On September 7, 2011, the freshman class of the college met to hear the enlightening

lecture given by Fr. Rick Malloy. The lecture was titled, “Jesuit Education and the

Helping Professions”, from which a whole new perspective about my career choice,

values, and morals was introduced. From this lecture I gained a lot of valuable

information that will affect me in my pursuit to prioritize my beliefs, obtain a successful

college life and embody my greatest attributes in my career.

Fr. Rick Malloy touched on several areas during his lecture including reaching out

of your own comfort zone, preparing ourselves to be the healers of the world and

enabling the use of dialogue. Coming to college for me seemed like one big culture

shock. I was now showering with shoes on, sharing a room, and trying to get a complete

stranger to eat a meal with me and maybe be my friend. Of course at the time coming out

of my comfort zone seemed like a traumatizing experience, but in hindsight the reality

was that it was exciting and a great insight to see who I really am as a person. I believe

stepping out of your comfort zone is a great way to learn your strengths and attributes.

When looking at service learning I definitely wanted to do something that I probably

wouldn’t feel comfortable with at first to maybe improve on skills or aspects of my life

that I wasn’t so familiar with. That’s why for my service learning I chose to do the Prayer

Shawl Knitting Group. Knitting is a new skill to me and is something that I can maybe

use later in life to talk about with some of my patients to connect with them. After the

first couple of meetings I met new people, strengthened my personal skills with others,

and learned how to knit! I think stepping out of my comfort zone will really make my

stay here at the University of Scranton even more of a unique and worthwhile experience.

Through service learning the students at the University also get to prepare themselves for

their actual careers. All the students in the Panuska College of Professional Studies are

hoping to have a career where they are going to be coming to the aid of another human

being. At first like any other jobs this is going to seem overwhelming for all of us no

matter how much studying we did in the library here. Having the opportunity to become

more comfortable with giving back to your community will really put us above students

from other colleges. We will no longer feel overwhelmed maybe a bit nervous, but in the

back of our heads we already know that giving back is what we love and are good at

doing. So through service learning I will learn how to apply myself in the best ways to

give back to other and have a more successful