Rebecca Voth BA 2018
I begin each campus tour that I give to prospective students with an overview of the city of Waco. I spend a few minutes hitting the highlights, attempting to convince visitors that this small town is not as bad as it might seem. However, this year has changed my perspective on the city, and for the first time, I feel like a citizen of Waco.
As a junior at Baylor, I have grown to feel like a valued and important part of the Baylor community. The friendships I have formed and experiences I have had here make Baylor a place that will always feel a lot like home. However, until this year, I did not feel like I was truly part of the Waco community. For the past three years, Waco has seemed like more of a place in which Baylor exists rather than a networked community. Even though I have served both in my church and with Baylor’s urban missions group for the duration of my time here so far, I never truly felt like I was an important member of this town. I have always known that I would be here for 4 years and then go off into the world, and there seemed to be little point in trying to make any lasting impact on this city.
This semester, however, after receiving a crash course on non-profits in the area, I can understand the enchantment of this city, and how it is more than just a small town between Dallas and Austin. With each site visit, I felt a little closer to the wonderful citizens who make up this community. I met philanthropists, CEOs, trauma victims and families who all contribute to the wonderful and caring environment of this city. As we, a group of young students with next to zero knowledge of how the philanthropic world works, were welcomed into the doors of the organizations that make a real and tangible difference in the community, my pride in the city increased. I felt valued by the community in a new way.
It was not simply because of the financial power we had to impact organizations, however. The process of learning about all of the incredible causes that are running in Waco, and the wonderful and strong leaders behind them taught me so much about my community. After going through this process, I am proud of my community for all it is doing. My community is changing lives for the better, and I could not be more proud to be a citizen of Waco.