Over a century ago, Woodrow Wilson implored higher education to seek to answer the questions and challenges of our community and nation by sharing ownership of the issues that define the well-being of our society. More recently, President Barack Obama stated: “Our task, working together, is to constantly widen the circle of our concern”. Service to others has been an integral part of my life that I anticipate continuing through adulthood. A service project that I completed over the summer taught me about the resiliency of the human spirit and the importance of widening my circle.
I was researching ideas for my Eagle Scout project and wanted to make a meaningful impact on the youth in my community. The Somerset Home for Temporarily Displaced
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As the meeting was commencing, I heard someone call my name. I turned around and recognized a girl from my school. We are in different programs and met in the cafeteria. We had eaten lunch together on several occasions. She asked me excitedly if I was moving in. I was a bit shocked and stammered, "No, just working on a project". I left the building feeling uneasy that I had invaded her privacy and guilty that I was going back to a nice house with my parents. A mixture of sympathy and embarrassment washed over me. I had no idea my new friend was homeless. I thought back to a conversation that we had before spring break. I asked her where she would go if she could travel anywhere in the world. I had a list of places that I would love to see. She told me that she just wanted to be in a home in New Jersey. Her response seemed odd at the time, but it now made sense. We never spoke about our serendipitous meeting. I used to think that people who were homeless must be downtrodden with little hope. I admire my brave friend's smile, positive attitude towards life, and ambition to become a graphic artist.
My work with the Somerset Home has increased my understanding of the circumstances surrounding teenage homelessness. With caring and support, they can succeed both in school and in life. I read in their recent newsletter
The book “With No Direction Home: Homeless Youth on the Road and in the Streets” written by Marni Finkelstein refers to the homeless youth. This book describes the lifestyle of the teenagers with no home and explains with detail about what consist in their everyday lives in the streets of New York City. The purpose of this book is to explain to people who these kids are and to see life in their point of view. It explains the difference between street kids and the kids that live on the street. We need to understand that the kids that live on the streets have their own culture and their own way of surviving. Learning their point of view would be a great eye opening experience for everyone and to also understand their struggle. This book explains a study that was done to 50 street kids and life on the streets.
I am glad to say that I will begin the installation of the brand new sign for the St. Margaret's Parish Center this weekend for my Eagle Scout Project. The new sign has just been finished, and I am in need of a few dedicated scouts to assist me in the installation. I am looking for between 8-12 scouts to help out this Saturday between 9:00 - 12:00 and 12:00 - 3:00. Bring shovels, wheelbarrows, post diggers, and of course work gloves and safety glasses. If all goes to plan, we should get through all of the work on Saturday, but we may need some people to help out on Monday aswell. Thanks to everybody for your support, and remember to sign up on the Troop Web Site so I know how much food to get! Thanks again, hope to see
Youth who live on the streets are there for two main reasons either they chose to leave the home because of the living situation or they will leave home because they are kicked out or drugs and alcohol have led them onto the streets. 20% of the homeless population is youth and it is increasing every year because of the changes that our generation is going through and being affected by. The rates of suicide in homeless youth are 10.3 times larger then an average Canadian youth. (McKay, E. (2009). Independent Living Accounts: Leaving Homelessness in the Past.).
Youth homelessness in Australia has become a massive issue. Every over 105,00 people are homeless, which is shocking to me as I thought it would be becoming less as there should be more help out there. (Homelessness Australia, 2012 ). In 2001, there were a total of 9% homeless. According to the 2011 census, 42% of
Homelessness is all around the world, and many people have either dealt with the issue or had first-hand experience with it. Thus causes everyone to think about the possible solutions to such an important social and economic problem. Whether or not anyone wants to support or ignore the issue, it will always be there. However, the youth population is on the rise among the homeless. While the exact number of youth among the homeless is hard to determine, given various information about homelessness available and the age range that is considered youth, a 2012 survey from the Department of Education shows that 52,950 unaccompanied homeless youth were reported through school-based programs (Sparks 31). Homelessness among youth can be
About 1.7 million youth in America will encounter homelessness each year (Tompsett, Domoff, & Toro, 2013). Homelessness within the youth population in America is a serious problem and there are many associated risks and hazards identified with being homeless as a youth. For this research youth has been established to be any person between the ages of 12 and 18; in the process of maturing through adolescent stages of growth (Oliveira & Burke, 2013, p. 154). Youth whom become homeless are at risk of developing a lifestyle or acculturation to street living. Researchers are exploring the causes of homelessness in the youth population and the consequences of homelessness.
In Judy Daniels’ article entitled "Humanistic Interventions for Homeless Students: Identifying and Reducing Barriers to Their Personal Development," the author is successful in describing real-life examples of the effects of homelessness on school-aged children. She starts out with the story of Angie, a high school student who lives in a tent with her mother and two siblings. After being caught for fighting with her classmates, Angie is sent to the counselor’s office where she confesses her frustration with her current living situation.
Scouting has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I joined in the First grade as a tiger cub and I was super excited. I remember getting my uniform and wanting to wear it everywhere. I was so excited to be a part of it. I have grown up through scouting and can’t picture my life without it. It has shaped me into the man I am today. I am currently working on my Eagle Scout. I want to continue helping the troop even after I finish. I will be involved in scouting for the rest of my life.
My journey and my research about youth homelessness has just started. I took this course thinking that it would just be all about statistics and talk about the history of homelessness, but I did not expect it to change my whole world. I’m not even exaggerating when I say this class is AMAZING, if you go to Ryerson and work with any type of vulnerable population, I strongly recommend this course. You will not only learn a lot the current crisis of homelessness, but you will learn a lot about yourself. I strongly stress that you go into the class with an open-mind you will have a lot of guest speakers, who are survivors and it just puts your life into perspective and makes you thankful for everything you have. It makes you recognize your privilege real fast. I’m talking within about 10 minutes of the first class. I didn’t think I could change my viewpoint of so many things in my own life. Homelessness is on the rise throughout the globe, we are the only who can do something about it. People go through struggles all the time, yourself include and think about all the help that you got for either services, your family & friends. Youths who are experiencing homelessness aren’t fortunate enough to have those supports, would you be willing to be the person they turn
As a member of the Boy Scouts of America in Troop 181 I have established myself as a young leader and well rounded individual. I have been a part of countless service projects with my fellow Scouts since I was in first grade. Sticking with Scouting has been the most rewarding experience of my life. I climbed through the ranks and attained my Eagle Scout award when I was sixteen. The Eagle Scout service project I completed along side the multiple other volunteering excursions I have been a part of have taught me several core values that will cling tightly to me from here on. These service projects have given me a fantastic outlook on life. My Troop often visits with the local nursing home to carol, plant vegetables in their garden, decorate,
In communities across the nation, homeless adolescents under the age of eighteen are surviving on the streets alone and afraid. The availability of homeless shelters, for this demographic, are few and far between. If the shelter is available to take in the homeless youth the facility is on average a mixture of ages and genders, mental health disorders, substance and drug abuse. The people who provide services to homeless adolescents,
One of the greatest things we can do in this life is to help others. I’ve found no greater joy, than when I have been able to lift another’s burden. One the proudest achievements of my life, was when I completed my Eagle Scout project. I was able to raise money and collect items to furnish an apartment for African refugees who recently emigrated to the U.S. After a couple of months of collecting and fund raising, I organized volunteers to set up the refugees’ apartment. I couldn’t have been more proud than when I saw the family’s smiling
The sample consisted of data from 426 individuals who were between the ages of 14 and 24 years old. The results indicated that 41 percent of the sample were consistently sheltered. These individuals often were in the younger age group, did not use drugs other than alcohol or marijuana, they were less involved in informal sector activities, they were able to go home, and were typically homeless for one year. Approximately 20 percent were inconsistently sheltered for a short term. These individuals were often able to go home and not have had to leave on one’s own accord. Roughly 39 percent were inconsistently sheltered for a long term. The findings suggested the importance of preventing homeless youth from spending nights in unsheltered locations. Future research is needed that recruits’ youth from the street setting in order to identify additional trajectories of homelessness. However, the timing of the assessments may have limited the number of trajectories that were identified and the study did not evaluate whether childhood neglect or abuse were predictors of youth remaining or returning to shelters (Tevendale, Comulada, & Lightfoot,
“Homeless youth have a variety of issues affecting their ability to succeed in school. It is difficult for children who are hungry, scared, and living in either temporary 2 housing or inadequate housing to concentrate on the elements of school. Research indicates homeless youth are absent from school more often than students that have a fixed residency” (Weber & Lugg, 2008).
Shelter is a fundamental human need. Imagine not knowing a place called ‘home.’ You spend each night, uncertain of the weather, on a bench, which serves as your bed. As you wake up to chattering noises each morning, you worry about which public place will allow you to clean yourself up. When you get hungry, you go to a soup kitchen, beg people for change to eat a cheap meal, or search the nearest garbage can. For the rest of the day, you sit in busy areas hoping people will notice you and want to help out. You realize that you are not judged by who you are but what you are. The situation described above is the typical description for homelessness for about 600,000 homeless people in the United States on a given night (“State of Homelessness Report”). Some of them sleep in shelters, others on the streets; roughly one-quarter are children (Crane et al.). In order to understand and prevent the complex issue of homelessness, one must first learn about the various ways through which a person could end up without a roof over his or her head.