Pawtucket Credit Union

Hey everyone, I spent the last two weeks with Kristin Rojas, the community development officer at the Pawtucket Credit Union. I did a lot of things during my time there but the two I found most uplifting were visiting the San Miguel School and volunteering at the Special Olympics.
The San Miguel School is an all boys Lasallian school located in the West End of Providence that educates around 70 boys from low-income families in grades 5 through 8. The boys are specially referred to San Miguel by in the fifth grade as underachieving students. The first time we visited San Miguel I was overwhelmed with the energy at the school. The boys there were so unbelievably welcoming it was hard to imagine that they deal with daily issues of drugs, gang violence, and were referred here because of issues such as disciplinary problems in the first place. During our visits there we mentored a seventh grader. We would go in, have lunch with him, play card games, or just talk with him. Although these gestures were small I could tell they meant a lot to him just by the smile on his face and his need to make sure we would be back sometime soon. Seeing this meant a lot to me and I’m planning on making another trip back this week.
The other part of my senior project that touched me was the Special Olympics. Throughout the course of the two weeks I helped with last minute fundraising for the cause and on my last day I was able to volunteer at the event. Over 2,000 children and adults with intellectual disabilities throughout Rhode Island participated in the event and to help them through something they cared so deeply about was extraordinary. I was able to help them get to the specific events they were competing in and help them ready themselves for the event. The enthusiasm shown by each of the athletes over the course of the whole day was greatly inspiring and I hope to somehow get the opportunity to volunteer again next year.
I hope you all had as much fun as I did during your senior projects!

-Alexa Fattore