Everything happens for a reason. It's a phrase that my Dad has told me for as long as I could remember. And I simply believed that this wisdom was true but it was not until I got a little older and was able to reflect back on things that have happened in my life that I could truly begin to understand this phrase to be true. Whenever things in my life haven't turned out how I wanted them to, I simply reminded myself (after I calmed down) that this is not God's will and whatever He was planned for me is much better than my original plan. Throughout my life, I believe there are so many signs that have prepared me to apply for this fellowship and my past experiences working with children with special needs has prepared me to work at St. Lucy's this summer. At my Jesuit high school, I found myself constantly gravitating toward any and all service that involved working with children with special needs and found so much joy as I was able to form real connections with the children I was working with. I believe that these experiences have solely motivated me to apply for this Fellowship.
My name is Hannah Cunning Valente and I'm currently a Junior at Providence College studying Theology and Health Policy & Management and this summer I will be traveling to Sydney, Australia to teach at St. Lucy's School. This experience is made possible by Providence College's Fr. Smith Fellowship program. I decided that I wanted to apply for a Smith Fellowship during my freshman year, and I would stalk past Smith Fellow blogs and marvel at the eloquent writing and would imagine what my own blog would look like. Hopefully if anyone who is considering applying for a Fellowship can be inspired by my blog as this was one of the main reasons that I was so gravitated toward the program.
I will not be traveling to Sydney until July 20th but in the coming weeks I will be updating this blog as I prepare to go down under!