Personal Statement : Volunteer Work

As a first-year student, I am open to trying new things such as being a Coordinator, I feel that this would be a very enriching experience for me as a student and will allow me to improve myself. I am a very adaptable person, who gets along well with others and can clearly communicate all the required content. Moreover, I have exceptional organizational skills from my previous experience as an executive of Banting Memorial High School’s Student Council, but can always improve if need be. I also enjoy and believe in volunteering overall, with my past experience volunteering in daycares and retirement homes, I believe that I have the dedication, commitment and initiative to be an excellent volunteer coordinator.

As a recent graduate of the Johns Hopkins University and a new Research Technician at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, becoming more familiar with different healthcare settings and helping others in doing so have always been of my interest. From my experience of volunteering as a piano teacher for inner-city children in Baltimore, I have learnt that even a small commitment and emotional support can make a big difference in the daily lives and the happiness of those in need. I have briefly familiarized myself to the hospital environment by shadowing physicians and conducting biomedical research but have yet to translate my volunteering experiences and the lessons learnt from them to the healthcare setting. I am a friendly, optimistic,

When I began my Civics class, thinking it potentially difficult and boring, I did not initially look forward to this project. However, as I did each activity, I found myself enjoying each and every one. From sitting in a board meeting to collecting trash, I discovered something new in all of the ways I volunteered. Not only did the people I volunteered for gain something through my service, but I feel that I gained a lot as well.

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,

Tangible learning can be an excellent method of learning. Students who are able to take information from the classroom and apply in it the field can understand the how and why things are done the way they are. Moreover, Sax and Astin stated that service learning requires students to go out into their field and then return to relate their experiences via writings, discussions, or class presentations (Sax & Astin, 1997). I related to Sax and Astin with their characteristics of service participants. The authors claimed that a student who has longevity in volunteering, leadership and strong family commitment to their community are strong candidates to volunteering. My biggest inspiration for service comes from my father who spent 25 years as a volunteer fireman in our community. My childhood idolization of my father corroborated the authors claim that service participates are not to be motivated by materialistic values (Sax & Astin, 1997). Ultimately, Sax and Astin stated “during college, service participants exhibit greater increases in social self-confidence and leadership ability than do nonparticipants” (Sax & Astin, 1997). In relation to Sax and Astin I feel I have enhanced my interpersonal skills, confidence in dealing with people, and working in a profession that is not common for

Experiences in service offer more opportunities to be taught than for your deeds to make an impact. These experiences have established and strengthened the fundamental moral principles that I live my life by. Throughout my education, they have been challenged and developed by academics, missions, and cultural experiences. Education can only carry one so far if it’s lessons are not implemented in service to this world. Through fostering a love of people and the world, I have found that learning sparks curiosity, curiosity kindles exploration, exploration illuminates discovery, and discovery ignites

I did not know what service-learning was until I read the articles assigned for class. The articles along with going to the Harpers Ferry Job Corps orientation really showed me what it was all about. The reading and the class presentation have challenged my first thoughts by giving me a better understanding of what service learning is. Service-learning goes a couple of miles further than community service. Service-learning allows students to help the community, as well as learn about something. For example, my Education class is going to be tutoring students at Job Corps. Our class is providing the Harpers Ferry community a free service of tutoring to those who need it while hopefully my peers and I will gain a solid understanding of what it would be like to teach one-on-one. Service-learning has three main components: community service, instruction, and reflection. Those components work well together and make service-learning seem like the perfect answer to helping education grow into a more progressive way. However, students need to have a high responsibility, they have to take the initiative, as well as make choices. If students do not do that, the success of service-learning will be lacking.

As I read through the article, “Service Learning: The Process of Doing and Becoming an Occupational Therapist”, one of the things that stood out to me when reading the student’s reflections, was how service learning fosters greater civic awareness that one would not otherwise know about. For instance, a couple of days ago, I was speaking to a friend who participated in a Health Occupations for Positive Emotions (HOPE) program where she helped pregnant teens continue their education. My friend being raised in a loving; protective family was not aware of the high percentage of teen

This semester I chose to do my service learning at Volunteers of America, a nonprofit organization that provides affordable housing and other assistance services to low-income citizens. Within this organization I took care of the elderly, both the one’s with disabilities and the one’s without; I helped the staff with daily activities necessary to the organization which affect the residents’ health. Not only did I help with the organizations’ responsibilities but I also decorated the facility for different celebrations and shared time with the residents in the foundation. Some activities included table games, physical exercises, beauty treatments and reading.

“Service-learning is a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities” (Learn and Serve America National Service-Learning Clearinghouse). This assignment gave students the opportunity to go outside of their comfort zone, which is typically the classroom and see what the “real world” is like. As Gandhi would say “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others” (Gandhi). I believe that this project really allowed us to appreciate what we have because many people are not as fortunate. During this service learning project I had certain expectations going into the project, but in the end, my results were not exactly as I expected.

It is important to help give back to the community you’re able to learn through a different experience that helps enhance your knowledge. Service learning allows students to make a connection from the course and apply it in the classroom making their experience more engaging. I think is important to take what you learn in class and apply it. I am looking forward to starting placement to help enhance my learning and improve my skills. This type of experience gives you a whole different meaning when you can apply what you learn in a real life setting.

My goal is to build up the pharmaceutical industry with my passion for chemistry. I hope to achieve my goal by furthering my education and knowledge about chemistry in the Florida A&M University College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences program. While discovering my passions I learned the importance of community service. To me the word "service" means not only volunteer but to also learn and experience. Volunteering is the easiest part of service because anyone can get out and volunteer. That type of volunteering definitely helps in the world but when you learn something from volunteering it takes what you did a step further. When you learn from volunteering then you can educate others about what you have learned. Education is what helps others understand why and where volunteering is needed. The last thing on the list for service is experience. If someone doesn’t experience something life changing, whether big or small, then their service was really not complete. When I experience something while volunteering it makes me want to keep volunteering and that is really want the world

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

I have unpredictable and severe epileptic seizures, idiopathic hypersomnia, depression, and anxiety. The unpredictable nature of my epilepsy has caused extreme difficulties in being able to attend classes on campus, work collaboratively with peers and mentors, and to continue my learning beyond the classroom. This has contributed to a significant impact on my learning and engagement in my studies.

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