After finishing her year-long internship with us, Kathryn Zonghetti shares important lessons she learned while working in the volunteer service office. As a volunter coordinator, Kathryn was in charge of our service fulfillment program. She helped volunteers identify opportunities within St. Vincent de Paul and coordinated the details to ensure a good experience.
How did you get involved with St. Vincent de Paul?
I went to college at the University of Rhode Island, but I joined the Notre Dame Mission Volunteer Program, which was created in 1992 by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. In 1995, the sisters partnered with AmeriCorps to develop a program for students to participate in internships across the country. AmeriCorps is like a domestic version of the Peace Corps. Most of the internship opportunities were in low-income schools, but I was placed at St. Vincent de Paul. It worked out perfectly, because I am from Massachusetts and I always wanted to move across the country.
What will you miss from your time at St. Vincent de Paul?
I will miss being in constant communication with people. As a volunteer coordinator, I work with people all day. Since I managed the service fulfillment program, I got to work with people from very diverse backgrounds. I’ll miss the people I worked with and just being on campus, seeing all the smiling faces.
What is one important lesson you learned during your year-long internship?
I learned patience and gratitude. Although I love working with people, I learned that you have to be patient and able to handle difficult situations. Sometimes people cancel their volunteer commitment last-minute, or they don’t show up. Then we have to work very hard to fill in that gap. When you’re working with so many different people, you never know what’s going to happen, so patience is key.
I also learned to have a lot of gratitude. Being at St. Vincent de Paul makes you see how lucky you are to have the opportunities, friends and family you have. One last lesson is kindness. It’s amazing to see, when you treat others with kindness, just how far that goes.
Kathryn completed her internship at the end of July. She plans to travel the west coast with friends before heading back home to Massachusetts. Her dream is to one day own a business as corporate coach and motivational speaker. We wish her the best of luck!
