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Georgetown University

FOCI Reflections

What do Past Participants Have to Say?

I am honestly so happy that I got shaken up and that I haven't become complacent...

Thanks... for allowing me to be part of such an amazing week. This has been the best introduction to my next four years at Georgetown, better than I ever could have hoped for.

This has been one of the most amazing weeks of my life. I have never had such close contact with the issue of poverty and homelessness and the week opened my eyes to all this.

Great way to start. Now I know campus, friends, sites, and am much more comfortable with the whole college idea...

This is one of the best things I've ever done or will do at Georgetown. I loved the leaders, I'm really impressed by how hard you all worked...

It's a great introduction to service opportunities in the D.C. area. It's also a great way to meet great people & get settled into campus before it becomes too chaotic.

 

Joanna Foote

On my first night at Georgetown ’s First Year Orientation to Community Involvement (FOCI), our speaker, Sivagami Subbaraman, rocked my paradigm of social justice and community involvement. Why, she asked, do we do community service? She illustrated how all too often we see ourselves as the privileged party, serving the underprivileged. In the much-needed reflection after that talk, a reflection that for me became a habit at FOCI and every day in college, I grappled to reconcile my idea of my duty to serve and the joy that I derive from such service with the patronizing tone that service all too often assumes.

I fall into the trap of seeing those whom I serve as somehow “others” – the ones who had less access to opportunity, who need to be helped by my generosity. However, the emphasis that FOCI put on “community involvement” rather than strictly “community service” changed my perspective on social justice issues. Community involvement sometimes means just sitting down and talking to a homeless woman who had researched her genealogy and wanted to discuss European history. It means answering an endless string of questions from a 5-year-old after a long afternoon in the classroom, not because the answers would somehow improve her reading scores or future but so that we could become involved in each other’s lives. Now, community involvement for me is recognizing the intrinsic value of eternal souls and seeing no distinction between who is serving who but rather lending a hand where needed and accepting help when necessary.

Not only did FOCI expose me to involvement in the greater DC community, but it also allowed me to become involved at Georgetown from a very early stage. Most obviously, it introduced me to more than 50 other students from different backgrounds but with similar concerns and challenges to my own. Through nightly reflections, we opened up to each other with an honesty that is hard to find in the first few weeks of college. So, as New Student Orientation began, my experience at FOCI empowered me to step out and be authentically myself as I met new people because I could rest in confidence in the fact that I was already accepted in the Georgetown community.

I felt equipped to be involved in both DC and Georgetown to an extent which I would not have reached without FOCI. I was prepared to continually reflect on the questions of social justice, service, and involvement. I have not yet completely resolved my questions or addressed the challenges that the FOCI speakers and service sites presented, but I was given a chance to think deeply about those deep issues.

 

 

 

--Joanna Foote (SFS ’13) FOCI XXV

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Cristina Gil

During FOCI, I came face to face with issues I had so long been advocating. I made everyone including myself believe that I knew what social justice stood for. But in reality, all I was doing was using my words, but never truly taking action.

I have to admit the first two days at FOCI were intense for me. I was overwhelmed by the fact that many of the Focians had gone to third world countries and actually lived with the poor. While all I ever did was volunteer at my high school as a student guide during teacher workshops. My experience was nothing compared to my fellow Focians and knowing this was killing me. I spent the first two days questioning why I had been chosen and comparing myself to others. I foolishly allowed my uncertainty take the best of me.

With a great deal of reflection, I came to the conclusion that I was not in FOCI to compare myself with others, but to find myself. I was in FOCI to find MY meaning of social justice and use it to service those who not only needed, but wanted my help. FOCI gave me that opportunity and allowed me to realize that there’s more to that feeling that I get when doing community service. It allowed me to uncover my own stories. Stories that I had buried deep down and had no idea were the elements behind my passion to help others. These were stories of frustration, pain, and powerlessness.

The beauty of FOCI was that it gave me more than I could ask for. It gave me the opportunity to understand the stories behind my actions. It gave me the opportunity to build a community with fellow Georgetown students who are as passionate as me about helping others. But most importantly, it gave me a new story. A story that I will never stop telling. A story of determination. A story of self revelation.

--Cristina Gil ( COL ’13) FOCI XXV

 

Kevin Kim

I know this sounds cliché, but what a difference a week makes. FOCI week was, for lack of a better term, enlightening. However, I admit that my intentions of doing FOCI in the first place weren’t that altruistic. I had simply wanted to get a head-start on orienting myself to a new school, in addition to establishing a network of friends prior to the start of the semester. But as I left the 66 people hugging one another in a ceremonial, yet assembly line-like manner on the last day, I knew that FOCI was much more than what I had thought it would be.

Rewind 102 hours. It’s 5:30 AM, Tuesday morning, and I’m sitting in a van full of semi-sentient FOCIans, headed off to work at a homeless shelter to distribute clothes and serve breakfast to the homeless gathered there. Later that day, I attended the most comprehensive seminar about AIDS, protection methods, and I assembled awareness kits to distribute to the DC public. Thrown completely out of my comfort zone, I quickly realized that service with FOCI would be so much more than what I had done in my home community.

Fast forward 54 hours. I find myself sitting in a park half a mile northwest of the White House, mesmerized by the words of an extraordinary articulate, charismatic, African-American man named Michael. Over peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, we spoke about politics, relationships, history, and family. The fact that Michael was homeless didn’t change the depth or tone of our conversation. I was just talking to another person; one with a name, a family, and a great sense of humor. But when Michael and I exchanged goodbyes, I marveled at how little I knew about homelessness and how indifferent I was towards homeless people and the issue regarding homelessness as a whole.

I spent the remainder of that day in a daze, as if the compass that had always given me my bearing suddenly shattered. Reflecting upon my historically complacent attitude towards homelessness left a bitter, unpleasant taste in my mouth. I came to understand that I could no longer follow the direction I had been taking. The allegedly glorified life on Wall Street, complete with a Porsche 911, Armani suits, Patek Philippe watches, and a spacious penthouse on the Upper East Side of Manhattan now seem hollow and devoid of real meaning. But even then, I grew increasingly frustrated at my inability to answer the next, logical question: Where do I go from here?

Although I cannot say that FOCI gave me the new bearing I so desperately crave, FOCI has opened my eyes to the injustices in both society and in myself. Through FOCI, I learned about the terrible conditions of the DC Public School System, as well as the issue of homelessness in the District. I also became aware of the complacency and ignorance ingrained in my outlook, and FOCI helped me address this seldom-spoken part of myself in reflection. While I admit that I don’t have the answer to my question, I am confident that, with the support of my fellow FOCIans, I will eventually find my direction during my time here at Georgetown.

--Kevin Kim (MSB '12) - FOCI XXV

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Jeffrey Stefanis

During FOCI week I had hundreds of conversations with 67 of the coolest, smartest, and most compassionate people I have ever met; but I want take this opportunity to talk about two specific conversations that I had that week. The first was with a woman in Franklin Park with full blown psychotic schizophrenia and the second was at Georgetown with an 18 year old girl from Nashville, Tennessee.

First the park; I experienced a challenging situation in the park one day. I sat down one- on- one, as did all the other FOCIans, with a homeless person and shared lunch with her. Growing up in a small rural town in Massachusetts next to a sheep farm I had always been taught to “stay away from those people”. Now I had just come from a presentation by “Faces of Homelessness Panel” and had had those preconceptions not merely challenged but humiliated right before my eyes. As I sat in Healy Hall I heard a former homeless man articulately and powerfully convey his battle with schizophrenia and tell me that there was a person like him behind every homeless person out in the park. He said all they needed was someone to acknowledge them as fellow humans and to talk with them. With this new view and a desire to prove to myself that these people really were the same as me I went out and sat down with the most distraught looking women in the park, thinking she probably just needed someone to talk to. What ensued was an over an hour long diatribe on how the US government was trying to kill her and had bugged everything solely for the reason of tracing her. She talked about how they "electriced" her, how "CB's" were looking into her eyes and taking away her freedom, and how the reason “they” were doing all of this was to make Hollywood movies. She showed me random letters and numbers in newspapers and on the backs of light bulb boxes as proof. I was confused, concerned, and nervous. I had intended to go outside my comfort zone, but this was something I had never thought I would do. Sitting there listening to her my mind was in a state of chaotic overload that I imagine was not even close to hers. I would alternate between states of lucidity and confusion.

But despite all of these emotions my overriding feeling was empathy. I felt a physical pain for the suffering that she was experiencing; a distinctly human connection and relationship with her. As different as we appeared we were really the same.

The second conversation was with a fellow FOCIan from Nashville. After my experience, just as the lady in the park needed someone to talk with, I suddenly needed someone to talk with as well. That was when a fellow FOCIan, recognizing this, came up and started talking with me. Unlike how I needed to be instructed that they needed someone to talk with, she just knew. We tried to make sense out of the situation together, and we did to some degree. But at that moment that wasn’t the point. The point was that after five days with this person, she already knew me and my feelings and was able to relate in just as human a way as I had with the woman in the park. The two conversations, though apparently different, were essentially the same. Now I was the one in mental disarray and she was the compassionate one at my side, there to help. It was at that time that I experienced a belief that I had held but didn’t always know for certain was true. At that moment I didn’t just realize that we are all interconnected; I felt it. I didn’t just read that we are all the same; I felt it. I didn’t just think my purpose was to help others; I understood it. I realized that Social Justice is not a cause but an inherent right; that we all share the exact same human qualities and that our apparent differences are just a façade for the intrinsic community that exists in our world.

All my FO-Love,

--Jeff Stefanis (MSB ’13) - FOCI XXV

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Robert J. Barthelmes

 
“I Won’t Waste It”

“You have somethin’ son…God blessed you…he gave you a good head…make sure you don’t waste it.” I stared into the honest, weathered eyes of the middle-aged, African-American man as he pointed his finger at my forehead, knowing that I would always remember the words he had just spoken. Sitting there, in a park not far from the White House, I found myself questioning everything I thought I knew about life. I had just participated in the most interesting, intellectual, and thoroughly philosophical conversation of my life…while speaking with a Washington, D.C. homeless man. We had talked about politics, sports, diplomacy, governmental theory, racism, religion, and the meaning of life; all while munching on the P.B.&J sandwiches I had brought as part of a homeless outreach with Georgetown University’s Center for Social Justice’s First-Year Orientation to Community Involvement (FOCI). That day I left downtown Washington, D.C. knowing that my life would never be the same.

Throughout my week at FOCI I underwent countless transformative experiences while visiting community service sites of all types and listening to speakers with extremely diverse points of view. I served at soup kitchens, aided the elderly, cleaned up adult group homes for the disabled, and partook in various other efforts throughout the D.C.-Metro area. I learned about programs for sex workers, children, homeless people, and for the plethora of other social justice causes addressed at Georgetown.

Beyond encountering service opportunities, I got acquainted with my new communities, both in the smaller Georgetown context and the greater Washington, D.C. area. I had all my fears regarding classes, moving into my dorm room, my roommate, extra-curriculars, having any friends, and getting lost in the dark city, alleviated as I made 59 new friends, including 15 upperclassmen that taught me everything they know about life at the Hilltop and in our Nation’s Capital. In addition to making my transition to Georgetown and Washington, D.C. effortless, FOCI afforded me the opportunity to gain a new perspective on life.  I learned to respect differences even when applying my Christian beliefs to new experiences. While it is readily apparent that every Georgetown student brings a unique story and new outlook on life to this campus, the fellow freshmen, leaders, speakers, and other people I met at FOCI represent the best microcosm of diversity that I have experienced thus far here at Georgetown. Being able to constantly speak with people from so many backgrounds and belief systems throughout FOCI was simply incredible. At the conclusion of each FOCI-day I found myself sitting in various locations around this amazing city and for the first time completely opening up to a group of my peers, sharing all my thoughts on life.These nightly reflections, coupled with conversations such as the one I shared with the homeless man over lunch in the park, spurred me to realign my priorities in life. As a result of FOCI, I have been able to recollect the precepts of my beliefs. Because of FOCI, I will remember forever that my grades here at Georgetown, the activities I participate in throughout college, and even the life I go on to lead after the Hilltop will only be a waste of a God-given “good head,” if I fail to find my purpose in life as it relates to assisting my fellow man.

--Robert J. Barthelmes (MSB '12) - FOCI XXIV

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Michael McClain

 
Two histories so different. His journey to that bench in Dupont Circle was a flee for freedom. An escape from suppression and hardship in the midst of Ethiopian corruption. Mine a small transition. A stepping-stone from a past life back home on the path to molding my own future. This man traveled 7,000 miles in search of a life he could only dream of . I moved only a few miles with privilege tucked in my pocket. But no past separated us now on that time worn bench. Nothing discriminated us at that moment. Two young men, each ready and willing to share his stories and insights and passions over a lunch. For an hour we were no different. It’s interesting the way lives meet. How the paths of two souls wandering in seemingly opposite directions can come to intertwine, even for just a split second, but each forever leaving an imprint on the other.

The truth is that human paths are much less divergent than we imagine. I would assume a man this remarkable would be hard if not impossible to find in my daily life. But all that separated us that afternoon was a short walk to a public park. In reflection it is hard to grasp why we make ourselves so distant from our own world and the people in it. Poverty, disease, homelessness, violence, and hunger are horrors of our modern era, but real and manifest nonetheless. Even still, we treat them as though they belong in some other world, estranging from society the people affected more so than they already are. Passiveness is not neutral, but a direct and cutting act against the afflicted. By virtue of our humanity, those problems are ours, even without personally feeling them. FOCI brought me to this reality more than any service I had ever taken part in. Looking at community piece by piece as I always had in the past is important, but misses a much bigger reality. It is too easy to walk way from a month of working at one refugee center or one shelter and allow the memory to vanish as soon as the door clicks shut. But when those problems are addressed on a grand scale as we did in FOCI, when the world is seen as the total sum of highpoints and low points of the human condition, true progress can be made. In a week I worked at a homeless shelter, an AIDS help center, soup kitchens, a public school, a women’s shelter, and experienced countless other plunges into the urban D.C. environment. Seeing all these dozens of issues taking place in our world in the same week carried with it the truth that these problems are all happening at once and literally are all around the corner from us in Georgetown.

Seeing this enormous reality is a heavy burden and an incredible responsibility. These facts of life that we all came in contact with before even stepping foot into a classroom here are overwhelming as an understatement. But one other incredible truth FOCI left me with was a fantastic sense of hope. While I was offering my service to person after person, encountering trouble after trouble, I was doing so alongside 59 of the most genuinely caring, passionate people I have ever met. They’re fire for tackling the dilemmas of our present and future knocked me off my feet. While I came to know and understand what our generation is up against, I also became a part of what our generation has up its sleeve.
 

--Michael McClain (SFS ’12) - FOCI XXIV

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Jordan Megna:

My first few weeks here at Georgetown have been a whirlwind of new faces and places set on a gorgeous hilltop that overlooks the nation’s capital. I, along with many freshmen, have experienced the fairy tale side of college life, set apart from the daily grind and the nagging of my parents. FOCI, however, started this fairy tale with a week that took me to some of the toughest neighborhoods in DC, giving me a chance to work with the people outside of the Healy gates who suffer through incredible struggles each and every day.

What struck me most in my service activities came through the connections I made between entirely different sites. On one of the first days of the week, I helped out at an infant and maternity home that takes in children whose parents are unable to care for them, either in the short or long term. The director explained to us how some of the children would never know their parents or only see them sporadically. Later in the week, we traveled to Dupont Circle to lunch with the homeless. In an attempt to continue conversation, I asked the man I was sitting with, “If you could meet one person living or dead, who would it be?” He paused and then responded, “My mom and dad, I never met them.” Thinking back to the babies who I had played with just two days prior, it hit me just how lucky I am to have a supporting family that has made it possible for me to attend a school like Georgetown.

Even though our service sites comprised a large part of our day, our fearless leaders did let us have some time to let loose, too. With the day full of service and the night jam-packed with games and bonding activities, the FOCI leader team orchestrated this perfect balance between games and service. I realized that the leaders made the effort to get to know us because they truly cared about us and about the type of experience that we could have during FOCI. Having already gone through the exhausting week themselves, the leaders passed on FOCI traditions and gave us Baby FOCIans a chance to make FOCI XXIV uniquely ours.

By eating lunch with homeless people, serving at a soup kitchen, and taking care of underprivileged children for a week, I have been able to really consider the incredible opportunities that I have here at Georgetown. And even though the work seemed daunting and pushed me out of my comfortable suburban worldview, my fellow FOCIans and leaders created a loving community that I can sincerely call my FO-family. Without a doubt, FOCI has given me an eye-opening and enriching welcome to both Georgetown and the greater DC community.

--Jordan Megna (COL ’12) - FOCI XXIV

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Kara Abarcar:

FOCIans 2007 on the last day of FOCI. Kara Abarcar is on the right.
FOCIans 2007 on the last day of FOCI. Kara Abarcar is on the right.

If you ask me what I think the most important thing I learned from FOCI is, it is this: no matter where I am in the world and no matter what cultures I come across with, community service will always be about establishing human connections. Since I just moved to the US from the Philippines in 2006, I thought I was going to have a hard time relating with the people I will encounter in FOCI because I had never done community service here in the US. However, I was amazed to find out that the people I met during FOCI were actually going through similar problems as those I met in the Philippines. Whatever their problems were, they all needed to be around people who cared for them and wanted to help them in any way possible. Relating to the people I met through FOCI became easer because I as able to draw out interpersonal skills I learned in the past. Thus, at the end of FOCI, I realized that what really makes community service meaningful and fulfilling is seeing that you have transcended cultural barriers and established friendships with different people where each person helps the other in any way they can.

FOCI gave me the chance to be with amazing people who come from such diverse backgrounds and bring so much insight into our community service experiences. I have been truly blessed to be with FOCIans who are as passionate as I am about helping others. Even if there were times when I was exhausted from all the work, seeing everyone?s enthusiasm gave me that second wind and made me want to put out all my efforts and work even harder.

FOCI has also reassured me that my decision to go to Georgetown was the best one. This experience opened many doors for me to continue the community service activities I had done when I was in high school that I don?t think any other school would offer. I felt a sense of belongingness not only to the FOCI community but to the Georgetown community as well through the FOCI leaders? unrelenting energy and warmth.

Overall, FOCI was the best welcome into the Georgetown community, and perhaps was also one of the most meaningful and eye-opening experiences of my entire life. I am hopeful that the spirit of service and camaraderie that was planted in me during FOCI week will grow and bear promising and great things during the rest of my years in Georgetown!

--Kara Abarcar (NHS '10) - FOCI XXIII

 

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Alison Crowley:

Rare is it that a day goes by at Georgetown where I am not given, at some point or another, reason to appreciate my week at FOCI. I knew absolutely no one before arriving one week ahead of the hundreds of other first year students, but now, after a month of school, I still run into participants from the program on a daily basis and always have a reason to stop for a few moments and chat. This was the effect of FOCI: over six short days, the non-stop activities and evening events brought together 60 students into a unique understanding and appreciation for one another and for this city.

The work we did during FOCI was, at times, almost overwhelming. Never before had I handed out bagged lunches to homeless persons in a city park. Never before I had risen at five in the morning to serve breakfast at a soup kitchen to over 200 people in need of a hot meal. Never before had I interacted so closely with those suffering from mental disabilities. This program forced me out of my comfort zone time and time again, but always offered a comforting group to fall back on after a day of difficult but inspiring work.

A large reason why FOCI was so successful was due to the passion of our leaders. I could never have expected the enthusiasm and unending energy that the sophomores, juniors, and seniors leading the program showed us. The leaders shouted out my name and yelled hello to me from the very first moment I stepped onto campus. I felt as though this group had already known me for some time.

I entered this weeklong program with a large cloud hanging over my head. The past six months had been extremely trying on my family for personal matters, and I knew that college was the only way I would be able to leave some of that pain behind me and begin, in absolutely every sense of the word, a new era for myself. FOCI was the perfect beginning for this. Instead of the confusion, uncertainty and overwhelming awkwardness of New Student Orientation, I was able to ease my way into this new world with 59 other welcoming, loving individuals. FOCI showed me how powerful my own actions can be and how strongly I can affect this urban community if I merely put forth the effort. It was the ideal introduction to Washington, D.C., and I don?t dare consider how different my life at Georgetown would have been if I hadn?t started on such a positive, empowering note.

--Alison Crowley (COL '11 ) - FOCI XXIII

 

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Patrick O'Neill:

 

Patrick O'Neill (SFS '08) with other FOCI XXIII Leaders.
Patrick O'Neill (SFS '08) with other FOCI XXIII Leaders.

When I first arrived at Georgetown for FOCI in August 2004, I had no clue what I was getting myself into. I figured that I would simply be doing a week of community service before moving ahead with my time on the Hilltop. Four FOCIs, plentiful memories, and countless friendships later, it stuns me to think about just how wrong that assumption was. From the very beginning, FOCI has been a defining and integral part of my Georgetown experience, and it would be nearly impossible for me to even begin to describe the myriad of ways in which it has impacted me.

After experiencing FOCI as a participant, I realized that despite having almost no expectations going in, I really couldn?t have asked for a better way to kick off college. Not only was I exposed to an immense array of social justice issues and opportunities throughout the District and challenged to make a difference, but I made dozens of new friends, moved into my dorm room, and got to know my way around campus ? all before the 1,600 other new students even showed up. As freshman year progressed and FOCI became more and more of a distant memory, I still found that many of my involvements on campus, as well as many of my closest friends, could all be traced back to FOCI. All of a sudden, the on-the-whim decision to come to Georgetown a week early for a pre-orientation program that I knew almost nothing about had turned into one of the best decisions of my college career.

Given my own experience with FOCI, and what it meant to me, I wanted to continue to be a part of the program and all that it has to offer. Over the past three years I have been fortunate enough to do so through participation as a leader. Despite being an entirely different experience as a leader, each year has been just as challenging and rewarding. Looking back, I consider myself extremely lucky to have been a part of four different FOCIs and all of the joys, struggles, friendships, meaningful conversations, and lasting memories that they have entailed. It truly has become the bedrock of my Georgetown experience.

--Patrick O'Neill (SFS '08 ) - FOCI XX

 

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Oliver Cashin:

 

Oliver Cashin (SFS '10) at Food and Friends.
Oliver Cashin (SFS '10) at Food and Friends.

I had gone to a Jesuit high school before coming to Georgetown. Many of the Jesuit ideals of service and being men and women for others had been instilled in me and were ideals, which I believed in, and still do. That was my main reason for applying for the First Year Orientation to Community Involvement (FOCI). I also had other reasons which I will get into later.

One thing I will always remember is walking on to the New South Patio and having four random college kids who I'd never met in my life run up and scream my name. All the leaders had memorized our names and our bios prior to us arriving. The first thing I thought when I realized this was, "Wow. These people get WAY too into this." Little did I know how right I was.

By the time the first day was done I had sprinted away from, screamed at, proposed to, and eaten with all the kids, known as FOCIans, and leaders. Exhausted we went to bed at around one in the morning, to be woken up at five for my first soup kitchen.

The actual service was fantastic. Not because of the service itself but because of the people I met during it. I will always remember this guy at the soup kitchen who directed us out of our parking space while karate chopping any car that got in our way. I will always remember playing Frisbee with the kids at the D.C. village and running away while they tried to paint me.

For me these personal connections made all the difference. I had forgotten why I did service. I had forgotten the people I met when I went to homeless shelters as a kid. I had forgotten the smiles in kid's faces when you come all the way to their family shelter to play with them. I had forgotten that the whole point of service is not the bowl of soup that you hand someone, it's the "Hi. How's your day going?" that makes the difference to them. FOCI reminded me of the importance of these connections.

The leaders were fantastic. Crazy, but fantastic. They had spent more or less the entire summer organizing this week of service and were the driving force behind it all. They were so excited for everything we did. They were also really great to hang out with and by the end of the week were barely distinguishable from the actual FOCIans. The leaders bond with the FOCIans just and much as they bond with each other.

While doing service there was also a very personal, very inward side to this experience. When everyday was over, you would be exhausted and want nothing more than to go to bed. But the nights always ended with reflections. Small groups go off into isolated places, or the most isolated places they can find, and discuss service, its meaning to them and more importantly get to know why they signed up for FOCI. Everyone had a reason for signing up for a week of service. While some of those were pretty basic, some also had other reasons beneath the surface. I was one of those. Through the reflections I realized a lot about myself and what drove me to do the things that I do in life. I also learned a lot about what I was looking to get out of college. FOCI was a chance for me to take a step back and look at my goals, my values and myself. In all the rush and excitement leading up to college I had lost track of what brought me to Georgetown in the first place.

Essentially FOCI was the best possible precursor to college I could have asked for. Not only did I go into college with a huge group of friends who held a lot of my same interests, but I also went into college with much more of a path than most.

--Oliver Cashin (SFS '10 ) - FOCI XXII

 

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Lauren Funk:

As I reflect on the experience I had in FOCI at Georgetown , I begin to wonder--What would Georgetown be like now if I had not participated? Of course, I knew that FOCI was for me as soon as I saw the flyer in my new student orientation packet, but what if I had not applied?

I would have missed out on many friendships. I met over forty amazing freshman who all shared a passion, like I do, for helping others. Yet that was about the only thing they shared, for never before had I encounter such a diverse group, with people from all over the country and all over the world, with every type of personality and style of living imaginable. I never needed the NSO talks on diversity-I had experienced it first hand. Yet the most amazing thing about the people I met in FOCI is their steadfast companionship and familiarity. We are still friends-even though I have classes with almost none of them, we all keep in touch and support each other. I do not know where I would be without these solid bonds of friendship formed over pots of soup, piles of trash, and pieces of pizza.

Another thing I would have missed out on, one which I never before had considered, was the incredible bonds between the FOCI leaders and their FOCIans. I never felt more important or special as I did when, during the first week of school-the time when all freshmen are struggling to find their space and become part of campus- the leaders would stop, yell my name, and run to give me a hug. I felt instantly incorporated into the Georgetown community, and surrounded by love and support- and not to mention, pretty darn special since I knew so many upperclassmen!

Outside of the Georgetown community, I experienced service projects like none I had experienced before. In my small hometown, volunteer opportunities were limited to 5-K's and the local hospital, but in Washington, the sites just kept coming! The FOCI program did an excellent job of adjusting me to these new sites, and when the university's volunteer clubs and programs began, I felt like an old pro. This confidence, as well as the knowledge of how many opportunities for service there were, encouraged me to volunteer actively throughout the year, and I currently try to participate in anywhere from one to three projects per week.

I do not know where I would be at Georgetown if it were not for the support network, friendship, information, experiences, and sense of belonging I received from the FOCI program. I began my official freshman year at Georgetown feeling like I already belonged.

THANK YOU FOCI!

--Lauren Funk (SFS '10 ) - FOCI XXII

 

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James Johnsen:

FOCI was six weeks ago. In the condensed college life of a first-year undergraduate, six weeks is a lifetime. It is odd to think that my oldest friend here on campus is a person I met less than two months ago. And yet, I feel close to these people; I feel that this place and my friends are good. Certainly, no small measure of my comfort here is attributable to my participation in the First-Year Orientation to Community Involvement.

I love people. I love the highs and lows of humanity. I love to place myself in situations where I might have the opportunity to bring to life a few more highs and a few fewer lows. Unquestionably, FOCI helped me in this regard?not only over the course of the five-day program, but by providing me with an idea of the role that I may play in service here in the District of Columbia. In high school, it took me years to find the labor in which I felt comfortable offering my hands to help. Thanks to FOCI, I have been given a whirl-wind survey of volunteer opportunities in Washington and will hopefully be able to forgo that tedious, overly-cautious process that kept me from finding my place sooner than I did. Let it not be so here. As I said in one of our reflections, FOCI has given me the framework and the contacts which I hope will help me to make a fire of myself, to agitate for the needs to the poor and the lonely, to be a voice for the voiceless. I've hit the ground running.

I cannot adequately relate the gratitude I have for the opportunity to begin my college career, to open this new page of my life, with 60 close friends, a diverse group by any standard, but one that is united by its care for the world around us. I feel as if I have been given in advance the gift of genuine friendship five dozen times.

Truly, I must say that it is this second gift for which I am most grateful. Without FOCI I would have found my place in serving the poor eventually, but would the transition from suburban Phoenix, Arizona, to the radically different streets of Washington, D.C., have been so smooth had I not had my FOCI-friends at my back? The answer is certainly NO. I am grateful to my FOCI leaders. I am grateful to my fellow FOCIans for simply being here with me.

I wear my FOCI shirt with pride today. It reminds me of the week of friendship and fellowship I shared with 45 freshman and 15 gracious, generous, wonderful leaders. It reminds me of the four years of that same sodality I have ahead of me. I wear my FOCI shirt because I am proud. And plus, I?m a Hoya: I look good in blue.

--James Johnsen (SFS '10 ) - FOCI XXII

 

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Bethany Croasmun:

 

Ben Morsa is fourth from the left.
FOCIans (2005) at a park. Bethany Croasmun is third from the left.

All summer long I had been looking forward to what was sure to be an auspicious moment in my life: the first time I walked through Healy gates as a Georgetown student. I knew it was going to be a scary, but ultimately life-changing, moment and I planned to relish it as much as possible. I wondered how I was going to feel--would I be different? Would my collar suddenly pop of its own accord? The possibilities were endless.

As it turned out, my first few moments at Georgetown were nothing like what I expected. After being whisked out of the airport by two extremely enthusiastic individuals, I ended up arriving at GU (by the Prospect street entrance!) about five minutes before the first FOCI event. I got my key and was up the elevator in a whirl that I barely remember. I do remember opening the door to my room for the first time, putting my bags down, and having an overwhelming urge to cry. But there was no time! Later, I thought. I'll get through the inevitably awkward icebreakers, and then tonight I'll come back and have a good cry.

Again, my plans were foiled. I never did have a chance to get that good cry. For the next five days, I was kept constantly busy--and I loved it. I got to see all kinds of behind-the-scenes social justice work, and discovered how rewarding every aspect could be. Our work ranged from office work in large organizations like Goodwill to a simple lunch with the homeless living in Dupont. The best parts of the week were the conversations we got to have with each other, the people we were serving, and others in the community with whom we were working alongside. A young man I served breakfast to at an early-morning soup kitchen told me he was from Argentina, and had left his young wife and child behind in order to find better work here. He talked to them one to two times a month, but hadn't been able to save enough money to go back yet. We talked a little about where it's best to sleep when you have to sleep on the street. He joked about the cold but I later realized that it's not funny. Later that day, while we were sharing a bagged lunch I will never forget, a homeless man in Dupont Circle casually mentioned to me he had had many of his toes amputated last year because of frostbite. And yet, although it might sound hard-hearted, I couldn't really pity this man. All I felt was a rising anger at the injustice of a world and a system that let people like him down.

At the end of the week, I couldn't believe that I had entered Georgetown looking for a selfish, auspicious moment. I came to realize my presence at this school means absolutely nothing unless I open my eyes to see outside those same Healy gates I had been so keen to enter.

--Bethany Croasmun (SFS ' 09) - FOCI XXI

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Mona Mehta:

 

FOCIans at Heart of America. Mona Mehta is second from the left in the first row.
FOCIans (2005) at Heart of America. Mona Mehta is second from the left in the first row.

"F-O-C-I," our shirts say. We walk together with a certain pride, laughing in amusement at some shared joke. Some call us a cult. Others want to be in on the secret. Who are these first-year students who walk with such confidence and cheerfulness as if they already belong? We are a group of dedicated college students with a purpose; we are Focians.

One week--that's all we had, but that's all it took. I came to Georgetown as a transfer student, somewhat bitter that my freshman year had not turned out as I had planned. I signed up for the FOCI program on a whim, not really expecting much out of it. I definitely did not expect fourteen energetic leaders I had never met drowning me in hugs and laughter as I stepped onto Georgetown campus for the very first time. I never thought I would meet my best friend in my first week at Georgetown , or that I would become so close to this group of fifty or so students. Moreover, I expected the activities to be centered around speakers and soup kitchens. Instead, I got a taste of reality--close up encounters with the homeless and an overnight stay in one of the world's largest homeless shelters without air-condition or luxuries. My preconceptions were challenged; my prejudices came crashing down in my face.

One day of FOCI that particularly stands out in my mind is the day I met Ed at Lafayette Park. He was wearing tattered clothes and had ridiculously shabby hair. He probably hadn't showered in months. I walked over to him nervously, determined to initiate conversation and offer him a meal, yet I was hesitant and uncertain. What would I have in common with this poor, raggedy man, I wondered. Boy, was I in for a shock. Ed was not only intelligent, but also witty and charismatic. He had a passion for cultures and politics. He picked up on my Indian heritage and began to discuss Hindu gods with me. Ed knew exactly how he wanted the government to conduct domestic policy. I was surprised at how much this homeless man knew about the world, for I had always pictured the homeless as trashy and uneducated. Ed is just one homeless man I was fortunate enough to encounter, but he made me realize that there are so many others in his situation with interesting experiences, so many others whose neediness is a symptom of circumstance, rather than fault of their own.

Nevertheless, in addition to participating in eye-opening service activities, FOCI also placed importance on self-development through reflection. We ended each day with group reflections, a time to sit back, relax, and contemplate what we had done. We explored the value of having a "home" and the implications of not having one. We expressed the meaning of service to us individually, and we discussed our personal weaknesses that often prevent us from participating in service. Everyone was encouraged to share, but nobody was forced. It was a time of thinking, of learning from one another's experiences, of listening. I cannot begin to describe the intense bonding that occurred during these reflections. We understood each other on a deeper level, gained a glimpse of each other's past life.

It is hard to imagine that one week can truly change a person's life, but FOCI did that for me. Not only did I meet amazing people and gain new insight into the meaning of homelessness and poverty, but also, I was inspired to continue to find new ways to involve myself in the community. It has made me realize that service is not only about working at soup kitchens, but about showing those in need that you care and serving with a smile.

--Mona Mehta ( COL ' 08) - FOCI XXI

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Benjamin Morsa:

 

Ben Morsa is fourth from the left.
FOCIans (2005) at a park. Ben Morsa is fourth from the left.

Before coming to Georgetown I spent the last two years at the United States Air Force Academy. Among other reasons, I came to Georgetown so that I could be challenged in new ways. Although the Academy was challenging, most of it became pretty mundane. I especially wanted to take the opportunity to focus on something that was important to me in High School; service.

FOCI gave me everything I was looking for and more. In addition to meeting an incredibly diverse group of motivated and fun-loving participants and leaders I was given the opportunity to connect with people in a way I had never experienced through visits to several service sites. Although I have only been here a few weeks I know that FOCI will prove to be one of my most incredible expereinces at Georgetown. It's about more than service projects. It's about learning to connect with other human beings in profound new ways.

--Benjamin Morsa (SFS ' 08) - FOCI XXI

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Pilar Siman:

 

Pilar Siman (SFS '07)
FOCI XXII arriving at a service site. Pilar Siman is on the left.

What FOCI has taught me is best described in the words of activist Marian Wright Edelman:

"A lot of people are waiting for Martin Luther King or Mahatma Gandhi to come back -- but they are gone. We are it. It is up to us. It is up to you."

Throughout all of middle and high school my big thing was student council. While I loved planning activities for my fellow classmates and finding ways to improve my school, I always felt a desire to become more active and give back to our world community. I knew that I wanted to learn more about social justice and how I could make a difference in a larger context than my high school, but I was scared I wouldn't be good at it since I had never really done service or activism before. After giving it much thought I decided to take the very scary step out of my comfort zone and give the service/social justice thing a try.

As I begin my senior year here and look back on my past four years, I realize that applying for FOCI was the best decision I made in my college career. During that whirlwind week freshmen year I realized that serving others is not simply a hobby in which some people excel, but instead a way of life that we are all called to follow. I had read about homelessness, heard about poverty and even studied a little about discrimination but until FOCI week none of these issues had a face or a name. While my high school classes encouraged me to memorize statistics and graphs about the current problems in our world, FOCI challenged me to look around me and really listen to the stories of the human beings who are the reason we strive for social justice.

I'll admit, I was still terrified to be away from home for the first time doing activities which I had never done before, but as FOCI week flew by, I began to feel like I was a part of something that was bigger and more powerful than just myself. I realized I was in the presence of young people who were willing to put aside their fears and concerns, and for one week dedicate themselves to the most vulnerable members of our population. Before FOCI I would have never believed that I could be one of "those" people. You know, the ones who speak out, raise awareness and eventually change the world J. But as I peeled potatoes at 6 am and shared a meal with a few of the homeless men in Dupont Circle I remember looking around at my fellow Focians and thinking, "Oh my goodness! We're those people!" It was a realization that to serve I did not have to possess any special skills, or have done anything extraordinary, but instead just had to have the desire to help and the will to learn about realities which are so different from my own.

Once FOCI week was over I was worried that once the amazing Focians no longer surrounded me 24/7, service would be place d on the backburner and become like any other activity for me. Luckily, I couldn't have been more wrong! As the year progressed some of the Focians became my closest friends, the FOCI leaders became my role models and source of advice, and as a member of this FOCI community I was constantly encouraged and presented opportunities to get involved. It was because of the guidance and the support of the FOCI community that I was able to find my own niche at Georgetown and figure out ways in which I could also create positive change in my immediate and world community.

As a Junior and Senior I had the privilege of serving as a FOCI leader and each year was amazed by the unique ways each of the Focians works hard to make Georgetown, D.C. and this world a better place to live. Whenever I am discouraged by depressing statistics about the state of our world, I think about these Focians I know and remind myself that there are students who are finding ways to help others and who will not allow the vulnerable members of our society to be forgotten. FOCI helped give me direction as a incoming freshman, unsure of what I wanted to dedicate myself to in college, and I am convinced that the lessons I learned and friends I met in FOCI will ultimately guide the way I live my life and the career choices I make in the future. It is because of this that I feel so thankful and proud to call myself a FOCIAN.

--Pilar Siman (SFS ' 07) - FOCI XIX

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Others

What do Past Participants Have to Say?

"I am honestly so happy that I got shaken up and that I haven't become complacent..."

"Thanks...for allowing me to be part of such an amazing week. This has been the best introduction to my next four years at Georgetown, better than I ever could have hoped for."

"This has been one of the most amazing weeks of my life. I have never had such close contact with the issue of poverty and homelessness and the week opened my eyes to all this."

"Great way to start. Now I know campus, friends, sites, and am much more comfortable with the whole college idea..."

"This is one of the best things I've ever done or will do at Georgetown. I loved the leaders, I'm really impressed by how hard you all worked..."

"It's a great introduction to service opportunities in the D.C. area. It's also a great way to meet great people & get settled into campus before it becomes too chaotic."

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