Hey ya'll!

For those of you who don't know me, which should be very few, my name is Chase Tushaus. I'm a senior Industrial and Systems Engineer and a Co-Director of Direct Service in the office with my sidekick Bryce Abraham. I'm one of the coordinators for Cool Club and am also one of the student leaders for the New Orleans Immersion trip. When I grow up I want to be a cowboy or Ronald Reagan. Along with these activities I also like spinning (in circles not on bikes), coloring, listening to Bruce Springsteen, and getting tickled.

This was my first summer in beautiful San Diego and I spent it as an intern at Hamilton Sundstrand in Kearny Mesa. I spent my weekends either down by the beach or pool hopping in La Jolla and the Del in Coronado. I also saw a few plays, mainly Godspell which was just terrific! (If anyone is ever interested in going to a musical or something hit me up!:)

Unfortunately, I also had shoulder surgery this summer, it might have been my 5th one and I might have done it trying to sit down but who's really counting right? I look forward to meeting you all soon...even if I have met you before 'cause I might have forgotten.

Peace, Love, and Bob Hope.

Meet Bryce: Co-Director of Direct Service

So for those who don’t know me I’m Bryce Abraham. I’ll tell you a tad about myself. I will be a senior mechanical engineering major as well as the CASA Co-Director of Direct Service. I also tutor at Prokids Golf Academy, a non-profit that teaches life lessons through golf skills.

During the summer I have been keeping busy by going to Prokids as well as working at Karl Strauss Brewery in Downtown, surfing, and trying to get into as many shenanigans as possible. Another fun fact about the summer is I discovered that whenever I get the chance I love to use the word “girth.” I will see you all in September if I don’t already see you in the office. Later Days.

Meet Lindsey: Direct Service Graduate Assistant

Hi! My name is Lindsey and I am really looking forward to beginning work as a new Graduate Assistant for CASA! This year, I will be a first year graduate student in the Clinical Mental Health Counseling program at USD. I am really looking forward to beginning school again. I graduated from Arizona State University this past December and I have really missed being a student ever since. It seems kind of crazy, I know, but I really love getting to know fun and interesting people, being involved and making a difference and I find that being a student is one of the best ways to accomplish all of that simultaneously!

I decided to “take the summer off” (meaning no work or school for me!) in order to relax and enjoy the nice weather at home with my family in Michigan before starting school again. I have spent my time here doing many of the things that I love like cooking, running, babysitting my one-year-old niece Lexie, playing in the lake with my dog Kobe and our family dog Lilly, anticipating and FINALLY watching Harry Potter 6, trying to finish Breaking Dawn, the last book of the Twilight series and practicing my Portuguese, which seems to be coming along at a slow and painful pace! I have recently returned from a month long vacation spent in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where I had the best time! For anyone who loves beaches, warm, sunny, tropical weather and friendly people, Rio is the place to visit!

I cannot wait for my upcoming move to San Diego! I have only heard great things about the city and I am so excited to discover and explore all of the wonderful things San Diego has to offer. I am also incredibly excited to meet and work with everyone at CASA and all of the students at USD! I hope you all enjoy the rest of your summer! I can’t wait to see you soon!!!

Greetings, CASA/CSL Family!

Kelsey and Hannah here. Just thought we’d stop in and say hey/hi/hello/howdy/hola/bonjour/buongiorno/mabuhay (that’s in Tagalog, for Chris)… well, you get the point. We are the new Social Issues Co-Directors for this coming school year, and we really can’t be more excited to jump into some social justice action and to work with all of you fantastic people!

This summer has been quite the whirlwind for both of us. Hannah returned from Cuba in June and immediately jumped back into the CASA scene, and Kelsey traveled home to Los Angeles and then to NYC before heading back to San Diego in early July to CASA-it-up. Since both of us have been back, we’ve mostly been chit-chatting, checking Facebook, and taking coffee/tea breaks every hour, on the hour.…PSYCH! Really, we’ve been working diligently on helping out with what is sure to be one of the best Social Issues Conferences yet! (I mean, c’mon, Paul Farmer will be here – that itself is pretty bomb.com.) Both of us are also involved with the up and coming, new, one-of-a-kind Via International Global Dialogue that will take place during the Conference. Essentially, this program allows us to be paired with a social justice leader from another part of the world, research their life and their organizations, and have the opportunity to escort them around campus during the Conference, and spend some time discussing all of the great work they have done. Basically, it’s pretty much legit.

But that’s not all! Along with the Social Issues Conference, we both have a few other projects we are working on. Hannah is involved with Fair Trade and Sustainability and the Migrant Outreach program, and Kelsey is helping to plan the New Orleans service trip during spring break 2010! We like to keep ourselves pretty busy, but don’t worry, we always make time to “laugh” at Chris’ lame jokes… (Oh, wait… Chris can read this, can’t he? Um… HI CHRIS! …please don’t fire us.)

So, I guess that’s all for now, folks! If any of you have questions or need anything, please feel free to email us, call us, text us, send a carrier pigeon, sky-write, or just stop by CASA and join us for tea-time (everyday at 3:00pm… just don’t tell Chris about it!).

Can’t wait for this year, it’s going to be amazing!