Community Reflection

It is also a “boundary spanning” activity in that it requires active involvement from people both within and outside of the classroom context, often resulting in participant contributors who represent a variety of generations, ethnicities, social groups, and experience levels (Billig and Furco, 2002, p.vii). Service-learning is designed to reduce the boundaries between an institutional campus environment and the community around it. It is designed to connect learning to real experience through service and reflection (Ball and Schilling, 2006; Becker, 2000). As a baseline to facilitate this development, service-learning is distinct from other types of community service and civic engagement experiences in that the service-learning experience must not only have a service and reflective component but also be clearly tied to the curriculum through learning objectives and theoretical underpinnings (Bloomquist, 2015; Pritchard, 2001). As Barbara Holland, former Director of the U.S. National Service-Learning Clearinghouse, shared, “Service-learning is all in the hyphen. It is the enrichment of specific learning goals through structured community service opportunities that respond to community-identified needs and opportunities.” (Kenworthy-U’Ren, Taylor, and Petri, 2006: 121).

The agency I participated at for my ten hours of service learning this semester was the Plain City food pantry. The food pantry is located on 156 W Main St, Plain City, OH 43064. There are many people that run this agency. A couple names are Phyllis and Jane. I participated March 2nd from 9:30 to 11:30, March 3rd from 9:00 to 12:00, April 4th, from 9:30 to 11:30 and April 6th from 9:00 to 12:00.

The critical difference of service learning and the traditional learning style is that students are learning and addressing real needs in the community. Which connect students to the community through meaningful interactions with others, safety, and educational needs. This specific course includes readings, discussions, and activities to support

For example, I discussed the different ways in making earth a cleaner place by simply recycling and the importance of everyone conserving water to not be wasteful due to the drought. At the end of our discussions we always had a related arts and craft activity to address the topic issues of the week. To complete my service learning hours I volunteered Tuesdays and Thursdays for three consecutive weeks. Tuesday’s I volunteered about four and a half hours and on Thursdays a little over eight hours. The majority of the staff at the center consists of volunteers or interns from the departments of public health, nursing, and dietetics of Fresno State. The center does not have any registered dietitians or nutritionists working for

For this service learning assignment I devoted my time and energy to working with Brooklyn Cemetery, the Food Bank of Northeast Georgia, and Athens Technical College. I participated in MLK Day of Service, which was created with the intent to “celebrate and honor the birthday of the famed civil rights leader, Martin Luther King Jr” ("There's Still," n.d.). This day of service stood to serve many different aspects of the community and benefited a wide range of populations, mostly in the form of environmental cleanup. Much of my time was also spent volunteering with The Food Bank of Northeast Georgia, whose mission is to “work toward ending hunger as part of an overall community effort to alleviate poverty” (Growing Seeds, 2016, p. 2). Through

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,

Service Learning is learning through experience to gain sociological observation, concepts, and theories so I decide to do my service learning hours in one of the two high schools that is part of the Oceanside Unified School District. The name of the school is called El Camino High School. El Camino High School is a high school that is located at 400 Rancho Del Oro Drive in Oceanside, California. It has over 3,000 students currently attending. The school’s mascot is the “Wildcat” and their colors are gold and red. El Camino High School is a public school that is part of a system of free public education that is maintained at a public expense for the education of students who are part of that community or district. El Camino High School is a place is a public school where students are coming out of middle school and are

For the Service Learning Assignment, I decided to volunteer at Northwind Rehabilitation and Health Care Center. My current interest is working in the medical field that deals with babies. The service learning placement that best fit my schedule was Northwind Rehabilitation and Health Care Center. This organization works with mostly senior citizens that need special care at all times. There were times where individuals that were not senior citizens that came there because it is not strictly a nursing home. The residents are not able to care for themselves and need constant supervision to ensure their safety. Some of the resident may require physical therapy. My responsibilities was to interact with the different residents on each visit and complete

I found Kathleen Cahill’s presentation on service learning to be very interesting. I have always been aware of how important it is to do service for your community. In high school, I had to complete 100 hours of service over the four-year span. This increased my awareness of the importance of service, and showed me a variety of organizations the exist in Erie, PA. However, I was never aware of the high level of poverty that exists in Erie until I saw Kathleen Cahill’s presentation. I was shocked to learn that the number of those living in poverty in the City of Erie, is around 30%. This statistic made me realize even more the importance of service, especially in the Erie community.

The service learning activity that has been the most meaningful to me is the Backpack Program. Over the past four years, I have been involved with the Beta Club which is a big contributor to the program. The reason this activity is so meaningful to me is because if affects the peers in my schools who are in need. Every year we are told a story about a student who was receiving items from the program. One afternoon while selecting items, he picked some bananas and stated "My little sister will be exited about these. We have not had fresh fruit at house in over a year." Every time I here that story, it motivates me to help out my fellow Chase High Students. Not only do I bring food, but I bring necessities that someone would need to maintain

This service learning project experience that I encountered influenced me personally in a way that was both encouraging and rewarding. The service that had been done, grows the salient community sustainability goal, that I found to be high on the totem pole for goals. During this service I learned to gain self-awareness for local farmers and the difficulty to hold a farm up and running. Furthermore, during these 12 hours of

According to Kathleen Flecky and Lynn Gitlow, service-learning is defined as, “learning that occurs in experiences, reflection, and civic engagement” (Flecky & Gitlow, 2011). In recent years more universities are implementing service learning into their curriculum. A key concept of service learning is civic responsibility. Civic responsibility can simply be defined as your responsibilities as a citizen. As will be shown later in this paper, service learning can have many benefits not only to a student, but also to the community members

The functional area of service-learning is currently emerging as an acknowledged department at an institution of higher education. The theoretical roots of service learning go back to John Dewey, and the early twentieth century. However, current research on service-learning pedagogy dates back only to the early 1990’s. Best practices for the field are still being created as more and more new offices are springing up on campuses throughout the United States and institutions internationally. The reason this functional area is becoming ever popular is due to the positive impact it has on students and most all educational outcomes.

It would be an understatement to say that I have been blessed to grow up in a neighborhood where I knew nothing bad would happen to me. It would be an understatement to say that I can go to bed knowing all the doors in the house are locked and my house is secure. It would be not be false to say that these things are given to me each day, but it would be an understatement to say I am thankful for each thing. An error is falling down your stairs because you did not turn a light on, but a mistake would be taking any of this security for granted. I know these things not because of what I have achieved in my life, but a result of my fathers job. He stands as the fire captain in Davenport, Iowa. Listening to some of the horror stories from his job, has widened my perspective on not only life, but in the small minor details surrounding everything. I can say I am more grateful for being able to have the understanding of safety, that if ever in a bad situation, I would step in to take risks and protect those around me. In today's society, crime is such a common thing and often occurs within small communities. I remember reading and learning about history and how communities would always be there to help one another. But today, community is such an overused word, and does not describe what one is at all. The foundation of a community revolves around the people who risk their lives day in and day out, to be there to protect us and get us out of harm's way.

The term ‘‘service-learning’’ means a method (A) under which students or participants learn and develop through active participation in thoughtfully organized service that (i) is conducted in and meets the needs of a community; (ii) is coordinated with an elementary school, secondary school, institution of higher education, or community service program, and with the community; and (iii) helps foster civic responsibility; and (B) that (i) is integrated into and enhances the academic curriculum of the students, or the educational components of the community service program in which the