a struggle arose, an insight about myself followed and a choice that I might not previously have made resulted. Many of my ideas and expectations had to come to terms with a world of different and contrasting ideas and expectations. This happened in Perry House, at my field site and inside myself. The" reflection dinners" the SOS students attended were important in helping me articulate and understand this process.

I moved into the house with the notion that all of us would hang out on weekends, introduce each other to our friends and become a close-knit group. I was hurt that not all of my housemates responded enthusiastically when I shared this vision. I like to relax and be sociable at home while leaving the stressful talk of the work day behind me. It took me a while to realize that that is not how everyone relaxes: most people in the house preferred to release stress by talking about the issues they had to deal with at work. When I realized this, I began to see the members of the house as individuals with their own ways of being and not pawns in my vision of community. We ended up as a cohesive and peaceful household, and my housemates taught me a lot just by being themselves.

My field site was the place of my greatest struggles and my greatest joys. I loved working with my students, my co-teacher, my supervisor and other employees of the CEF. We laughed, joked, shared personal stories, praised each other, thanked each other, and helped each other in ways that made our days go much faster. But I began to appreciate those things only after I began to let go of notions of how things are "supposed" to be and began to accept and work with how things were.

In the beginning, I thought, "They are doing this wrong and doing that wrong," and, "That’s not how I would have done it. If I had this position or that position, I would do it better." When I realized that my complaining and pessimistic attitude did not alleviate the situation, I asked myself, "What are my goals? Is my goal to learn new lessons from teaching and interning during the summer or to take over people’s jobs?" The former, I decided. I began to appreciate how people did their jobs. Every experience thereafter, good and bad, became a step toward my greater good — learning.

Lastly, I often struggled with myself during the summer, wondering if I were losing myself and my convictions. For example, there was a strict dress code that required pressed, professional clothing. I did not own any professional clothing, and ironing wasn't a skill I was eager to acquire. I had not bought clothes for a year, because my financial resources were limited and because I had promised myself to reduce the amount of clothing I owned. I thought that the notion of making workers buy professional clothing was elitist and classist. Aside from that, I had made a conscious decision not to follow fashion conventions. I consider my self-presentation a political statement about the importance of making choices.

I addressed this challenge in three ways: one, I saw the professional world as having a culture, and I imagined it asking me to respect its mode of dress even though I may not agree with its beliefs; two, I thought of my work attire as a costume that I had to wear temporarily; and three, I bought my professional wardrobe from thrift stores and spiced up my outfits a little bit. I felt reasonably comfortable on this middle ground.

I faced another major struggle with anxiety about my desired career as a teacher. The CEF staff shared advice and stories with me about the professional world and schooling. Before I began working there, I hadn't given much thought to postgraduate or professional training, and I began to worry that I would not make it as a teacher in this society. I was overwhelmed by the feeling that the people at the office knew much more than I did about how to navigate the educational system and that I would never learn what they have learned. One day, I shared my angst with a member of the office staff; she calmed me down and gave me a list of tips that I have since shared with others who were suffering from the same angst. I then realized that I had many lifelines in the CEF office staff, the Summer of Service program, Bryn Mawr College, friends and family. I realized that I am not alone and that my support networks are navigation tools for my journey.

Through the Summer of Service, I have grown tremendously as a person and have made invaluable connections. The opportunity to make mistakes, struggle, grow and learn with the support of the Civic Engagement Office was a vital blessing.

The procession of lessons I learned this summer will help me prepare for a career devoted to  bringing peace, possibility and beauty to the world. While this may seem as idealistic as I sounded the day of my Summer of Service interview, I assure you that there is a big difference. I bring a fresh perspective to that work — a new 20/20 vision built on both idealism and realism, hope and practicality, dream and honesty.

<Back to Bryn Mawr Now 9/28/2007

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