Career Column: Chelsea Kapitan-Daniel

Editor's Note: Chelsea is a senior getting ready to graduate. Read about her plans, how SNC shaped her, and why she looks into the future with confidence.After graduating this May I am going to work with children and teenagers. I recently applied to work as an AmeriCorps volunteer for Admission Possible. I would be working one-on-one and in groups with teens in several different urban high schools in the city of Milwaukee, which is where I am from.

One of the high schools is actually my own, St. Joan Antida. In these very racially and religiously diverse high schools I would be preparing and coaching students for college in the areas of ACT/SAT preparation, FAFSA, and other types of financial aid, essay writing, the application process, and scholarships. After doing this for a year I would like to go to get a graduate degree for school or community counseling. If I do not get into this program I wish to work in Masaya, Nicaragua.

My family and I have lived and worked in several different villages in Nicaragua ever since my grandfather died in 2001. My mom goes there and teaches many of the women art therapy. Every time we go to Nicaragua, my dad and I team up with the Bridges' staff and another group of people from North America and build a house with a loving and generous family, as well as work with the teens and children in each community. If I get into this program I would devote two years to living and working in Nicaragua translating and leading groups to build houses each week. I would also be working with children, which is one of my strongest passions in life.

Nicaragua has completely changed who I am and how I think. It has taught me many things about how the world works and how there are so many inequalities and injustices that we must fight for in order to live in a just and peaceful world.

Since I started my college career I have been faced with many of these same kinds of experiences that have educated me and challenged me to step outside of my own bubble and truly experience the world around me.

My high school is known as the most racially diverse school in the Milwaukee area; I had friends from all across the spectrum, from Middle Eastern (Lebanon, Palestine, etc.) countries to African and Latin American countries. My friends and the cultures that I was exposed to shaped my personality of a very cultured and knowledgeable woman who loves all kinds of people no matter who they are or where they're from and who fights against inequalities and injustices every day.

When I came to St. Norbert it was quite a culture shock because, to me, the campus was so "white." I got homesick and felt like transferring because I was not being exposed to the culture and racial diversity as I had at my high school. But I fell in love with St. Norbert and became friends with many people, my first friends here were black and Latina. I wanted to find friends who were racially different from me because that is how I could feel better about my decision to come here.

After I met more people from my classes and organizations I felt a little more comfortable with the college community and was able to socialize a little more freely.

Since coming to St. Norbert College I have not only become more knowledgeable about many issues and social inequalities, but I have also become more confident in myself and my abilities to interact and communicate with people from all over the world.

Studying abroad in Spain gave me this confidence for holding dialogues with people who solely speak Spanish and learning about global issues such as immigration and genocide.

I know I will go far in my life because of the friends and professors I have met and who have inspired me to fight for peace and justice and to help people all over the world.