Jenny Bray: Expressions of Joy and Meaning in our (Inter)Connected Community
Dear Student Presenters, Community Mentors and SL Faculty!
If you missed our Service-Learning Symposium for the Spring 2022 semester, HERE is the full recording of the event!
I feel speechless trying to somehow encapsulate all that was expressed at the Service-Learning Symposium. I hear the distant sound of drums and am reminded why we weave the arts into our lives, as oftentimes, these express our soul more than words. I felt that so deeply this time. Grateful for paints of every color, poems, dance and ritual, books filled with pictures, and everyone’s unique ability to transport us into the rich beauty of our community — creating a “well-lite, bright, safe, and gracious home” with unlimited space for everyone in the limitless walls of the zoom room! As each face came onto the screen, so did your heart and full expression of self, built in connection with others.
It felt like a grand celebration and culmination of many years in the making. Many of you are graduating this year, and seeing you weave the threads of social justice through your entire time at Dominican, brought tears to my eyes. It seems the transition from set expectations to the freedom of letting go, allowed you to soak in your surroundings. The simple principle of “being present” set the space to be let in, and IN you went, bringing us all with you.
The projects that rose out of years of collaboration were remarkable. Art truly did “illuminate” the community, with calls to action to light the streets with colorful and bright images that seeped us in the culture and fostered a deep sense of belonging. For the young children in Marin City, who might be feeling displaced or without grounding, getting a space to showcase art books that amplify their heritage and home, hopefully gives them a foundation to find their own voice and identity.
My face breaks into smile, even now, getting the rare opportunity to zoom into the room with the Venetia Valley students — HUGE SHOUT OUT to all of you who were so brave and bright to join us. What a privilege and honor that was. Your kind notes to your Dominican tutors, and your advocacy for your own educational opportunities and freedom was powerful. One day you might be the Dominican student learning from a Venetia Valley student! Being reminded of your young, inquisitive, open heart that you have now. Or as another student put it, by giving her student the “space to be her teacher, he learned more than if he’d been only allowed to be the student”. Barriers are breakable! Especially when we have allies who create the “safe space for individuals to reclaim their identities”…so beautifully spoken.
I look at my scribble of notes that I took while your words melted my heart. Words of respect, trust, resilience, accountability, agency, social responsibility, and true celebration of culture and community. How is this not a bright world when you’re all in it!? Remember you have one another, there is always an ally to be found, and you can always be that…for another.
After the Symposium we moved straight into celebrating our largest group of CASC (Community Action & Social Change) minors and first ever Social Justice majors. The joy was palpable…this is a ground swell that took root long ago at Dominican and now feels like the tree finally has enough fruit to feed any and all who need it! I am overcome and overjoyed. I will rest under that fruit tree, looking up at the dappled sun through the leaves. Let’s stay there a while….
In absolute gratitude to our community mentors, SL faculty, student presenters and huge shout out to our CASC/SJ Grads!
Jenny Bray (Service-Learning Program Manager)
