Nika’s Postulate Year at HTC
When Nika joined the Harry Tompson Center in August 2025, she described her first day as feeling like a field hospital: busy, bustling, and, at first glance, a little chaotic. “There was so much happening and I could tell there was structure and harmony based on how other staff and guests were interacting, but I didn’t yet know my place in it.”
Over the past year, Nika became an integral part of that harmony.
Working alongside Jesuit Volunteer, Nate, in the showers and hygiene area, she helped create a space where every guest was welcomed with dignity, kindness, and genuine hospitality. This is no short order. In our busiest season, HTC’s hygiene coordinators and volunteers clean up to 100 showers each day and are on hand to retrieve essential hygiene and personal care supplies for countless others who utilize our sinks, restrooms, laundry, and medical area. Any time a crisis or a code brown arose in the hygiene area, Nika and Nate were there to help, finding ways to support one another while making guests and volunteers feel seen and appreciated.
For Nika, the greatest gift of her time at HTC has been the relationships. She'll miss the daily banter with guests like Horace, who after finding out she is studying to become a Daughter of Charity greeted her each morning with, "Sister, sister, what's the word?" challenging her to come up with a message for the day such as peace, hope, or spirit. She'll miss Dougie asking her to type up the latest chapter in one of his stories, which are prolific, humorous, and entertaining.
Like anyone who serves at HTC, Nika experienced moments of heartbreak alongside the joy. She remembers caring for a guest with chronic health challenges who passed away a few months later. “It was the first time someone I’d worked with so intimately had died, and that was really challenging for me.” Yet those moments only deepened her appreciation for the HTC community, where staff instinctively care for one another and step in whenever support is needed and where guests often communicate their care for our team when they see us struggling.
In addition to her service work at HTC, Nika lives in community with the Daughters of Charity Claiborne House, an experience that has helped her challenge and process her own feelings around questions such as how are my interactions with guests shaping me and how am I responding? She places great importance on praying as a way to start the day and praying throughout the day.
Reflecting on the past year, Nika says these experiences have taught her the importance of slowing down, allowing herself to rely on others, and finding ways that she can release independence in favor of embracing community. Inspired by the compassion of volunteers, the dedication of her coworkers, and the humanity of the guests, she leaves with a heart forever changed.
"I was very skeptical about cleaning showers for a whole year," she admits with a laugh, "but I wouldn't change it for the world."
This month, Nika begins a new chapter as she heads to St. Louis to enter formation with the Daughters of Charity, where she will begin her theological studies and preparation for religious life. While we'll miss her joyful spirit, steady presence, and compassionate heart, we're grateful that HTC has been part of her journey and that she has been such an important part of ours.
Nika’s 5 things that come to mind when she thinks of HTC:
Joy-filled, delightfully surprising, community focused, chaotic but in the best way, welcoming
Congratulations Sister Nika!
Sister Nikaela Busekrus on her Incorporation Day in St. Louis with Sr. Kathy Overmann, D.C.
