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Mary Maidment: Service

Hi! My name is Mary Maidment and I am from Portland, Oregon. I am studying neuroscience with a minor in psychology on the pre-med track. On campus, I work as an events assistant and as an Ambassador, frequently giving tours. When I have free time, I love to be outside hiking, shopping, intramural sports, workout classes, and spending time with friends. This year, my team won our softball and volleyball intramural championships!! I have been busy watching the new Secret Lives of Mormon Wives season and just finished Scandal. What drew me to Setons was the Service pillar. Since I was young, my family has made an effort to be actively involved in different forms of service in our community. We spent time at our church, local food bank, community garden, and my favorite was making clothing bags for children in need. I loved picking outfits and giving toys, games, and other activities. The Gonzaga community reflects this deeply ingrained value I have, which is the importance of service and ...
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Service Reflection: Ian Staeheli


Lance the Laborer 
I’ve always considered myself a very hard worker. No matter how tedious the task, or how miserable it made me, I did it because I knew it was necessary if I wanted to make my goals a reality. It wasn’t until last Friday that I realized how horrible a mentality this is.

My mentee Lance works at the Pepsi bottling factory in downtown Spokane. He works with several other Artisan clients under a sight supervisor. His shift is right after our scheduled time together on Fridays, and every Friday at ten minutes to four Lance gets very anxious. Last week when I noticed him pacing and staring at the clock I asked him what was up. He replied that, he “had to be on time for work.” I asked him if he would get in trouble if he was late and he said no, but he didn’t want to be late. I pestered him with questions about his work for the next ten minutes and what he told me really got me thinking.

Lance’s job at the Pepsi factory is to check that the bottles are properly sealed for hours at a time, which to me seemed extremely tedious, but not to Lance. Lance knows how to do what is called resting in the tension. He loves difficult word games, puzzles, and other things that some people find tedious. He embraces challenges and takes pleasure in working hard even if the task is difficult or frustrating.

So this week what I took away from my time with Lance is a new mentality to develop in my own work life. The ability to not just tolerate the struggles in my daily life, but to enjoy struggling; to rest in the tension.

-Ian Staeheli
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