Sydney Snell
By Victoria Williams
During Sydney Snell’s first year at DePaul, she made friends very quickly and decided to join almost every club she found interesting after learning about them at the Fall Involvement Fair. Sydney attended many meetings, but she was not passionate about one club in particular. Eventually, Sydney came across an application for Spring Break service immersion trips towards the end of fall quarter. She had been on a few service trips in high school, and had a great time getting to know people, learning about social issues, and traveling. She thought why not try it out?
Sydney received an email from Vincentians in Action saying she was placed on the service immersion trip to Bladensburg, Maryland. At the time, she hardly knew where Bladensburg was located and honestly wished she was placed on the trip to New Orleans or New York City. She accepted the invitation anyway.
Sydney had no idea that she would be meeting people that would become lifelong friends. She hopped in a 12-passenger van at five in the morning filled with people she barely knew. Throughout the trip, she learned about the issues of homelessness, healthcare, and human trafficking.
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“This trip also taught me so much about homelessness and how simply giving a person in poverty the time of day can mean so much to them. When I returned from this trip I knew the Vincentians in Action community was one I was meant to be a part of.”
After the Bladensburg service immersion trip, Sydney attended another service immersion trip to Los Angeles.
“My experiences through the service immersion program have allowed me to experience different cultures and learn about various social issues from different perspectives.”
“During the L.A. Service Immersion, I learned about homelessness in Skid Row. This trip was the most challenging service immersion trip for me, as there were times where my heart was filled with love, but also times where I felt it completely shatter.”
Sydney’s trip to Los Angeles gave her hope on social issues as she saw many members of the community working for change. While in Los Angeles, Sydney met one of her biggest mentors. She had no idea that this individual would shape her as a Vincentian, and encourage her to run for the Senator of Mission and Ministry for Student Government Association (SGA) at DePaul.
Sydney now is a part of an organization with so many empowering individuals working for change on DePaul’s campus. Vincentians believe that they form each other, Sydney believes they helped form her into the person she is today. Sydney is also involved in Radio DePaul, and Alpha Omicron Pi sorority. She is a junior in the Public Relations and Advertising program in the College of Communication and is a Special Projects Assistant/Marketing Intern in the DePaul University Department of Housing.
