A Reflection on Service Learning: Working at Easter Seals Child Care

Throughout the years I feel that I’ve had a number of valuable experiences, my most significant experience is my volunteering experience at Children’s Hospital Colorado. I still remember feeling utterly terrified on my first day volunteering, pondering all the possible ways things could go wrong. I suddenly felt as though I have never experienced this before. I was on my own, responsible for myself and all of my actions.

As I prepare to serve at kids connection I have a few set goals for myself to get the best out of the experience. I plan to fully commit and not just go there because I have to. I want to interact and build relationships with the children. I hope to find the children's interests out, so I can participate and do activities with them. By doing this I hope to learn about them and start building a trusting relationship with them. This is my plan as I am going in, but I know when dealing with children nothing goes as planned. I am going to be ready to adjust to whatever happens, but I am excited to help out with the children. All in all I believe this is a good opportunity to interact with children and learn how each individual is unique in their own way.

I have always loved working with children. My first job was at Ellison Youth Inc. summer camp and I was a counselor. I interacted with campers between the ages of six through ten. Based on the managers observed she offered me a position during the school year with the after school program. Any environment I’m in I always seem to gravitate towards children and this is when I learned that working with children was my passion. Prior to this time I had no idea this was my passion I knew I just knew I enjoyed working with kids. There was always a sense of self-gratification. So when I found out I was pregnant I was in for a treat.

The benefit of service learning for the student and community is again a better inform civic minded individual who may use his experience from service learning as a launching pad for career opportunities to better serve within that community. In an article published in the College Student Journal its author noted that with service learning “students gain further understanding of course content, a broader appreciation of the discipline, and an enhanced sense of civic responsibility" (Strange,

Throughout this experience i learned more about myself than i thought possible. But during the volunteer hours that i performed, i completely broke out of my quiet shell. When i started my journey off at a children's sports and adventure camp, it helped me to become a leader, as well as a facilitator. I had to organize, and instruct activities daily. This helped me to become a problem solver as well as a communicator beause of the fact that in dealing with children, youll always run into some delema that youll have to deal with.

The meaning this service learning project provided me with was how important it is for us, the Hamline University, to build a meaningful relationship with Hamline Elementary. This was invoked because of the impact the students seemed to have due to us being there and working with them. The students were excited for a communal learning experience, and I think that is going to help encourage them to pursue a college career. Because I work at Hamline Elementary and have been doing so for the past 2 years, I have made strong connections with the students and faculty and think highly of them all. The experience was very similar to what I do at Hamline Elementary on a daily basis. Given this, I had a feeling that the content may have been a bit of

First of all, I am thanking you for considering me to be apart of your childcare team. I have a wonderful and charming personality and energy for children. And most importantly, every child that I have personally been with no matter how sweet and naughty they are I can get them to be the best child. In the summer of my sophomore year I have already personally worked at a childcare as a teenage volunteer four to five days a week and I have always gotten great feedbacks from parents. I have also interned at an elementary school for two weeks as a teacher’s assistant for a first grade class after those two weeks I would still visit the children’s sometimes and all of them they loved. And for the last five years I have been apart of my church’s

There have been two major opportunities that have shaped and impacted me: serving with Calvary Kids Care and watching a girl’s cabin on Thursday nights at Camp Brookwoods and Deer Run. I started volunteering with Calvary Kids Care my freshman year in high school. The first time that I ever held a baby, I was terrified. I had no idea if I was holding her correctly, or if I looked as uncomfortable on the outside as I felt on the inside. The little ball of life that I held in my hands kept trying to snuggle closer, but I held the baby away from me, afraid that I would crush it if I let it get too close. This first experience led to many, and thus my partnership with Calvary Kids Care was formed. I started to work with the kids, mainly newborns

When I first starting working with underprivileged kids my first instinct was not the best. I thought the kids would be rude and they all smelt bad which made me not want to be around them. I remember my first time at the camp and I wasted the majority of my time being too scared of the kids or even

Walking nervously into my first day of working at Westfield Child Center was a defining moment that ultimately impacted my life in a way in which it would never go back to the way it once was. I can clearly remember it was a place filled with children’s excitement and staff who seemed to be a part of their own family. Everyone was extremely friendly and greeted me with open arms, however, it still did not diminish my feeling of ostracism. Whenever anyone enters a new setting, it is normal to feel excluded immediately. These feelings are natural and expected due to the lack of knowledge we have on the people in general, how the facility itself is run, and learning our place to fit into their little community. As time progressed, I found this place to be very

Being so young, I was fearful at first. It was a new place filled with other children and adults I had never met before. I had a hard time trusting the adults because the only ones I had ever known betrayed me, but that quickly changed. Before Child Crisis Arizona, I, as well as countless other children, did not know what it felt like to be cared for or loved by. Thinking about it now, my experience at Child Crisis Arizona brings tears of joy to my eyes. For the first time in my life I felt like I was wanted and I felt like I had a home. The employees and volunteers who worked there were not just staff to me, they were my guardian angels. There are many memories I have from my time at Child Crisis Arizona, like being taken care of when I was sick, having my back rubbed when I couldn’t sleep, and everything in between. Instead of doing the minimum required to get by, they went above and beyond to make sure I felt not only safe, but

Due to a lack of orientation to volunteers about specific safety procedures to take with children, I had one of the scariest moments of my life. On that day, I encountered a new mother, which I will call Stella. She had two kids: a one and a half year old toddler and a five-month-old boy. The baby, ‘Miley’, was so loveable and instantly cherished by the volunteers. Another volunteer and I asked Stella if we could take her outside to play with the other children. She said okay, went to get her shoes, and put them on her. It was two volunteers and four kids (from five – ten) outside

Baby-sitting is the experience that a lot of here have in common. A lot of the times, we don’t realize how much of an impact baby-sitting can have on our outlook on life. As a young girl, I always knew that I wanted to work with children. As I grew older and progressed more in my career working with adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, I realized that it was it was time to make that flip and work with children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. My cousin is in the process of opening a shelter for battered children, and once I obtain my degree, I plan to go work for her. Dealing with children can sometimes be overwhelming, but I feel that with everything we’re going to learn in this class, we’ll do just fine

A few years ago, I had the privilege of volunteering as AmeriCorps member at Trinity River Mission, a non-profit afterschool community-learning center that focuses on disadvantaged children in West Dallas. I was assign to work with 3rd and 4th graders. I would be helping them with their homework, school projects, and any other school assignments. I was a bit intimidated by my position, I was placed in a classroom where I was going to be working with 20-40 kids a day. I was nervous and excited at the same time; I was finally working with kids but doubted myself a bit. I was afraid of disappointing the kids and myself. Little did I know that this opportunity was going to help me become the person I am today, and motivate my education career. This experience allowed

The Society for Experiential Education defines service learning as, “any carefully monitored service experience in which a student has intentional learning goals and reflects actively on what he or she is learning throughout the experience” (Staton 1). Service learning is a great opportunity to get extra learning experiences while also experiencing the community around the universities campus. “Service learning allows students to apply what they are learning from their instructors, peers, and readings to genuine tasks that occur outside the four walls of the classroom while simultaneously helping others” (Staton 1). Universities are using service learning to expand beyond the classroom and provide students with experiences that will