The Blurgh

A few readers have pointed out to me that in my bio on the About Us page I mentioned participating in Pittsburgh Promise and doing a Pittsburgh Service Year, but I never elaborated on it in a post. With Pittsburgh Promise, there’s not a whole lot to tell–I went to Pittsburgh Public Schools and did well, so when I graduated I got a nice scholarship to cover part of my tuition at Pitt. It’s a great program, and one that made a big difference when my parents were planning their move back to Pittsburgh (or so they tell me).

There are a few more details, however, around getting involved with Pittsburgh Service Year. Like many kids who are nearing their final year or two of high school, I wasn’t sure whether or not I wanted to go to college. In fact, I think the only thing I was sure of was that I was sick of high school and couldn’t wait until I could legally drink. Oh those heady, idealistic times…

Just a few years before that, a number of organizations came together to create a program called Pittsburgh Service Year, which was modeled after other programs like City Year. It was a program for anyone between the ages of 18-24 who was interested in spending a year volunteering at local non-profits, hospitals, schools, or, later, for specific projects sponsored by the city. The program would pay a small stipend to the participant to cover living costs (very MODEST living costs), and after the year was up, there would be a bright shining star to put on a college application or resume.

Anyway, they were doing some tabling in the lunchroom of my school, so I decided to stop and look at the information they had. I asked the person about about the different areas I could volunteer in, which were the popular ones, which were the hardest, blah blah blah. Nothing caught my attention until she told me about a new project coming up sponsored by the city which involved working with the Public Works department. For some reason it seemed really interesting, so I decided to apply right then and there. That was no doubt one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life thus far.

I learned so much that year about all kinds of things, some of them practical, some ridiculous. For example, I could tell you all about the many “paper streets” in the South Side, including when they were first built and why. I can also tell you that I never, ever want anything to do with animal control. Most importantly, though, I learned that Pittsburgh is made up of many different communities, each with its own unique character, but that they are all filled with some of the best people I’ve ever met.

In retrospect, I think going through that program is what made me really want to study history. I’m still very close friends with a lot of the people I met there, and I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything.