Since the Ogallala Commons intern retreat, I have become more aware of the commonwealth in my community. There are many assets that we do have a lot and there are some that we do not have a lot in my community. Some of the 12 key assets of commonwealth that are strong in my community are spirituality, leisure&recreation, history, education, and arts&culture.
In Nazareth, we only have one church. It is a Catholic church, and so as a result, most of the citizens are predominately Catholic. Also, on Wednesdays our church has CCD classes for all grades Pre-K through 12th. The leisure and recreation asset is participated in by many in Nazareth. We have open gym every Sunday so most of the junior high and high schoolers go and play games or just shoot to practice. On Wednesdays during the summer, high school boys along with college and older guys in the community scrimmage in the gym for a couple of hours. History is a big part of my community. Most of the citizens have a German heritage. Nazareth originally started out as an Irish settlement named Shamrock in 1892, but in 1902, it was renamed Nazareth by Father Reisdorff, who brought over German families. In Nazareth, there is only one school, Nazareth ISD. Pre-K through seniors are all in one building. Kids come from other school districts to go to our school because the education is higher quality. The arts and culture in our community is mainly made up of small businesses such as the Naz Stop and the Swift Café. Also, we have two big festivals which all of the members of our community help out with. These festivals are Labor Day and German Fest/Suds and Sounds.
These assets of commonwealth help to make our Nazareth community more sustainable and resilient.
