Dunn first experienced the country of Ecuador during a month-long internship with the Ceiba Foundation between graduating college and working with JVC. She supported work focused on the intersection of water quality and human health. “I knew Ecuador was a beautiful place with beautiful people and rich in culture.”

For the past year, Dunn has been working as a volunteer at the Center for Working Families in Quito, living on the campus in community with other volunteers. Through comprehensive and integrated family programming, the center’s mission is to promote the empowerment of vulnerable families in the community by developing life plans, skills, and abilities. Offerings include education, healthcare, food security, economic opportunities, psychology, and more. Dunn’s aunt (Mary Garcia-Velez, DSHA ’85) and volunteered with the center over 30 years ago, so the mission was familiar. Additionally, the center was the long-time location of the DSHA Spanish immersion/service trip led by retired World Languages Faculty Martha Parks, so Dunn had friends from high school who were connected to the center as well.

The center helps over 200 local families navigate challenges such as food insecurity, domestic violence, and immigration. For the past year, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings Dunn has worked in the center’s healthcare clinic alongside a doctor and nurse. Tuesdays and Thursdays were spent in a classroom with kindergartners. Afternoons were spent with older students through programs and clubs. This included the opportunity to create and lead a soccer club called Fútbol Feminino (a passion of Dunn’s as a former DSHA Varsity Soccer player) because many girls in Quito do not have the opportunity to play many organized sports.

Additionally, Dunn has spent many of her evenings accompanying a Family Promoter and Social Worker from the center on family visit wellness checks. “The intensity of poverty is tough to see. Our job is to listen, meet families where they are at, and recognize that though they have lived through some atrocities, hope and support remain. Circumstances should not define you—everyone has dignity.”

Dunn has loved her time in Ecuador. And it has also come with challenges, particularly experiencing the circumstantial reality for many of the families she has grown to know and love—things she describes as “previously unfathomable” to her time at the center. “I will spend the rest of my life drawing on what I learned,” she shares.

Being away from her family and missing milestones while she has been away has also been a challenge, though she has drawn strength from her friends and family at home. Both of her parents are physicians in Milwaukee and fluent in Spanish; her mom serves at a free clinic, and her dad is a pediatrician at Sixteenth Street clinic. “I draw from what my parents have been doing my entire life,” she shares, adding that service has been a priority for the Dunns since she can remember. “It can get really overwhelming at times and you can’t believe certain situations exist in the world and in our neighborhoods, Milwaukee, and abroad. And yet I know there are people (like my family and friends) working hard to create a kinder world. I lean on that hope a lot.”

When asked if the sacrifice of time with loved ones, creature comforts, and a paycheck have been worth it, Dunn is quick to point to the priceless connections created within this  community. “I’m working in a classroom of the next generation, and when they are my age, I'm hopeful that opportunities like soccer will not be based on gender, but ability and love for the sport. To prepare children for a higher education which was inaccessible in generations past, makes it worth everything,” Dunn shares. “My hope comes from these remarkable students who have shown me love, and their parents who work hard to secure a better future for their children. I want them to find their passion and run with it.”

Dunn is ready to return to Milwaukee. She comes home with significantly improved Spanish and friendships to cherish, and many lessons learned, some unexpected. She credits her time in Ecuador for expanding her scope of what care for others can look like, and the variety of ways to show up for people. Ironically, her lack of Spanish skills helped her, at times, connect deeply with others. “Struggling with the language had a silver lining,” she shares. “There were times my Spanish was not at the level I needed, but learning to be patient and give space to someone who is struggling is okay. In hindsight, I felt unhelpful in those moments, but just sitting with someone in need, and being present even without a solution, holds so much power.”

While all of her volunteer roles, whether in the classroom or clinic were life changing, her work with patients has reinforced her dedication to global health and health equity. “During my work alongside medical professionals, social workers, teachers, psychologists, and therapists, I’ve learned that integration and collaboration among departments are the best ways to help identify the cause of problems and implement practical solutions.”

She plans to pursue a career in the medical field working with underserved communities. Though unsure of where her career will take her, she would not discount returning to a place she has served—Milwaukee, San Francisco, and Quito are all places she has grown to love. “I live in gratitude for my experiences and will honor those who exemplified the importance of hope, faith, courage, and connection in my future life and work.”