Eric Zhou, Boston College PULSE CitySites Team Leader
My name is Eric Zhou, a Junior at Boston College studying Computer Science. I serve at Grove Hall Bingo and am a Team Leader at the Grove Hall Tech Cafe, our goal is to solve technical problems that the Grove Hall members have and also to have very nice conversations with each other. One thing that I learned from leading the CitySites is that things rarely go as planned, but if you go with the flow, you’ll get a lot more than you thought you would. There are times where we get bombarded with questions about the phones, laptops, or anything in general, but there are also times where we would just share our favorite things to do, favorite place to be, and just in general anything. But some of the best conversations I ever had came from those random spontaneous conversations, and those questions spawned new questions for myself as well.
I have grown as a person through my conversations with the Grove Hall members, especially as I hear more and more from those who have experienced things before me, I can make better judgments on things that I am not sure about. At the same time, I also participate in weekly Bingo at the Senior Center and it has taught me that there are no boundaries between friendships. The friendships that I developed through Zoom and Bingo are not something that we can get through just “chatting” or “going to service.” Especially when we started doing friendly banters every week, it became more than just service and became something that I look forward to regularly. On the topic of Bingo, one of my favorites is when I won my first cover-all. The members were all so happy and that even those who I banter with are celebrating along with me. At the same time, my proudest memory would then be that I am now a close part of their lives at Grove Hall, which I never thought would happen, especially through Zoom. The Grove Hall members use this time not only as a time to learn but also a time to get to know us better. Throughout the two semesters I’ve been at LBFE, there have been countless times where I feel that I bonded with the Grove Hall community on a personal level, and like the elders, I find myself looking forward to knowing each and one of them every week.
Looking back at my experiences, there are things that I would’ve done differently to even better myself, but at the same time, it is also nice to see how far I’ve come since the first semester I was here. Looking forward, I hope that I can further develop these meaningful friendships with the Grove Hall community, as well as those that I lead with.
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