February 2006
Against All Odds, There stood One Man…

So the title has nothing to do with my journal at all. As education majors, we’re told that we need to captivate our audiences right off the bat so I hope that my title has worked. But anyways, welcome back! I have been on a few month hiatus but I am back and ready to get into the swing of things and letting you know about the joys of attending Canisius College.

Over the Break I had a great opportunity to be involved in our Winter Service Week in which a group of approximately 60 students traveled to New York City and spent the week working within their different placements, whether it was working in impoverished schools, hospitals, after-school programs, or food shelters, etc. I’ve written about something along these lines last year for Alternative Spring Break so I won’t expand too much upon this but it was an amazing time!

Here we are enjoying one of the parks in New York City.

It was my first time in New York City and the city itself was okay, nothing really spectacular or what I was expecting out of it. However, I worked at the Mercy Center which is situated in the South Bronx. Mercy Center tries to reach out to families that are suffering from domestic violence, impoverished families, single parent families, etc. A majority of these people were of Spanish, Puerto Rican decent and you could see in their faces that they really wanted to get ahead and improve in their own lives. We ran an after-school program with the kids of the parents that attended the programs at Mercy Center and there were about 80 kids that came to the Winter Camp, as they called it. The first hour was filled with the kids settling down and working on homework as all the student volunteers went around and helped them if they needed assistance. Afterwards, we held four stations for them which included: arts and crafts, science, gym, and snack time.

Overall, the experience was definitely one that I will cherish for awhile. I really made some connections with the kids and I admit that I have my few favorites even though as teachers we are not supposed to have favorites! They run a summer camp in the beginning of July and I am heavily considering going back to New York and working at the camp which is two weeks long instead of just the one.

Me with three of the kids from Winter Camp.

Otherwise, my semester has been crazy as usual. I have meetings pretty much everyday, tutor a third grader, coach girls soccer (oh boy!), and I finally just found a job with my Aunt after being unemployed for 2 months…haha. The next article I write will be more about life here around campus. I don’t want to make this one super long because I know you won’t read it. But up comings for me: Lobbying Trip to Albany with the Student Senate, February 13th-15th, and Alternative Spring Break (I’m a leader!), March 12th-18th.

Love and Peace,
Dan

Any questions, please feel free to e-mail me at any time of the day. I’m an insomniac…or maybe I’m just plain crazy…who knows. Pucciod@canisius.edu


Dan's December 2003 Journal
Dan's January 2004 Journal
Dan's February 2004 Journal
Dan's March 2004 Journal
Dan's April 2004 Journal
Dan's May 2004 Journal
Dan's June 2004 Journal
Dan's September 2004 Journal
Dan's October 2004 Journal
Dan's November 2004 Journal
Dan's January 2005 Journal
Dan's February 2005 Journal
Dan's April 2005 Journal
Dan's October 2005 Journal