2012 Football season!

Hey I just got my tickets in the mail and I was wondering what games everyone is going to?

I'm going to:
Purdue (9/8)
Michigan (9/22)
Stanford (10/13)

I'll also be around for the Miami game in Chicago on October 6th but I don't have tickets to the game.

Jon "I don't really know how I'll feel going back" Miller

A Final Summer at ND

Hey everyone!

I've really enjoyed hearing about what all of you have been up to this summer! I guess its about time I contribute as well, though my summer is not nearly as exciting as many of yours. 

On June 12, I headed back to Notre Dame to work as a "Master Mentor" for the ND Vision program. In case you guys aren't familiar with the program, Vision is basically 4 week-long retreats for high school students from all over the country (about 350 kids a week). There's lots of singing and being generally goofy but also some really awesome keynote presentations and witness talks given by the college mentors. As mentors, our main job is to lead small groups of 8 or 9 kids. The small groups meet 8 times over the course of the week to discuss the big group activities and basically to give the kids to opportunity to talk about their faith and their own lives in a safe and judgement-free setting. (The difference between Master Mentors and regular Mentors is that it is the Master Mentors' second time working for Vision and we also lead discussion groups for the Mentors to decompress at the end of the week). 

The job sounds simple enough, sit and listen to high school kids talk about themselves. I think the best way I've ever heard the job described though is that it is the most physically and emotionally exhausting experience, but the most spiritually fulfilling. Its physically exhausting because you don't get a whole lot of sleep. We were basically on duty from the moment the kids get there until the moment they leave, serving as RAs as well as counselors. I found the emotional exhaustion to come from hearing kids talk about the really difficult aspects of their lives, eating disorders, cutting, abuse etc., and knowing there is very little that you can do to fix it because once they go home, you can't help anymore. 

So now it sounds depressing. Why do it twice? Any answer that I have will sound incredibly cheesy but I'll try anyway. There's something about seeing the turnaround at some point during the week. Sometimes its the kids who's parents made them come finally deciding to sing along. Sometimes its the quiet kid in the group opening up and talking. Sometimes its seeing a group of complete strangers become friends in just a week. Sometimes the turnaround comes weeks or months later, when you get an email from a kid who was unresponsive or unpleasant for the entire week but who finally started processing everything that they had heard that week.

On Friday mornings, just before the kids leave, the small groups have affirmation sessions. Basically, each member of the small group writes letters to every other group member saying the gifts they saw in them that week and their hopes for each other. Then, they take turns reading them to each other. I'm sure this sounds ridiculous, but for high school students who spend so much time dwelling on their negative qualities, the compliments they receive in these sessions mean a lot and it is often the most emotional part of the week. Its also often the most rewarding to witness. 

Aside from the actual work part of the summer, we had a few other adventures. The first was the opening staff retreat, which was held at a high ropes course. The highlight of the day was climbing and jumping off of what is basically a 30-foot telephone pole while your team holds the safety cables.

The next adventure was our break week trip. The week of the 4th of July, 17 of the mentors went down to Columbus, OH to stay at our friend Mike's house. Luckily, he is one of 11 so his parents weren't too overwhelmed by the number of kids staying at their house. We took day trips to go hiking in the state park (see below) as well as Cedar Point, narrowly escaped the beginning of a gang fight in downtown Columbus after the fireworks and spent a lot of time relaxing and jamming around the fire pit.

Finally, the weekend between the third and fourth sessions brought 2 adventures: Vision Olympics and Vision Prom Proposals. Vision Olympics involves splitting the mentors into 6 teams, each captain by a master mentor, and competing in events like the Opening Skit, Scavenger Hunt, Facebook Stalking Challenge and Relay Races. I am proud to say that my team, the Sunburned Penguins placed in every event but one (there was no all-around winner). Vision Prom is an event that happens on Saturday after week 4. The weekend before week 4, all of the guys draw names out of a hat for their date. They then have to come up with a creative way to ask said girl before Saturday without letting the kids know what is going on. I've included a picture of my proposal, which happened during the Opening Skit of the Olympics.

So after an amazing 6 weeks of meeting new people (and hanging out with awesome old friends like Sammy, Jake and Paul K. (who is in Keough next year, by the way)), spending time with some cool high school kids and generally being goofy, I bid a much-procrastinated farewell to Notre Dame. I am now at home with an awkward amount of time to kill before I move to Chicago on September 10. 

(Wow, I guess I had a lot to say about my not-so-interesting summer haha).

I hope you all continue to have amazing adventures and I look forward to seeing all of you sometime in the not-too-distant future!