Jan 25Finding Simplicity in Everyday LifeRight before starting my GSV year, I could not tell you what simplicity meant, much less how I could apply it to my life. All I could do...
May 5, 2021As a chapter ends, it's a gift to be part of a larger storyAs I help prepare for end-of-the-year activities like senior team-building day, senior retreat and graduation, I feel as though I am...
Apr 21, 2021Innate human dignity means broken bread, not broken bodiesI am incredibly grateful to have been fully vaccinated for just over a month now. To all those who worked tirelessly to make numerous...
Apr 7, 2021'Get out from your head and get growing, dear child'"Get out from your house, from your cave, from your car, from the place you feel safe, from the place that you are. Get out and go run...
Mar 24, 2021With Collier Chats, I see our school through others' eyesOne tradition for Good Shepherd Volunteers at Collier High School is Collier Chats, lighthearted conversations with co-workers throughout...
Mar 10, 2021Amid melting snow and warmer days, hope for a future harvestThe smallest hint of green in a patch of thick, brown soil. The puddles of melted snow bridging across the roads. The de-layering and...
Feb 24, 2021The four tenets of Good Shepherd Volunteers keep me rootedAs I reflect back on the first half of my volunteer year, I am struck by how the tenets have kept me rooted when the pandemic has turned...
Feb 10, 2021Planting seeds of strength with Amanda Gorman's inspiring poemA task Collier High School students in studio arts undertake in a typical year involves painting the high school windows with a poem and...
Jan 27, 2021Students show the courage, resilience needed for civic engagementThe opportunity to work alongside students through Model U.N. and to dive into the Collier community excited me, especially as many clubs...
Jan 13, 2021Start 2021 by making room for the unexpectedSighs of relief, heartfelt reflections and buckets of hope ushered in the first few hours of 2021. On social media, I glimpsed what many...
Dec 30, 2020In a year of darkness and uncertainty, we are a people of hopeDespite the recognition and experience of deep suffering, I truly believe we are a people of hope. Looking back on different seasons of...
Dec 16, 2020Intimidation, creativity and determination in a time of transition"Down the hill" is a phrase I frequently use to distinguish my work as a volunteer in Collier High School and in the Collier Transition...
Nov 25, 2020Creativity abounds. The trees know it.I spent one of my first weekends as a volunteer in New Jersey surrounded by markers, colored pencils and posterboard and making too many...
May 31, 2019What I've Lost and What I've FoundI always really liked the quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson: “The only way to have a friend is to be one.” I elaborated on this a little once...
May 1, 2019But Why New Jersey?? A Call to Serve as a GSV During Gap Year Before Medical School[This post was originally delivered as a speech by Martina Penalosa at the 2019 Good Shepherd Volunteers Spring Benefit] A year,...
Jan 19, 2019Three Good ThingsAs a Good Shepherd Volunteer at Collier High School, my days are filled with cold mornings, substitute teaching, quiet lunch duties, and...
Dec 15, 2017A Season of EncounterThroughout the school day, I often struggle to find the right words to say to our students. Sometimes they approach me or I just happen...
Oct 20, 2017On BeingI would like to introduce you to someone. She can barely read and cannot write in full sentences. Her arms are covered in old, (and...
Dec 5, 2016Autumn is a FireAutumn is a fire I never want to burn out. Autumn is a fire, calmly and quietly searing; starting from the tips of the tree branches, and...