Best friends through their college years at Eastern Mennonite University, Joel Daly and Bess Steury spent the fall semester of 2002 at Washington Community Scholars’ Center in Washington D.C. Joel interned at Rhythm & Blues Foundation, where he struggled mightily with Excel spreadsheets. Bess was at the Latin American Youth Center. They lived with “eight other crazy people” at the original “This Old House” on South Dakota Avenue, Joel said.
Joel and Bess, who were both dating other people during that semester, eventually married in 2007. (Director Kimberly Schmidt isn’t exactly keeping a list, but she guesses at least 10 couples have shared a WCSC experience.)
The Dalys have three kids and live in Indiana. Joel, general manager at Veada Industries, is so good with Excel spreadsheets now that he estimates he could do “the entire semester’s work in about three hours.”
It’s a good enough story to stop right there and begin to spread the news about the Oct. 22 40th anniversary celebration of the Washington Community Scholars’ Center (WCSC), known formerly as the Washington Study-Service Year (WSSY). With 747 participants since the program’s inception in 1976, WCSC/WSSY is the university’s longest running cross-cultural program.
Mark your calendar
Alumni, families and supporters are invited to celebrate the program’s growing legacy. Visitors are welcome at any or all portions of the Oct. 22 celebration, which begins at 1 p.m. at the Nelson Good House with a reception and tours. At 2 p.m., directors and EMU representatives will welcome guests and offer a program update.
At 3 p.m., staff members will lead a Brookland neighborhood walking tour.
From 5-7 p.m., Capital Area Food Bank hosts a catered dinner and open mic event. The food bank, located at 4900 Puerto Rico Ave. NE, has been a “long-term, reliable partner for internship placement,” says Kelsey Kauffman, WCSC associate director.
But, wait…there’s more
With 747 participants, some of whom married each other, there is bound to be a wealth of stories to share. So of course we must hear the rest from Joel Daly.
In the house that semester was Deborah Good, daughter of WSSY founder Nelson Good, who directed the program until 1987. Nelson Good would pass away in 2005, just after the fruits of his long labors resulted in helping to secure a new, renovated location for the program in the Brookland neighborhood.
It was to that Brookland house that Bess’s sister, Brenna Steury, came for her semester-long experience. As a high school senior, she had visited her sister (and her eventual brother-in-law) at South Dakota Avenue, sized up the situation and decided it looked like fun.
Stories like that of Joel ’03 and his wife, Bess Steury ’03 Daly, and her sister, Brenna Steury ’07 Graber, are common in the WSSY/WCSC annals, which is exactly why Schmidt is excited to spread the word about the anniversary event.
“The program has made a great impact on our graduates, on the EMU community and here in Washington D.C.,” Schmidt said. “We’re looking forward to hearing more about the lives of our alumni and where the WCSC experience led them.”
Started just a year after the end of the Vietnam War, the WSSY program focused on service in an urban environment, Schmidt said, noting that historic legacy is a part of the program’s current identity. “Today’s students have professional aspirations and are looking to this program not so much for service opportunities but to gain professional skills and to be ready for the job market. Yet through our classes, the majority of our internships, and the context of the city, we keep the spirit and mission of the original purpose very much alive today.”
Donate to the WCSC scholarship fund
The event also coincides with a campaign for the WCSC 40th Anniversary Endowed Scholarship Fund. A goal of $100,000 has been set. The fund will help students with significant financial need to reduce room and board costs, and enable them to attend the program.
Those who most benefit from the fund include commuter students, first-generation college students, students of color and non-traditional students.
Schmidt cited two recent instances where commuter students struggled to pay the extra expense of room and board at WCSC and missed the chance to intern with organizations specific to their career interests in teaching English language learners and working in immigration law.
“A percentage of our students balance family commitments and full-time work while they attend EMU,” said Schmidt. “The requirement to live and learn in a cross-cultural environment can be a challenge for these students, but this distinctive cross-cultural program offers a more convenient, life-changing experience that is rich in both service-learning opportunity and professional development.”
To learn more
For more information on the impact of WSSY and WCSC, check out the following articles:
- Read a 2001 Weather Vane article about the program’s name change, written by Kevin Docherty ’05.
- This article by Andrew Jenner ’04 covers the history of the WCSC program, EMU’s longest running cross-cultural. It covers the beginnings of the program, the inspiring leadership of Nelson Good ’68 and the impacts on several graduates.
- In August 2015, the program celebrated 10 years at the Nelson Good House in Brookland.
- Read Long After I’m Gone – A Father-Daughter Memoir (Cascadia Publishing House, 2009) by Deborah Good ’02 with WCSC founder Nelson Good ‘68.