Essay On Vernon Hill Life

Vernon Hill, a poverty-stricken neighborhood in Worcester, MA, with its abandoned, worn-down tenements, boarded windows, and graphite signs initially intimidated me. I rode with ease in my parents’ Suburban to Worcester Academy, atop Vernon Hill, for lacrosse practices, but once I stepped off campus, I was nervous walking around and daunted by the decrepit surroundings. I had grown up in a bubble of privilege and was unfamiliar with the drastic inequities between my lacrosse team and the children who live in this impoverished community.
As the child of professional parents, I, somewhat embarrassingly, never recognized the fortunes I took for granted in my daily surroundings and private school. Instead, I chose a path of least resistance, never challenging myself to truly make the most of opportunities. I took comfort in my insulated world of sports and friends from similar social and economic backgrounds.
When my sister asked me to accompany her to Ascension, an after-school enrichment program founded by St. John’s Parish for the children of Vernon Hill, I was scared, unsure and wondered what I
John’s High School, the Xaverian Brothers’ mission to use one’s education to help others was an abstract concept and Vernon Hill was simply a low-income neighborhood that I drove through to get to lacrosse practice. I, admittedly, volunteered at Ascension to fulfill community service requirements. Now, as I prepare to graduate, the Catholic philosophy is no longer just words, the neighborhood is not just city squalor, and Rash is not just the boy I tutor. My afternoons mentoring Rash have been transformative. I have not been able to radically alter the stark realities of Rash’s circumstances, but I brought some joy and a glimpse of brighter future possibilities beyond the constraints of Vernon Hill. The initial service obligation flourished into the equally beneficial, life-changing opportunity to make a difference not only for Rash-Angel but for