Steve Slowinski

One thing that CPS really, really stresses is community partnership, which to be honest, when I first joined CPS I didn’t understand why it was that big of a deal. I mean, yes, I can understand that working with your community members is good, but is it really worthy of being one of the main axioms that CPS stresses? It just seemed like the amount of importance CPS was giving it was way too extreme. In retrospect, though, I can totally understand why community partnership is such an important thing. I’ve worked with a couple different community members through my work at Big Brothers Big Sisters and really, those relationships are the most important part of your job. Those relationships are what allow you to better understand the issues facing the community at large, plus they provide you the means with which to effectively help those problems.  

. If not for the in-town Big Brothers Big Sisters coordinator, Leah, I would have been able to provide the kids at James Gettys Elementary with a decent Big Brothers Big Sisters program, but not nearly the same quality as what we were able to create together. The knowledge of the kids and their families that she brought to the table was essential to our creating a successful program, plus it worked great when coupled with my experience working with children and my knowledge of our available resources at the college.

I began attending Circles of Support during my sophomore year almost completely by accident. I was involved in a club on campus dedicated to working with kids and we’d heard of this new program in the community that needed help with childcare, so I decided to check it out. Over the years, I’ve gotten to really know the children attending the program and form a connection with them, which has been one of my favorite experiences here at Gettysburg. I’ve come to really care about them, enough so that I’ve helped form a new program for the kids while they’re at Circles that will hopefully be continued and expanded upon these next few years.

Even though I haven’t spent much time downstairs during the actual Circles meetings, I’ve learned a lot about the cycle of poverty during my time at Circles. Through attending their Big View meeting (during which the mothers presented their stories to the community) and talking with the mothers and their kids, I’ve gained a real appreciation for how blessed my own life has been and how amazing these women are. They care for their children an incredible amount, but people can be quick to judge them because they are single mothers and need to work multiple jobs at a time just to make ends meet. Circles has been allowed me to move beyond the stereotypes of people living in poverty and to gain a real appreciation of how hard it is to “pick yourself up by your bootstraps”.

During my time at CPS, I suppose I’ve been a leader. I can’t say I’ve ever thought about myself in that regard, though – more that I’m just an active, involved member of my campus community. Yes, I’ve had to organize the Big Brothers Big Sisters program this year and numerous other events during my junior year, but it still feels weird to call myself a leader on campus. There are so many people that have done more on campus than I have, but I do like to think that I’ve done my little part and therefore, made a small little difference.

I like to think that I already had solid leadership skills upon entering CPS, but without a doubt, my time working at CPS has definitely honed these skills further. I’ve simply had to do so much organizing and coordinating for different events and programs, I’ve had no choice but to become excellent at banging out large quantities of quick emails, delegating work whenever possible, and picking my battles. I no longer feel like I have to do everything, so I give myself more time to take care of myself while still focusing energy and attention on the issues that are most important to me.

When compared to the other jobs available on campus, CPS is definitely the best one in terms of providing us students with experience working in an office environment. While you can sit and read at the library’s desk for hours and check books in and out, CPS has allowed me to work in an office environment and to engage in real, meaningful community outreach. I’ve had to carry myself in a professional manner, create reports for my bosses, meet all of my deadlines, but at the same time, having the freedom to run my program the way I envision it.

As only my second real job (and my first one outside of a summer camp), I stood to learn a lot about job-related skills while at CPS. The office at CPS is a very relaxed atmosphere and I’ve had to be very flexible with my office hours this year as a result of my schedule, but I’ve still learned a great deal about how to carry yourself in a professional manner, how to carry on successful working relationships with your co-workers, and how to manage and maintain your community connections. To me, that’s been the most valuable part of the job – the experience working with and alongside local community members. It’s easy to deal with other college students, but that’s not what the world is going to be like when I get out in it. I’ll need to know how to interact with people from various agencies and to form partnerships, which has been a huge part of CPS’s mission.