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ALUMNI PROFILE ADAM ’95 AND JESSY (BERRETTO) ’96 DONALDSON As the first Abbey alumni married couple, Jessy (Berretto ’96) and I (Adam Donaldson ’95) pay special attention to the many changes to the campus where two friends went to prom and re- turned fourteen years later with their first child. None of the new buildings are as exciting to us, however, as our perception of a renewed emphasis on community service. In fact, we would suggest that the 10-hour service requirement in Form IV be ap- plied to all students and faculty annually. We never would have said that as students. Jessy and I left the Abbey as admitted nerds, infused with a love of learning from faculty who challenged and guided us. We disappeared into books at a traditional liberal arts college that in many ways ex- tended the Abbey another four years. Partly to test the idea of teaching as a career, I volunteered at a rural public high school during my college senior year and post- graduation joined City Year Columbus, an AmeriCorps program focused on literacy and positive school climate. Following our pattern of doing things together, Jessy joined me as a volunteer to lead middle school students in service-learning activities each Saturday. There is an idea that you perform community service to make a difference in the lives of others. You teach a child or serve a meal at a soup kitchen as a pure act of charity. But we quickly realized the cliché that the child teaches you more and the meal feeds your understanding. Jessy and I were taught stark lessons about public systems and racism by the youth we aimed to men- tor in Columbus, and they expanded our own hearts like Seuss’s Grinch on Christmas morning. Over a period of six years, Jessy and I would serve in the Peace Corps (her idea), working with children in Uzbekistan and Ja- maica, and each complete graduate school service-learning fellowships that brought us to the streets of Baltimore City. I would work with the coalition that lobbied Congress to pass the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act and greatly expand federal support of volunteerism and programs like AmeriCorps. Jessy would work on a private foundation initiative to rebuild the neighborhood of Central City in New Orleans. In each instance, the difference made was in our lives. Living in Jamaica, we helped to integrate technology into rural schools and improve the sanitation and health education of pre-schools. We also had the humbling experience of being the only white people for miles. Adopted by a Jamaican great-grandmother who nicknamed me “Puppy,” we expanded our family to her family and then to the community. We found ourselves for the 40 th anniversary of the Peace Corps leading more than 30 Peace Corps Volunteers, dignitaries, and twice as many Jamai- can neighbors in a one day service project to improve our local elementary school building and grounds. Sargent Shriver, who founded the Peace Corps, said in a speech at his alma mater: “Break your mirrors!! Yes – shatter the glass. In our society that is so self-absorbed, begin to look less at yourself and more at each other. Learn more about the face of your neighbor and less about yourself. “ We believe there is nothing more self-interested than following his advice. And once you do ten hours of community service, you will want to complete thousands. Top left: Jessy (Berretto ’96) on her last visit to Bethlehem Basic School in Ew- arton, Jamaica. Above: Adam (Donaldson ’95) with his charges in the Polly Ground Primary School yard, St. Catherine Parish, Jamaica. Jessy and Adam worked as Peace Corps volunteers in Jamaica and Uzbekistan.
