In elementary school, my peers and I were taught the “three C’s”: courage, compassion, and commitment. These were three values we were supposed to embody as we grew older; three standards by which to judge ourselves and those around us. Middle school, of course, is long past, but when I spoke with Colby senior Julie Bruss these three words, in their precise order, came back to me in a flash. One of the co-directors of the CVC, the Colby Volunteer Center, Bruss is the living embodiment of “courage,” “compassion,” and “commitment” in the truest sense of the words.
The Massachusetts native describes her work with the CVC as a “natural progression.” She had done a good deal of volunteer at home, before coming to Colby, so it was a no brainer for her to get involved as soon as she arrived on campus. She began work as a program leader for Project Team, organizing team-building activities for local elementary school students. She eventually moved up to the position of assistant director in her junior year, and finally to her current position as co-director. One of her main goals in directing the CVC as been to improve its standing within extra-curricular life on campus. “The directors who ran the CVC prior to John [Perkins, my co-director], and I wanted to make ‘CVC,’ as an acronym, an integral part of Colby students’ vocabulary- like PCB or SGA.” Bruss and her fellow directors have based their leadership upon the same line of thinking. That is, to widen the scope of CVC programs and increase involvement among the student body.
In Bruss’ sophomore year the CVC brought in a representative from AmeriCorps VISTA. With the help of this VISTA rep Bruss worked to create a 5k race benefitting the Hardy Girls, Healthy Women organization. Originally intended as a one-time event, the race took on a life of its own and has now become a yearly fixture on the CVC calendar. Bruss has also worked to integrate the CVC more with other groups on campus and to bring it more to the forefront of campus life for incoming students. During orientation the CVC works in conjunction with the Dean’s Office to run the C2IT service trips, which bring freshman into Waterville and the surrounding communities to lend a helping hand, be it in a school, a museum, or a park. The CVC’s main event, the Halloween Extravaganza, which invites local children to trick or treat on frat row, is co-sponsored by the Office of Campus Life.
As co-director of the CVC, Bruss is surely responsibly for much of its successes over the past few years. She is quick, however, to dole out credit where credit is due. “The program leaders are the heart and soul of the CVC. Without them we would not be able to doany of what we do.” She refers to the more than fifteen programs that the CVC runs- from “Paw Pals,” which works with the Waterville Humane Society, to “Best Buddies,” which pairs Colby students with mentally challenged adults for mentoring. She even requested that I mention the names of specific people instrumental in running the CVC: her co-director John, as well as Rich Schwartz, Dana Roberts, Madi Louis, Amanda Lavigueur, and Dan Covert, the assistant directors.
Yet service is not the only thing that is important to Bruss. For her, the CVC is about more than just doing good deeds. “It important to get involved in your community,” she explains. And by “community,” she does not mean only the one on Mayflower hill. “Take that two minute drive,’ she says, referring to the drive into Waterville and Winslow, “and then stick around for a while and find out what’s there. Get to know the community you are living in.”
Outside of the CVC, Bruss is a Psychology-English double major. She has plans to attend a graduate program in education with a focus on psychology. “It’s not the normal path for a psychology major to take post-graduation,” she says, explaining that most either go into graduate research programs or go straight to work as research assistants, “but if Colby has taught me anything, it is that it’s ok to do things a little differently. I’ve realized that I know what I want to do, and what is right for me, and I am 100% comfortable pursuing it.”