Paul Bubash, Adam Goodrick, Molly Perroni, Kalyn Flierl, JuYeon Kakazu, Emsy Cullinan, and Eboni Poole.
This is our team. Team Winnebago, Nebraska. We worked, prayed, reflected, and laughed together all week long, and recognized that the good of the people in Winnebago would prevail soon enough.
The official Winnebago group picture
I think we all went in together thinking this would just be another week of service for people we didn’t know, and would probably never talk to again, in a small Indian Reservation in northern Nebraska. We wouldn’t change the world or anything. But by the end of the week, most of us had come to the conclusion that even though we weren’t changing the world, we changed somebody’s world, and that is what really makes a difference.
To go through our week quickly, the first couple of days were manual labor days. We worked on a sweat lodge, meaning we took off about thirty blankets from a semi circle structure on the ground, reinforced the structure, and then proceeded to recover the structure so that when inside, it would be pitch black. Later on in the week, we had the opportunity to participate in an actual sweat, and that experience is one that words cannot describe.
We spent the latter part of the week working in the school with students while they learned about what it means to set a goal and how to achieve it. We talked a lot about how they could further their education with college, or trade school and the importance of getting their high school diploma, a piece of paper most of us take for granted.
Overall, the immersion experience we had in Winnebago was nothing any of us expected to experience on our Fall Break Service Trip 2012. But we welcomed surprises, encouraged flexibility, and worked to build relationships that will last longer than just one week, and ended up gaining more than any of us could have ever hope to gain.
Go Team Winnebago!!
Emsy Cullinan
2016 Graduate
Major: Business Administration
Host Site: Winnebago NE
The CCSJ blogs are meant to be a place for Creighton students, faculty, staff, alumni/ae, and friends to reflect on their experiences with programs sponsored by the office or related to its mission. The views expressed in these reflections, and all other blogs found on or linked to from this website, are those of the individual authors and are not necessarily those of Creighton University, the Creighton Center for Service and Justice (CCSJ), or any of the University’s affiliates. The University and the CCSJ are not responsible for the actions, content, accuracy, or opinions expressed in these blogs.
