{"id":25106,"date":"2015-08-17T15:21:33","date_gmt":"2015-08-17T19:21:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=25106"},"modified":"2016-07-19T11:15:10","modified_gmt":"2016-07-19T15:15:10","slug":"washington-community-scholars-center-celebrates-10-years-at-the-nelson-good-house-in-brookland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2015\/washington-community-scholars-center-celebrates-10-years-at-the-nelson-good-house-in-brookland\/","title":{"rendered":"Washington Community Scholars’ Center celebrates 10 years at the Nelson Good House in Brookland"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Brookland neighborhood in Washington D.C. got a little noisier \u2014 at least for a few minutes\u00a0\u2014 this week when Washington Community Scholars’ Center<\/a> (WCSC) director Kimberly Schmidt<\/a> gathered with assistant director of communications Erica Grasse <\/a>and associate director of program admissions Kelsey Kauffman<\/a> to blow party horns on the front steps of the Nelson Good House<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The celebration is small but significant: Ten years ago this week, on Thursday to be exact, WCSC officially moved from cramped quarters at the much-beloved, but run-down \u201cThis Old House\u201d to the spacious renovated brick three-story building on Taylor Avenue. (The house was not quite ready for immediate occupancy; the first group of students moved in January of 2006).<\/p>\n

The noisemakers and party hats are only a precursor to next year\u2019s 40th anniversary celebration, said Schmidt, a professor of history who can\u2019t resist offering some historical context for the only urban studies program offered through an Anabaptist-affiliated college or university<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cEastern Mennonite University\u2019s D.C. program started in 1976,\u201d she added. \u201cThat\u2019s one year after the Vietnam War ended and two years after Nixon resigned. A lot has changed, but a lot has stayed the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

Servant leadership part of program vision<\/h3>\n

One thing that hasn\u2019t changed for EMU\u2019s longest-running cross-cultural program is its unwavering commitment to teaching about servant leadership and social justice, as epitomized by its first director and the building\u2019s namesake, Nelson Good.<\/p>\n

Good, who first came to Washington D.C. as a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War, founded and directed the Washington Study Service Year (WSSY) until his retirement in 1986. As a member of the advisory council, he offered mentorship through programmatic changes in 2002 \u2013 reflected in the name-change to Washington Community Scholar\u2019s Center \u2013 and then spearheaded the search for a new and larger facility that was closer to public transportation and academic institutions (EMU students at that time attended classes at Catholic University of America and Howard University).<\/p>\n

\u201cThis Old House\u201d had been used for decades previously by Mennonite service agencies, but despite the nostalgic connections, it was clearly time to move elsewhere: zoning restrictions prevented any upgrades or expansions and the house was not handicapped-accessible.<\/p>\n

Good reconnoitered the city, knocked on doors, interviewed prospective sellers, and eventually talked one couple into letting their property go at a reasonable price. The months-long renovation process included \u201ca lot of sweat equity,\u201d Schmidt said, as well as a sizable financial commitment from EMU. Additionally, WCSC alumni and other donors contributed more than $100,000 toward the renovation costs.<\/p>\n

When the well-wishers gathered to celebrate Aug. 20, 2005, the afternoon blessing and celebration included speeches, music, remembrances of alumni, and a tribute to Good, who had passed way from cancer just months before. His daughter Deborah, a WSCS participant in 2002, shared a poem, and alumni and friends were also invited to plant a butterfly garden in the backyard.<\/p>\n

That garden continues to flourish, Schmidt says. \u201cIt\u2019s a beautiful space. The students use it for barbecues and reading a book and just hanging out. If you look in the garden, it\u2019s clearly a place where college students are, and I mean that in a good way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Experiencing life in an urban environment<\/h3>\n
\"Nelson-Good-Jay-Good_opt\"<\/a>
Nelson and contractor Jay Good at the newly purchased building for WCSC, not long before Nelson\u2019s death of cancer in 2005.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If the garden has been obviously staked out by college students \u2013 who come from EMU, Goshen College, Bluffton University, and most recently, through a new articulation agreement with Regis University in Colorado \u2013 the three-story brick apartment building, Schmidt says, is quietly innocuous, also in a good way.<\/p>\n

Students experience life in a predominately African-American neighborhood with a growing population of foreign-born residents and a Catholic presence (friars-in-training from the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in America regularly walk by). The \u201cquietly trending\u201d neighborhood<\/a> sits between three academic institutions: Catholic American University (CUA), Trinity Washington University and Howard University Divinity School. The CUA\/Brooklands metro station bisects the neighborhood and its urban attractions: several restaurants, a coffee-slash-bike shop called The Bike Rack<\/a>; the mixed-use Monroe Street Market<\/a>, featuring a thriving studio arts scene with regular music and dance events; a Barnes and Noble; and a few places to find that staple of college life: pizza.<\/p>\n

The modern design of the Good House was a perfect and restful complement to the urban experience, says Emily Blake, who lived there that first spring semester and later was assistant director from 2008-2012. \u201cThe city can be this crazy collage of interactions and weird and wonderful sights. It’s nice to come home to a place that’s simple and beautiful, and filled with people who know you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fellow WSCS participant Aerlande Wontamo remembers the house that spring was \u201cnew, clean and perfect.\u201d She has fond memories of dinners in the common area, walking to and from the metro, and being befriended by local bus drivers. Wontamo took classes at Howard University and worked with the Ethiopian Community Development Council in Arlington, a connection which years later led her to her current position as senior resettlement manager for Lutheran Social Services. She\u2019s lived in the D.C. metro area for about eight years, a decision she traces back to the positive experience of living in the Nelson Good House.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo many lives continue to be transformed by EMU\u2019s commitment to the WCSC program. This house is the place where that happens, and we honor Nelson Good\u2019s memory by helping students make more memories,\u201d Schmidt said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Brookland neighborhood in Washington D.C. got a little noisier \u2014 at least for a few minutes\u00a0\u2014 this week when Washington Community Scholars’ Center (WCSC) director Kimberly Schmidt gathered with ... read more about Washington Community Scholars’ Center celebrates 10 years at the Nelson Good House in Brookland<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25108,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[266,5593,12632],"tags":[16984,6795,16983,16967,5944,16715,9278,8504,16963],"feature":[],"class_list":["post-25106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-intercultural","category-wcsc","tag-deborah-good","tag-diversity","tag-emily-blake","tag-erica-grasse","tag-giving","tag-kelsey-kauffman","tag-kimberly-schmidt","tag-nelson-good","tag-nelson-good-house"],"yoast_head":"\nWashington Community Scholars' Center celebrates 10 years at the Nelson Good House in Brookland - 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