Written by Kathryn Shahan, PT Corps Member at Christ’s Foundry United Methodist Mission

Project Transformation North Texas is known for transforming lives through relationships. This is built into the heart of the program by connecting churches, college students and children. While all of these connections have changed my life in incredible ways, I am going to focus on the college students who have touched my life this summer.

I am on the Christ’s Foundry UMM team, which is composed of only five college students. Each one of us is so different from each other, and we all come from different walks of life. If we had all met in another setting, I’m sure we would have all liked each other; however, we may not have bonded with each other individually, and almost definitely would not have bonded as a group. This is where the power of Project Transformation comes in. I spend 45 hours a week working closely with these four to run the program for our middle school youth, and just halfway through the summer, they have become some of my best friends.

Despite spending all of this time together, we still love to bond outside of site: from Tuesday night dinners to even taking a weekend trip together (and planning many more for the future). Through all of this, each person has taught me so much. CJay has taught me how to live passionately; Claire has taught me how to fight for what is right; Gerardo has taught me how to keep a positive attitude and to lift others up; and Tony has taught me how to stay focused on loving the people in my life. These are lessons that I will carry with me for the rest of my life and they will continue to improve my ability to transform lives for the better.