Written by Maddie Sitton
My name is Maddie Sitton, and I am a member of the 2026–2027 Amate Fellow Cohort. I recently graduated from Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, a city that I have called home for my entire life, at least until three weeks ago. When I packed up my life and moved to Chicago, I was filled with a mixture of excitement and fear. I was nervous about leaving behind my family, friends, and the place I had always considered home. At the same time, I was eager to begin this new chapter and discover what my year with Amate would hold. I found myself wondering what my future as an Amate Fellow would look like, how I would adjust to a new city, and what it would be like to live intentionally with eleven other people.
Orientation began just two days after I moved into Amate, and I can confidently say that those two weeks were transformative. Orientation not only helped me grow as a servant leader, but also played an important role in cultivating a strong, supportive, and intentional house community. As a home, we spent significant time getting to know one another, learning how to communicate our needs and expectations, and began to understand the different experiences and perspectives that each person brings to our community. Our formation extended beyond conversations within the house. We participated in active service experiences, including volunteering with Nourishing Hope, and had opportunities to learn more about our new neighborhood and the communities we will be serving throughout the year. We also spent time establishing community expectations, boundaries, and practices that will help us navigate life together with respect and compassion.
Looking back on those first two weeks, I am incredibly grateful for the time and space orientation provided us. It was a fruitful period of learning, relationship-building, reflection, and preparation. While I entered Amate House with many questions and uncertainties, I left orientation feeling more grounded, connected, and equipped to begin this next chapter. Orientation gave me the tools and guidance I needed to enter my first week of work with greater confidence, ready to embrace all that this year has to offer.
During this year, I have the privilege of serving as the Campus Minister at Our Lady of Tepeyac High School. I not only am responsible for planning and facilitating prayer services, school masses, and senior service projects, but get first hand experience in cultivating a strong, faith-filled, community. This past week, the staff and faculty gathered for the beginning of the school year. We welcomed new members of the school community, learned more about the “Tepeyac Way,” and spent time decorating and celebrating one another’s classrooms in preparation for the year ahead. It was a meaningful opportunity to begin building relationships with my new coworkers and to get a better understanding of the values and traditions that make Tepeyac such a special community.
I am incredibly grateful to Amate for giving me the opportunity to become a member of not only the Tepeyac community, but also the larger Amate community. I look forward to all of the adventures that await, and to seeing how this experience shapes my understanding of community, faith, and service, helping to shape the leader that I want to become by the end of this year.