Four Years of Service

Diana López Negrete has been involved in volunteering at Carleton for the past four years, working with the ACT (Acting in the Community Together) Center in various capacities. Since her freshman year Diana has been involved in many different programs, including WomenCircle and Sundays at Clare House. For the past two years she has worked as an ACT student coordinator. Kelen Tuttle ’04 had the opportunity to interview Diana just before graduation.

Let’s start at the very beginning—four years ago, your freshman year. How did you first become involved in volunteering at Carleton?

Even before my freshman year started, I went on a pre-frosh service trip to the Twin Cities. I knew that I really wanted to do a pre-frosh trip, and this seemed like a neat way to meet new people and have a chance to do some community service. I really enjoyed the trip—we did a lot of really great and varied volunteer work including spending time at Clare House, an AIDS hospice in St. Paul. We also cleaned up at the Minnesota State Fair, and did some organic gardening. When classes began, I realized that I wanted to stay involved in these activities. I liked working at Clare House and I remembered that a woman I had worked with there had said that volunteers often come and cook dinner for the residents of the house. With one of the leaders of my pre-frosh trip I started going to Clare House on Sundays to cook, going as many times as I could. What I really like about the program at Clare House is that it is so outside of the Carleton bubble and the Carleton sphere. I really enjoy being out of my element and this program has done that for me. It’s been a really great experience.

What other programs have you had the opportunity to work with?

In the spring of my freshman year I got involved in a program called WomenCircle. It’s a group of Carleton students that work with middle school girls in social afterschool activities. We sometimes have discussions or do activities like make photo albums. This program is really exciting. I’ve met both amazing college and middle school girls. There are middle schoolers that just blow your mind with how intelligent they are. They can be so mature at times. My sophomore year I took a leadership role in the ACT office, working as program director for Sundays at Clare House and also doing WomenCircle. I’ve been working for both programs ever since.

Do you have a favorite memory from your time volunteering through Carleton?

That’s a hard question to answer—I have so many great memories from the past four years. A recent memory I have is from a Sunday a few weeks ago I went to volunteer at Clare House. It happened to be the day of the AIDS walk in Minneapolis, so I had the chance to join in on the walk before I went to Clare House that evening. When I got there to help cook dinner, one of the members of the house asked me to push him in his wheelchair if I went on the walk next year. It’s things like that, that you don’t even realize, that make me keep coming back. If I had even thought about it, I would have taken him this year. But it’s things like that that I’ve gotten to experience through these programs that I’ll remember for the rest of my life. I’m very sad that I can’t be there next year to walk with him.

Are you planning to continue this level of volunteer work after you leave Carleton?

Definitely. I love volunteering. I think volunteering is fun, hard and rewarding. I would love to continue doing it after I graduate from college. Now that it’s time to leave Carleton I get a little sad about leaving campus for good, but I’m also really sad about leaving my programs. I’ve been working at the ACT Center for the past two years as a program director liaison, which means that I am a contact person for the directors of all the various programs we facilitate. I’ve really enjoyed that a lot too. I’ve really grown so attached to my programs; they’re something I’ve really enjoyed doing for the past four years. I wish I could continue working with them. After being involved in these programs for four years it’s really become part of my life.