My Reflective Service Learning Project

I completed my service learning at The Arbors of Bedford, a nursing home for older adults suffering with memory loss due to dementia. Their mission is to care for the whole person in a manner that promotes freedom, choice and the opportunity to live a meaningful life (n.a., 2017). The Arbors of Bedford promotes a therapeutic environment by creating an open and welcome environment and by giving the residents as much choice in their lives as possible. For example, they can choose whether to sit by the window in a seat by themselves, or in a living room chair with a group of people. There is usually a television or music playing in one section, while another section is quiet which allows the residents to choose the setting that is best for them. They host a variety of activities that focus on different therapy areas. The activities offered include listening to spiritual hymns, tai chi, craft designs, piano performances, and invention trivia. These components together, along with a caring and competent staff, allow The Arbors of Bedford to fulfill their mission statement.

The experience I encountered during the service learning project was great. Throughout the weeks allocated for the service learning project, I tutored grade two and three pupils from three different schools under two agencies. The names of the agencies are Lion Catcher and MLK Community Center. This project gave me the opportunity to work with little kids for a long time. This provided me with the privilege to help and work with people who are enthusiastic about learning. Through my colleagues and me, we were able to achieve the goal of the service learning project. One of the goals is to work with minorities who needs help. This goal does not benefit our clients only but us also, it helped us organize and improve the way we think about supporting our client and managed good clinical judgment.

A Service Learning project is one of the project requirements to complete the Bachelors of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree through Ferris State University (FSU). My Service Learning experience was completed at the VA Medical Center (VAMC) in November, 2014. This paper includes details of the facility along with the contact information for the coordinator of the project. A description of my role as a volunteer, critical reflection of my experience, and a synthesis of the Service Learning are also included.

During my sophomore year, the community service focus was helping to serve a marginalized community, so I chose to volunteer at an organization called Hope Services. They provide jobs for differently abled adults and an after-school program for differently abled kids, mostly adolescents. Each Friday, I assisted the program directors in making the kids feel comfortable and happy and like they had a friend. Whether it was helping get snacks, play basketball outside, make art projects, or play Just Dance, there were always laughs involved and it just felt like I was hanging out with my friends. However, when I first started volunteering, it was not this relaxed and did not come very easily. Many of the kids either had autism or Down’s syndrome along with some other disorders. It would be difficult to try and understand what they were saying at times, or they would be very clingy and have no sense of personal space. I did not mind this, but it took some getting used to. I learned that the best way to just be their friend was to truly listen to them, because they had so many great stories and ideas to tell,

Reflection 1 Learning about family policy while doing service learning can provide those participating in service learning with demographics and background information on families and communities. The importance of those doing the service learning and the community collaborating is to get an idea of what is going on in their community that results in using the services provided by family policies. Learning about family policies can help me to understand what services can be provided to families. It can also help me understand what requirements are needed to qualify for certain services. It can be beneficial doing service learning because it can provide me with the opportunity to gain real world understanding and connections.

I have had the opportunity to volunteer for the All Major Career Fair. I have volunteered many times before, but never had the opportunity to do a career fair. I have found through the experience that I need to volunteer more often. Before I volunteered for this career fair, I have not volunteered in a while. Whenever the Kennesaw State has another career fair I will definitely take the time out to volunteer on my own.

For my service learning hours, I decided to assistant coach at Four Corners Charter Upper School. When I took on this task, being tremendously excited to work with the girls there and give back to this school. My role consisted of being the assistant coach to my sister Amanda Ramirez, helping her to guide and train the girls to learn the sport of lacrosse. Having experience in coaching high school girl’s lacrosse, I came in with drills and strategies to be the most effective assistant coach. The girls that decided to come out for the team haven’t ever heard of the sport, which became a good thing for coaching, giving us the upper hand for coaching and teaching the sport to the girls.

My role in my service learning position is at Tri-City Church (also Community Bible Church... as there is currently a merge going on) of Vista, CA. My position is primarily to care for the needs of children while the mothers are able to take a break to meditate on the sermon. This care includes feeding children, playing with them, soothing them, taking care of their toileting needs, and helping sign in and out the children to their parents or family members. While I am already fairly comfortable with this routine (as I have been doing it for some time now) there is still the occasionally apprehensive moment. Occasionally I have trouble connecting with the parent's if their new to the area. Earning parents' trust can be a difficult thing to do.

Today I met with Teri to present my service learning project to her. I explained to her that I had made a brochure to present all the information about depression to her and that she could keep it. I felt nervous and anxious about presenting. In my brochure I included a brief definition of what depression is, predisposing factors, signs/symptoms, complications, treatments, medications, prognosis, ways to relieve stress/anxiety, and resources to gather more information on depression. As I was presenting my project I began to feel more relaxed and at ease. I tried to make my brochure as brief as possible, so that it was easy to understand, but include all the information needed as well. I feel that I did a pretty job of meeting this goal. I went

During the spring semester of 2015, I took the Service-Learning course in psychology (Psych 410). The general structure of this course included attending a 70 minutes long class on Mondays and Wednesdays to learn about service learning from the psychology field perspectives, reading scientific articles, conducting literature reviews to broaden my understanding of the subject, and in class constructive discussions with my colleagues. The course required 50 hours of community service at any local organizations or schools. From February 24 to May 8, I volunteered at the Arc of southern Maryland, an organization that provides residential services for individuals with intellectual disability. This organization has several homes in the Leonardtown area. Each home has four to five residents that are grouped based on the developmental disability conditions. As part of the class, I was required to write eight reflection papers about my volunteer site visits that were minimum of one page. Additionally, the class required me to develop a hypothetical program that would be beneficial for the individuals that I worked with.

The topic for the Service Learning Project which I have selected to write about is about The Spinal and Thoracic Treatment and Research (STTAR) Center at the Children’s Hospital of San Antonio, which conducts research related to the function of a child's spine and chest. I will accomplish this SLP by focusing on four key areas. Those areas are as follows: the establishment of the learning outcome of the SLP, the mechanics of the SLP, the community relationships resulting from the SLP, and the personal effects of the SLP. An analysis of these areas will reveal how The Spinal and Thoracic Treatment and Research (STTAR) Center at the Children’s Hospital of San Antonio conducts clinical studies that analyze the chest in unique and unprecedented

My service-learning site is working with students. Assisting the teacher with teaching students on AP psychology, student government and tutoring on any subject that they might struggle with during school. Just to get a better idea or more information on how to structure their work better.

For the Service Learning Assignment, I decided to volunteer at Northwind Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center. The first expectation I have for my service experience is that it is going to take me out of my element. I know that I am going to be exposed to situations that I typically do not see on a daily basis. I believe that the agency/organization and staff would be pleasant to work with. The last couple of months, I visited a few nursing home/rehab centers and everyone always has been pleasant. After reading the responsibilities for this service experience, the task does not seem overwhelming or complicated. It would be like spending time with a family member and making them feel comfortable. The patient may be a little challenging depending

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

For my service learning aspect of this course, I volunteered at Lawrence Catholic Academy. There I worked one-on-one with a fourth grade boy who was struggling in all of his subjects. His grades were not very high and he needed a lot of extra help. One reason as to why he wasn’t doing well in school was because he rarely ever did his homework and therefore he always fell behind in class. Another thing that I had found out just a couple of weeks ago is that he was very sick last year and he had to miss half a year of school. Since he wasn’t in school for half of the year, he didn’t learn the material that he needs to know and therefore he is even further behind compared to the rest of his peers. I would always try my best to help him understand