Slide 1: Topic

Hi, my name is Omar Zahra. I am a senior on the verge of graduating Loyola University Chicago

with a B.S in biochemistry. And today I am going to talk to you about Misericordia’s Fitness and

Pool Center through the lens of an Intern.

Slide 2 : Introduction

The Social Justice Internship (SJI) is a year-long experience where 13 students are placed in local

Chicago area non-profits. These include Misericordia, Catholic Charities, ONE Northside, and

Girl forward. We met once every few weeks in a classroom setting to discuss community

building, leadership, and various forms of reflection.

Slide 3: Misericordia

An organization that cares for persons with mild to profound developmental disabilities

including many whom are also physically challenged.31-acre campus home to over 600 children

and adults .Contains many centers including the Aquatic and Moore Fitness Center, a Chapel, a

bakery, a basketball court, a greenhouse, and much more.

Slide 4: Learning Objectives

The first objective I set forth for myself was to be able to properly assess and run the Fitness

Center on my own. The main Fitness center included a room with treadmill machines, bikes,

weights, and many other things. The main role of running the fitness center is to be able to take

down the attendance of every resident who walked in, assist residents who need help getting

on the machines, and to keep an eye on everyone to make sure they are all safe.
The second objective was to try to get to know more about the residents and create

friendships with them. Every resident at Misericordia is assigned a special time and day when

they are supposed to come to the Fitness Center. For the most part they adhere to this and so it

is my duty to be able to recognize which residents are coming every week and those who are

not. I am also to try to build my friendship with the residents while working out because who

does not love a good old work out buddy when heading to the gym.

Lastly, I wanted to learn how to integrate the various skills and activities throughout my

interaction with the residents. This dealt with mainly my Sit and Be Fit program which I will get

into later on this presentation. I want to be able to use the skills I have learned throughout in

team building and engagement in order to make the Sit and Be fit programming more

interactive and to have the participation of everyone.

Slide 5: The fitness center

The very first day I was tossed into the Fitness Center without knowing any of the machines or

any of the residents and I was told to help someone out. I took his clipboard to see what

weights he was going to use and he guided me throughout the whole process. I was completely

moved by how the resident was able to understand and comprehend what they had to be

doing throughout the fitness room. I was instantly welcomed to the community at Misericordia.

My main role consisted of interacting with the residents inside and outside of the fitness room.

To them I was a strange at first, but my job was to become a familiar. It wasn’t easy at first to

try to get to know some of the residents, but it became easier as time went on.
One way I achieved this was by knowing how to maintain a nice and consistent flow of lively

music.

Slide 6: Music

It took me a while to get the hand of the different types of music that the residents were fond

of but eventually I did. One of the hardest was when the residents only knew a key phrase or

short sentence and I had to figure out what the song was. This was indeed a test of my

perseverance and how long I was going to be able to last in a game of Trial and error.

I quickly found out that most of the residents I was in contact with had a taste for 80s and so

that was always my go to move. Eventually I tried to incorporate a little bit of my taste of music

and if the residents were ok with it then I would continue to play it. The moment someone

wanted me to change the song I did so.

Slide 7: The outside seating

This was a favorite spot for many residents whenever they first stepped foot into the facility. At

first, I thought that these residents were only going to rest here for a little bit before they come

inside the actual fitness room. However, I quickly realized that the moment someone sat down I

should be prepared to have to motivate them to come inside. Just like any of us going to

workout may not be the best part of our daily routine and so it was important for me to

understand this when trying to motivate others to workout. I had to know what they did not

like specifically about workout out and what I can do to make this part of their day a little

better. Whenever residents finished working out, they would also sit hear waiting for someone

to take them back home. This was both of our favorite part of the day because I knew that once
the resident has completed their task inside and asked me to give them their ticket to show

completion that they were indeed exhausted.

Slide 8: Answering the doorbell

Another aspect of my role in the fitness center was to greet people. This was by far One of the

most rewarding aspects of my internship. Whenever the doorbell rang, I had to jump and

answer it. Being in Chicago most of the year was windy and cold and so I had to answer the

door as quickly as possible. Because we were connected to the overall larger building at

Misericordia a lot of residents would come through the Fitness and Pool Center.

With every door that I opened I would be greeted by a warm and welcoming smile. Some were

just passing through to another part of the building and others were coming to begin their

routine. Both types of residents eventually became regulars even if we never actually

interacted more than a mere hello and passing of kind words.

Slide 9: Sit and be fit program

A major aspect of my internship was a program called “Sit and Be Fit”.

The idea of this program is to visit various houses and to interact with the residents. I would

visit a total of 3-4 houses per week and they were the same houses every time. The activities

included games like catch, bowling, bingo, bean bag throw, or others. Throughout this one hour

for each house my main goal was to bring a smile to the faces. Sometimes when I step foot into

the resident home some may be watching their favorite batman scene, others would be
listening to their favorite soundtrack of The Beatles, and others would just be waiting for me to

arrive.

Slide 10: Getting residents to gage

The hardest and most rewarding part was getting the residents to play with me.

The program was scheduled usually during the nighttime so many patients were ready to go to

bed. One reason that they were still awake was because they still had not taken their

medications and they knew that they needed to get their medications before they slept. This

was my main shot and grabbing the residents and the staff were always insisting I do so.

However, they best way to attract the residents was the moment I started playing the music.

The moment my speaker was turned on it was as if the entire house had been awakened.

Everyone wanted to know what was going on and what the special occasion was. And every

time it turned out to be my Sit and Be Fit Session.

Slide 11: Reflections

The last portion of my presentation is going to focus on my reflections throughout the year. The

one thing I can look back at with great confidence were my weekly checkups. Checking up with

the residents on a weekly basis and getting to know how they are maneuvering their daily lives

was a necessity for my role as an intern. I obviously had to deal with all of the logistics of

running the Fitness center but more importantly I had to be available as a friend.

Most residents I would see on a weekly basis both in the Sit and Be Fit Programming or in the

Recreational room. and eventually the residents came to know when exactly I would be
interning. After only a couple weeks I had realized that certain residents were interested to

know what days I would be coming in and how my day has been. These were the moments I

cherished and Not only were they looking forward to seeing me but so was I.

Slide 12: Lessons to Learn

This was my first time dealing with this population and I came in with certain assumptions. I had

never been accustomed to working let alone being responsible for others. By the end of my

internship those assumptions were completely turned upside down. I was always taught to

never judge a book by its cover and Misericordia was no exception. The people I created bonds

with and relationships with are going to last a lifetime. I had not realized how valuable and

treasured Misericordia’s residents were until I started working with them.

Slide 13: Rewards

One of the most rewarding aspect of my internship was to able to build on my leadership skills

in team building. Most of the time throughout the “Sit and Be Fit” programming I would have

about two other volunteers who would help. They were other fellow students from Loyola and

so we were able to relate quite easily. The key to team building was to make sure that everyone

had a task to do and that everyone felt of value to the team. I made sure to have certain

aspects I can rely on my fellow volunteers especially when the other residents were also fond of

their presence. Lastly, I learned invaluable lessons about life beyond school from my fellow

staff members. A number of them had been recent graduates from Loyola and whenever I was

going through a dilemma, they were able to assist me and lighten my day.
Slide 14: Highlights

In conclusion I was a valuable team member and friend to most of the Fitness Center and I

never felt as though I was not. The stigma around an intern having a lot of busy work to do did

not hold to any scale at Misericordia. One of my greatest highlights was to be able to assist with

the Power Lifting Team. Once I week I would train rigorously for an hour with a small group of

residents who were committed to being more active. I would usually participate in many of the

same workout routines they were in order to instill an idea of perseverance. I eventually

learned a valuable lesson from a fellow resident and that was to live every day with all that I

had and to not worry about the past or the future. Lastly, as if I wasn’t already an important

aspect of the residents lives, they have periodically given me notes or letters whenever they

made something in art class. And at those moments I truly felt like I was making a difference in

their lives!

Slide 15: Acknowledgments

Finally, I would like to thank my professor Andrew Miller for accepting me into this program

and for answering any questions I had about the internship as a whole. And my supervisor at

Misericordia Mary Ann who was always there to assist me whenever I needed it.

Thank-you