My Story/core-leaders

My Story - Tom Weinandy

If You Give a Core a Bus -- aka How STLF Prepared Me for Life 

By Tom Weinandy

If you give a Core a bus, they will want to fill it with students. If you let them fill it with students, they will want to plan a travel route. If you let them plan a travel route, they will want to organize service projects. If you let them organize service projects, they will want to facilitate meaningful reflections. If you let them facilitate meaningful reflections, they will change the world forever. But only if you let them.

As an STLF alumnus and recent college graduate, I was eager to get into the “real world” and get a “big boy job” (not to be confused with a job at Big Boy). Although I enjoyed the academics of John Carroll University, I was ready to commit myself completely to a new task. So over the summer I was excited to accept a position as an AmeriCorps VISTA at Wheeling Jesuit University.  My new role is to find funding, develop systems and build programs that allow the students to have a stronger impact on their local community.

I have just finished my first week at this new job it has caused me to reflect on how my experiences with STLF were vital preparations for these new challenges and this new life. First, STLF revealed my aspirations for the world. Dreaming is often called a clique, but its importance is not discussed enough. The ability to dream allows people to imagine what a world could be like, and then teaches them that they can reach such lofty achievements.  By surrounding myself with inspiring leaders and idealists, I was given the encouragement to achieve and the support to make it happen. This continues to shape my everyday choices in the workplace through the projects I design and my ambitions for the world.

Next, STLF revealed in me the skills to get things done. The opportunity to plan and facilitate cross-country, community service road trips of 45 students allowed me to grow in what I could accomplish. The situations forced me to be efficient, organized and results oriented, but now am confident those experiences served as a safe learning space to develop greater abilities to do good.

Finally, STLF revealed my ability to work with others. Establishing and maintaining relationships are an important part of life, and the facility of social skills did not come to me before Pay It Forward Tours. Tom in high school was very shy, but now I look forward to speaking to groups of several hundred.

Connecting with people to promote a shared mission, as I did in STLF, will remain at the center of what I do for the rest of my professional career.

If you give a Core a bus, they will change the world forever. Looking back to what I learned in STLF will allow me to look forward in what I can continue to accomplish. As I enter my second week of work as an AmeriCorps VISTA, I will strive to empower students and community members and reveal in them what was revealed in me. We are ready to make a difference.

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