Boston College students uphold the University's mission while participating in various service trips, but they often find that one of the most challenging tasks is to continue learning through service upon BC reimmersion. The "Jemez to BC Project" attempts to accomplish this in a way that has never been tried at BC.
From Nov. 14 to Nov. 18, the 12 people in the senior class of Jemez Pueblo's high school in New Mexico will pack their bags for Boston in order to get a taste of college life. For several years, BC students have been going to the Pueblo for spring or winter Break service trip. A large component of these trips includes discussing and observing education in Jemez.
Michael Delsesto, a leader on last year's trip and CSOM '08, collaborated with the pueblo's director of education, Kevin Shendo, to formulate a program that would take the students off the reservation to experience a week in the life of a BC student. The Jemez to BC project is headed by John Huber, lead coordinator and A&S '09, and assistant coordinators Sam DeGiovanni, A&S '09, and Meaghan English, A&S '09, all of whom are past participants of the Jemez trip through BC.
Each Jemez student will be paired up with a BC student who has been involved with the Jemez service trip, the Navajo Nation service trip, or is a member of the Society of Native American Peoples (SNAP). They will live in the residence halls with their hosts and will follow their hosts to class.
Other events include a BC panel presentation about college life as an AHANA student, an information session about admissions and financial aid, a tour of the campus, a day in downtown Boston, and, possibly, a BC hockey game. There will also be events for the BC community such as a traditional tribal dance performed by the guest students and a lecture by Shendo. Funding for the project is provided by the government office of Jemez Pueblo, the Undergraduate Government's Senate, and the Volunteer and Service Learning Center. The BC arm of the project is responsible for fundraising the remaining money.
It is not unusual for kids in the Jemez Pueblo to end their educational experience upon graduating from high school. The Jemez to BC Project will aim to boost the seniors' confidence and drive to go to college, where they can build the skills to have successful lives.
The leaders hope that the long-term effect, in this respect, is that the Jemez college graduates will return to the Pueblo with their acquired skills and use them to better their community. Huber said one of the biggest challenges confronted in the Pueblo is poverty. A higher education will foster the creativity and knowledge needed to pioneer a method of eliminating poverty in the Pueblo. Shendo strongly believes it is crucial that the youth leave the Pueblo every once in a while to distance themselves from the problems of their community and gain a different perspective of those predicaments.
How does BC come into play in this situation? Huber believes this project will be a humbling experience for both the BC student body as well as for the Jemez Pueblo seniors. He expects the project will instill a feeling of solidarity in both groups. Solidarity, in this context is, "remembering that injustice exists and doing what you can to relieve that," Huber said.
He said that the project will set an example for continuing service within the BC community and will "promote the notion of service all the time. Because many service programs are international, they can't do this type of exchange," he said.
Visiting BC will be predictably difficult at first for the Jemez students. Not only is college life, an unusual experience but there is also something distinctive about BC life that may be jarring. Though the Pueblo students have been off the reservation before, they will most likely experience culture shock during their stay in Chestnut Hill, Mass.
Some of the aspects of BC that may be more problematic, Huber said, are the use of alcohol and the wealth of the students here, considering the prevalence of alcoholism and poverty in Jemez Pueblo. Huber said the program is ready to confront these discrepancies. Shendo has already begun meeting with the Jemez participants in order to prepare them for the upcoming trip, and the BC coordinators and hosts will address the culture differences the first day of the program.
It would then be the job of the hosts to be mentors to the students. "The program relies on the mentors to really take the kids under their wing and work with them one-on-one," Huber said. The success of the new Jemez to BC Project will foster a connection between these two strikingly different worlds.
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