{"id":10059,"date":"2023-05-22T12:53:02","date_gmt":"2023-05-22T12:53:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/wordpress\/lavie\/?p=10059"},"modified":"2023-05-22T12:53:02","modified_gmt":"2023-05-22T12:53:02","slug":"bruno-mochis-story-of-being-a-volunteer-at-lvc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/2023\/05\/22\/bruno-mochis-story-of-being-a-volunteer-at-lvc\/","title":{"rendered":"Bruno Mochi\u2019s story of being a volunteer at LVC"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Yuliya Shepilo \u201925, La Vie contributor<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starting his first year at LVC in the Fall of 2019, Bruno Mochi was not planning to be involved in the volunteer community on campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll freshman year, I didn\u2019t do any service work at all,\u201d he said. \u201cSophomore year, I met Jen Liedtka. She was like, \u2018come to this thing,\u2019 and I never did.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite his initial lack of interest in the provided opportunities in college, Bruno did some forms of volunteering in the past. Doing little things to help organize events for the local church or being a chaperone for various retreats, he found ways to help his community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When he was 16, Bruno traveled to Virginia through his church to be a part of the Christian Appalachian Project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe project has a group of people every week,\u201d he recalled. \u201cUsually, it\u2019s churches. They\u2019ll come, and they\u2019ll help repair people\u2019s homes that can\u2019t afford to actually rebuild them themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fast forward to 2021, Bruno was now entering his junior year of college when everything changed. He suddenly felt that he wanted and needed to help the local community here in Annville.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a wake-up call that I could\u2019ve been helping this whole time,\u201d he confessed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feeling guilty about the missed two years, Bruno officially became a volunteer on campus and is continuing this work to this day, taking part in local nonprofit projects. While dedicating the time in his schedule to attend as many nights of service as possible, he also extends his assistance past the LVC campus as he currently took on the task of volunteering at the Annville Elementary School.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m literally just an extra person there,\u201d he said. \u201cDuring the [kids\u2019] reading times, they ask me questions. I\u2019m just there to help relieve the teacher, but I love children, so I\u2019m happy to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, doing even the smallest things to help out locally is valuable and what volunteering is all about. Being a part of a \u201cdescent [sized] community\u201d of students willing to offer their assistance, Bruno admitted that the commitment doesn\u2019t have to be so big. Of course, LVC does have service sororities on its campus where people can take up volunteering multiple times during the week. More than that, college students taking these initiatives are always more than welcome to become a part of such projects. At the same time, what is nice about the setup of this system is just how flexible and personalized a student willing to participate can make it. Such liberties always come in handy for people trying to balance their studies, work, and personal lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While bringing positive change to the local community, Bruno felt that he could do even more. With his graduation quickly approaching in May, he made the decision to sign up for the service-learning trip to the Navajo Nation. He got in and traveled to Arizona, staying there for a week in January of 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe stayed in a hotel, but most of our days were out and about in the community,\u201d Bruno recalled. \u201cWe did a lot of work [for] the people that were our hosts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The aspect of learning the local culture and history also heavily filled their curriculum during those days. Meeting the people living on the reservation and getting to hear the real stories that happened to them made a significant impact on the group of volunteers. It was truly a fun time learning about some long-established practices like coming-of-age ceremonies for women, special music for various celebrations, and, of course, authentic food traditions and recipes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it wasn\u2019t all fun and games. The volunteers also listened to the stories related to colonization and how it specifically impacted that region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe had this lady come in to talk to us a little bit about the Navajo language,\u201d Bruno remembered. \u201cShe was 76 years old, and she told us about one of the [Indigenous] boarding schools that she went to where they only spoke English to her. It was really confusing because she was only [around] 9, and she went through all of that traumatic experience. And, well, it wasn\u2019t that long ago that that happened to her and to a whole bunch of people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learning was combined with service work, and while Bruno and the others got to hear these stories, which helped them get more acquainted with their surroundings, they also participated in handwork.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere was this spring that ran a channel down through the ground,\u201d he shared. \u201cThere was sand that blocked it. So, the 15 of [volunteers], plus everyone else, went and got rid of all the sand. I found out the next day that that water actually runs into five different properties. So, five different farms were affected.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, the whole trip turned into an interesting and impactful experience, helping Bruno broaden his social awareness and understanding of the Navajo people, as well as his personal commitment to what he was doing. At the same time, though volunteering still took lots of effort and commitment, the impacts might not have been directly seen by the person helping out. As he continued to participate in more local projects around the LVC campus and the nearby organizations, Bruno was honest that, sometimes, the impact of his own work would not be directly visible to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While participating in the Habitat for Humanity projects, he would help in creating affordable housing for the families in need whom he would never actually meet in person. Still, what kept pushing him was the essential drive to bring positive change and better conditions to the world, even by doing it locally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve just had a very positive experience,\u201d Bruno admitted when asked about volunteering at LVC. \u201cThe people that volunteer, when you are with a group of people, I think it makes it really fun and really interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, becoming a volunteer on campus didn\u2019t free Bruno from being a student first. He knew that and chose to proceed to make a positive impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s what you want to put into it,\u201d he stated. \u201cEven though I do service, it\u2019s kind of on my own time. I find the time; I make the time. I don\u2019t really think it\u2019s hard, but that might just be my personal experience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now a senior, Bruno continues to take classes for his major\u2014chemistry. And though crucial, volunteering and college courses are not the only things Bruno has on his plate. He is also a part of LVC\u2019s swimming team, he\u2019s a Residential Assistant (RA) in the Mary Green Hall and is the president of the chemistry club on campus. These are all just many more examples of how he chooses to get involved with the local community throughout his time in college.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for his future path, Bruno is currently looking to go to graduate school for the next academic year and get a Ph.D. in chemistry. With that, he is considering doing computational work for either the government or a private company. Still, continuing to do volunteering and service in whichever place he chooses to move to next is an important goal for him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[LVC] has really inspired me,\u201d he said. \u201cI used to not really be big into service, but now I want to actually do it. And, you know, I have the privilege of being able to serve others [\u2026], so I want to use my privilege to be able to actually do that for people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As advice for students considering becoming volunteers on campus, Bruno suggests starting small, even by simply going to some nights of service as he did. His message to such students is quite simple and straightforward, yet it possesses the right motivation and truth:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI really would just encourage people to try it,\u201d he stated. \u201cI think that so many people think that it will be a big commitment, but it\u2019s really just trying it, seeing how it makes you feel, and if you want to do more, I think it\u2019s important that you try to make the time to do more [\u2026] you can make the time for things that you like to do.\u201d  <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Yuliya Shepilo \u201925, La Vie contributor Starting his first year at LVC in the Fall of 2019, Bruno Mochi was not planning to be involved in the volunteer community on campus. \u201cAll freshman year, […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":10060,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-10059","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-campus-news","8":"category-features"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10059\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}