Wow, we've come to the end. Starting this year, when people asked me what I was doing, I responded with a variation of “my school requires seniors to go out into town every Wednesday to do service.” However, as the year went on, that answer seemed harder to say. The statement was still true, but the way it sounded was wrong. It wasn't something I did anymore because my school made me. It became something I realized I enjoyed doing anyway, and school gave me a “boost,” so to speak. Now I come to serve because I know my faith is rooted in service; because I know the value of helping others; and I know that the school is not imposing service on me by turning it into a classroom, but providing me with the opportunity to practice being. First, my understanding of the place of service in my life has changed. I used to see service as something I do now, something that has a beginning and an end. What I have realized is the importance of service to me. I will never stop serving. As I enter the next phase of my life, I know that I want to continue to serve, to continue to bring change to the communities around me. Another way I've changed is the way I work with other people. I often have this mindset that I don't need help, I can only provide help and not receive it. Working at Cass helped change that. I learned to appreciate the importance of my friends helping me with a task. I enjoy the company of other volunteers who help teach me things. Nikki was very kind to me and the rest of the U of D crew. Matt taught me a lot about food preparation. All of these people have played a role in making me a better acceptor of help. Their kindness and willingness to help me made me realize that people want to help if I just let Him call us to do as He did. Every time I go to senior service, I feel a warmth inside me because I am literally doing what God has commanded all of us to do. There are many small acts in my day that also symbolize what God wants me to do, but Senior Service is different. It's almost like when I walk in and see a big sign that says "Welcome to do what God said to do"! And everything I do at Cass reflects my connection with God. Service became not a matter of pleasing myself – doing it because it felt good – but of fulfilling God's call to serve. By doing so, I get that good feeling. Now, when I am asked why I serve, the answer is not “because I want to” or “because it makes me feel good,” but rather “because it is what God has called me to do.” What I like about Cass Community is the comfort level I have achieved with the people I work with. We can joke with each other, give each other advice and help each other easily. I like how they weren't strict about arrival time nor our attire. They gave us tasks, so we felt somewhat more independent. They were interested in our lives and who we were. I like the fact that we work with food every week, which I like. I work with food for my job at the zoo, and doing it to Cass makes me feel very good