Day 6:

“Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you,” quoted by the brilliant Dr. Seuss.  There is no one else in this big world that is the same as me, I am my own individual who God created and had a purpose in mind just for me.  I may not know my purpose just yet, but this trip opened my eyes to possibilities I have never considered before.  I was placed at a school for my ministry assignment, but not just any ordinary school.  A school for kids who may need an extra push in schoolwork and aren’t able to learn as fast as others.  The school I am talking about is Hope Hall, an institution for kids in grades 3 through 12.  I had the privilege to be placed in a science classroom with a pretty awesome teacher, Miss Simpson.  She teaches 6th, 8th and 11th graders.  At the beginning of the week, the weather was matching my mood, kind of dreary and not very excited to venture off into the Rochester, NY community.  But after a rocky first day, the second day opened my eyes and I focused on what the school was really all about.  Hope Hall wants to teach their students how to be a community.

A community is defined as being a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals.  Community is something that should be demonstrated every day by people of all ages, especially in the work field, in healthcare and so many others.  We make more progress when we come together, which really inspires me to try to be more accepting and work with those around me to create a more engaging environment.  I love trying new things and this week in Rochester has challenged me to bring back what I have learned to SMU.  It challenges me to make my final semester as a student at SMU the best it can be by applying Hope Hall’s sense of community in my classes, outside of school and even in a work setting.  I didn’t think these kids would have as much of an impact on me, but I will miss being greeted as “Miss Aimee” every class period and having conversations with students about how cold the weather gets in Minnesota.  Anyways, God guides us through the ups and downs in life and he lead the 12 of us from SMU to go to Rochester to serve and gain something extraordinary from such ordinary tasks.  Since I like Dr. Seuss so much, I am ending in one of my favorite quotes: “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”

 

~Aimee Koelln ‘17