Vocare Send-Off Address: Discovering a Calling

For my Vocare experience, I went to Goodwill Industries which is a day services program for adults with various developmental and cognitive disabilities. At this site, I was able to help out with various activities for the participants as well as build one-on-one connections. Some of these activities included doing crafts, running a cooking program, learning Spanish, listening to and dancing to musics, and leading brain games. 

This is the first time that I have ever worked with individuals with disabilities and I would be lying to you if I said that I did not go into my Vocare experience extremely nervous about the unknown journey that I was able to take part on. I remember I didn’t sleep the night before my first day because I was worried about if the participants were going to like me, if I was going to be interesting, if I was going to run out of things to say, what I was going to have to do, if this was going to be as life-changing for me as it was for the alumna who spoke at my Vocare send off. 

I know that a lot of you may be feeling the exact same way. It is very normal to be worried about the unknown and I’m not going to tell any of you not to feel that way because frankly, I know it’s not going to help. However, what I will tell you is do not let this worry or doubt get in the way of how you go into your experience. You get out of Vocare entirely what you put into it. So even though you may have those worries in the back of your mind, go into your experience with excitement and the willingness to learn. Your experience is going to be so unique from all of your classmates, so go into it being your authentic, best self, and your worries will have no power over you. 

So yes, as I said, I was very nervous going into my first day, but immediately when I walked in, I took my own advice and just was me. I introduced myself to people, involved myself in the activities, sat with participants at meals, and stopped worrying about things I could not control. I immediately had so much fun at my site and went to bed each night excited to go into my experience the next day! 

One of my key memories from Vocare was on my final day. There was a noticeable difference between how I felt going in that day than I did on my first day. My feelings of nervousness and worry were replaced with sadness that my experience would soon be ending. Even with this, I went into my site with a smile on my face and embarked on my day. I went through my typical daily routine and before I knew it, it was the end of the day. Each day I would wait with the participants for their rides to come and one participant in particular always had me dance. This was the same as we had for the previous two weeks, but this time, right before his ride came, he put his hand on my shoulder and simply said “I am going to miss you. You just… get me”. 

His words really meant something to me, and they have really stuck with me for the last five years. At the time the words made me feel good since they meant I had made an impact in someone’s life. Now, after some continued life experience, I understand how important it is to just feel like someone understands you. Everyone is just looking to be heard and to build connections with others. I feel this way in my everyday life. Now, for a little context, since I am a part of the class of 2020 and Vocare takes place at the end of February into the beginning of March, Vocare was actually the last in-person part of my high school career that I was able to take part in. All of my sisters in my class went to their sites for two weeks and we never came back to school. I felt as if I never truly had closure on my Vocare experience. 

Because of this, I thought I would never get to experience the full impact of Vocare since I would not get to share and reflect on all of the amazing moments I experienced with all of my sisters in my class. Yet here I am, five years later getting to share my stories with all of you, who are all my little sisters through our shared sisterhood in DSHA. 

After I graduated from DSHA, I attended the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. I originally went into school majoring in psychology with the goal of being a school counselor. However, after my first year of school, it just didn’t feel right to me. I didn’t have the same passion for it that I once did, and I felt really lost in what I wanted to do with my life. 

The summer after freshman year when I was looking for a summer job, I wanted to find something fun, yet meaningful. I ended up finding an Indeed posting for a summer camp for youth with various disabilities. This immediately reminded me of my Vocare experience and how much I enjoyed working with individuals with disabilities. I ended up getting this position and had the absolute best summer of my life! This is what led me to finding the major of recreational therapy. 

Recreational therapy is the purposeful use of activities to help individuals with disabilities achieve a specific goal. I started my recreational therapy classes the fall semester of my sophomore year and while earning my degree volunteered at multiple senior living facilities and worked at a day services program for adults with disabilities. 

I ended up earning my bachelor’s degree in recreational therapy in 2023 and went on to get my master’s degree in recreational therapy in 2024. I am now the Memory Care Director at Charter Senior Living of Hasmer Lake where I program and run the activities for the residents living in the memory care unit there. 

My entire passion that I have for the work that I do every day stems back to my Vocare experience. I am so grateful that I went into it without expectations and that I was able to understand the value of the unique experience that I had as it has led me to where I am today. 

Now as I stated, back in 2020, I felt as if I had no closure on my Vocare experience. However, now that I have gone through the years following my Vocare experience, my feeling of having no closer has changed to feeling like I am continuing on the journey of my calling. Since Vocare in Latin is “to call,” I am still living my Vocare experience every day. 

This calling to serve is in each one of us. Now in my experience, the calling continued far past my two-week experience. Some of you may go to your experience and feel the same way, that this is what you would like to pursue. Others may learn a lot but know that what they did in their experience is not what they would like to do for the rest of their life. Some people may end their experience feeling confused about their future. All of these feelings, no matter what they are, are extremely valid and okay to be feeling. Vocare is a chance for you to grow, learn new things, and to be able to serve others. Your experience will be unique, so let it be unique. 

I want to thank all of you for your time in listening to my experiences and I want to wish you the best of luck with your experiences. Soak in every second, learn, grow, take risks, allow yourselves to make mistakes, and take this opportunity to make the experience uniquely yours. Thank you!