Nigeria, “good exposure” to internships is also a plus. Working with the Denver Justice and Peace Committee and the American Friends Service Committee allows Pai to practice skills she hopes to use in Nigeria to help “give people equal opportunity and policies that accord [them] dignity.” Bonita Bock attributes the breadth and quality of
personalized internships to the relationships Wartburg West has cultivated with organizations and businesses over three decades. “People know us,” she said. New internship sites receive glowing recommenda-
tions from such institutions as the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, which has employed Wartburg West interns for years. Still, Bonita Bock said much of the credit goes to the students: “Supervisors tell us, ‘Stu- dents who come to this program are well-prepared.’ ” Krista Kilgus participated in Wartburg West in the
early 2000s and now directs the Denver-based Urban Servant Corps, a residential service-learning program for young adults. Kilgus and other local Wartburg West alumni host cultural outings for students and act as mentors. “It gives us the opportunity to know students and help them settle into Denver,” she said. One of Kilgus’ mentors was Scott Glaser, who also
settled in Denver aſter his Wartburg West term in 1993. His internship at the U.S. Department of Com- merce helped him “see how nonprofits work in a metro center.” But it was “seeing visible poverty” on Denver’s streets that led him to his current vocation as executive director of NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Colorado.
Ecumenical ties As Wartburg West has grown and expanded, welcoming students from Wartburg and Augustana College, Rock Island, Ill., it also has found a permanent location on St. John’s campus. Te partnership began when the cathe- dral hosted a community conversation to discuss ways to make better use of its downtown property. Nelson Bock had a possible solution: Wartburg West was look- ing for more space. Retired St. John’s clergy associate Sally Brown saw it
as a “serendipitous” way to put formal ecumenical part- nerships into practice. “ ‘Called to Common Mission’ (an agreement establishing full communion between the Episcopal Church and ELCA) sounds lovely, but where do you embody it?” she asked. Te partnership between the Episcopal cathedral
and Lutheran college seemed to answer that ques- tion—and the result “has gone deeper and further more
quickly than we thought,” Brown said. Beyond using cathedral-owned space for classes,
offices and student apartments, Wartburg West students and staff participate in St. John’s weekly Wednesday “Cathedral Nite,” offering worship, dinner and classes. For Nelson Bock, it’s a relief and joy to have a physi-
cal home for Wartburg West: “Te name has applied to a program; now we can say it’s a center, a campus.” Te cathedral also has gained from the relationship.
Jadon Hartsuff, who serves as the cathedral’s clergy liai- son to Wartburg West, recalls a conversation last year with students from Bonita Bock’s leadership class. Tey had interviewed neighbors living around the borders of a park owned—and usually locked—by St. John’s: “Te students came and said, ‘How can we help … so that the park can be open more?’ ” Today, Hartsuff reported proudly, “the park is open
pretty much all the time, not just for the cathedral but for the community.” It’s an example, he added, of “organic, on-the-ground possibilities from having giſted college students in our midst.” Brown concurs: “We were ready and yearning for
that kind of connection.” Te staff, students and alumni of Wartburg West
have high hopes for the future. Bonita Bock hopes the program “can be the initiator to provide stronger con- nections to other ELCA colleges without a program here but with a historic connection.” Nelson Bock envisions a “leadership institute” to
introduce Colorado high school students to the benefits of Lutheran higher education. Wartburg College has already hired an admissions counselor based at Wart- burg West, Mackenzie Compton, who is—no surprise— another proud alumna of the program. For now, students will keep exploring “Te Metropo-
lis” at St. John’s and putting their experience into practice in the metropolis of Denver: like Kellie Solberg, who secured free tickets from her internship site, the Denver Botanic Gardens, for homeless women served by Capitol Hill United Ministries, where her classmate Ellie Oberheu interns. In the many class-
rooms of Wartburg West—cathedral, internship and neigh- borhood—students learn the lessons of a lifetime.
Colo. The mother of two also enjoys opportunities for public speaking and writing in service to the church.
January 2015 37
Author bio: Johnston Aelabouni serves as co-pastor with her spouse at Trinity Lutheran Church, Fort Collins,
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