Hello, my name is Sarah Hirschmann, and today I want to take you all on a trip around the world. A trip to figure out what it means to live out the Jesuit and Mercy values that we always hear about at the University of Detroit Mercy. But what do these values actually mean? And what do they look like when they are being lived out?

This trip is going to start far away, and end here in our home town. I believe that storytelling is one of the most powerful ways to communicate, so here are some stories that taught me some of the most important life lessons I will ever learn, and what it really means to live out the Jesuit and Mercy values.

First, what does it mean to be a servant leader? I am going to take you to Geele Beach, Haiti. Now, I want you all to imagine you are in Haiti. If you have never been there before, close your eyes and picture what I describe: A blanket of heat is on you, but it feels wet because of the droplets of sweat dripping from your body. You haven't felt clean for days; you have no running water, and with all the bug spray you have to put on to stay away from the mosquitoes so you don't get chikungunya, you feel sticky. You walk into the community center and are immediately greeted with a hug and a huge, white smile. You swing the little girl around and set her down so you can get out the snacks you brought her. You give her a bag of Cheetos from your backpack and the first thing she does is offer you some. Then, she goes and offers her little sister some. Then her friends. Now, this may seem like a small act of service, but I want you to remember where we are. We are in Haiti, at a community center surrounded by a slum. This little girl is 5 years old, and if she is lucky she eats 1 meal a day. Before this hungry little girl ate the food you brought her, she offered you some, her sister some, and her friends some. Before this 5 year old hungry child ate free food, she went to her community and offered them some first. She got nothing out of this act of service; there was no one to reward her. That is what servant leadership looks like.

Next, I want to know what it means to live a life full of faith. Now I don't just mean faith in God--I mean faith in yourself, faith in humanity, and faith in the future. So, I am going to take you to one of my favorite places in the world. Imagine you are in Nairobi, Kenya, in Kibera, which is the biggest slum of Africa. You are walking through the slum on your way to school, and you see children laying in the street naked, clearly malnourished and sick—many infected with malaria. You see some with their ribs sticking out so vividly you can barely look; kids with their stomachs extended due to starvation; or children with sores all over their bodies and bugs in the wounds. You are overwhelmed by the poverty and living conditions. You're trying to comprehend why you can't just pick up these children and feed them and bring them to a hospital. It's only 7:30 AM, and you are not sure how much of this you can handle. Then, you get to the school. You walk into a classroom the size of one of the bathrooms here in Calihan with 50 smiling students inside. You wonder how they could be smiling. The program coordinator says that they are about to have worship for the morning. Then one student in the class stood up with a bible, read some scripture, and then the whole class stood up singing and dancing praise. A class of 50 students--at least half who have lost a parents, at least 75 percent who are hungry and 100 percent who live in the slum--are singing at the top of their lungs praise for God. These students had faith that they had a way out through education; they had faith in a God bigger than the struggles they were going through; they had faith in each other and their ability to push each other to be their best. That is what faith looks like.

Lastly, I want to know what kindness looks like. I have recently done my student teaching at an elementary school nearby, and the motto of the school was to always be kind. It's simple, yet so profound. Some of the kindest people I have met during my time at Detroit Mercy were those who have the least and were going through the worst. The most grateful people were always the kindest to me and to others. I have had the privilege to volunteer at a variety of different places in Detroit. Through these experiences, I have been shown kindness by more people than I have been able to show kindness to. Now, imagine you are at a soup kitchen downtown Detroit. You started volunteering every week, and learning the names of the friends you were serving. It is incredible to be able to build relationships with the other people there. You go around and talk to your friends after you serve them food. They look exhausted, cold, and tired, but when you ask them how they are they say blessed. Then, they ask you about how your soccer game against Milwaukee went last week. They ask how your teammate with the torn ACL is doing. They show you kindness even on their worst days. You continue on, astonished by the kindness you are receiving, and you ask if people are done and collect their plates. Then, one of the people you are serving starts helping you collect the plates and garbage too. This exhausted man starts to help you serve. This was the time of the day where the people who were experiencing homelessness or were out of a job could be warm and relaxed, yet they were up on their feet being kind to me when I was there to be kind to them. They taught me that to be kind means just showing up every day and being present. It's easy to be kind on the good days, but living a life full of kindness is being kind on the bad ones too. The little things you do to be kind are the little things that make big changes in the world. That is what kindness looks like.

When I think of what it means to live out the Jesuit and Mercy values, I think to sum it up I would say to serve and lead in communities, to live by faith, and to always be kind. I am so grateful for the way this school has given me the opportunities I have had and the way they have shown me what it means to live a life with a full heart. I have been all over the world, and Detroit is so special for so many reasons. I have been and will always be drawn back to this place. Thank you for making my experience here amazing. The biggest hope I have for everyone here is to continue to live a life of servant leadership, faith, and kindness.