Service Learning Experience

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.

Service Learning is an educational strategy set in place to enlighten students with instruction and experience, in addition to improve learning , teach responsibility, and support the community. Service learning is vital to the development of the student, given that it intertwines academic and personal development together. It is aimed to enhance a student’s learning in all aspects of life.

Before deciding where I wanted to do my service learning, I knew I wanted to do something that had some relevance to my degree that I will be receiving in healthcare management. I was eager to gain more experience and become more knowledgeable of how an organization operates as it relates to healthcare management. I was able to secure an opportunity to volunteer at the Dallas Veterans Affairs (VA) Hospital. After completing the required VA forms, I got partnered with Mr. Alonzo Price Jr. who is a Management Analyst in Ambulatory Care, which is the department that oversees the Primary Care Providers.

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.

For this service learning project, my group and I organized a goods drive. We placed donation boxes around Denton for art-therapy supplies. The group also held an event on November 6, 2017, at Texas Woman’s University to encourage students to make donations. All the donations went to the Child Advocacy Center in Denton; this organization provides assistance to children that have been victims of physical or sexual abuse. This service learning project relates to the theories and ideas in chapter 13 and chapter 14 of Women’s Lives: A Psychological Exploration. Chapter 13 relates to mental health, and it signifies the importance of social support during stressful

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

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

I didn’t expect the peacefulness I got from doing this activity. Through this activity, I realized that it’s not only the adults giving and teaching children, but that sometimes it’s the children doing something amazing for the adults. And as such, this was an amazing experience. If I had just talked about the importance of helping the children, I would have never gotten to experience this, emphasizing the importance of not waiting around but getting up and doing something. Through observing those who had been doing this activity longer than myself, I realized that they probably gained the same conclusion of joy and happiness gained through this activity. The veterans didn’t speak of this as a volunteer activity or something to help the children of the community, although they did acknowledge the importance of doing something like this with the children of Lakeland. The other volunteers viewed this activity as something fun. Something they themselves are lucky to experience. They viewed what they were doing as not them blessing the children, but the children blessing them, and I thought that was amazing. And while there were some experienced members of the group, I didn’t feel as if there was any pressure of rank, I played and had fun with the children just as any more experienced

The purpose of this service-learning project was to educate and provide evidence based knowledge to associates that work at ShopRite in Flemington, N.J. on easy ways to identify, selected foods, which are beneficial to a similar looking body part. For example, the kidney beans are beneficial to the kidneys except if someone has kidney disease. My aim was to increase the knowledge of ShopRite associates so that they will be able to identify and more importantly recall quickly while shopping what foods are good for what parts of the body. The importance of associating foods that looks like body parts help keep learning simple, fun and informative. The best way to learn is to engage in an activity where learning does not appear to be the objective. Accidental learning can ‘stick’ so that when individuals are trying to incorporate healthy eating options into their diet recalling it will be simple.

The purpose of the service learning activity is to experience community service and feel more connected to the community, Edgewater. When I am able to reach out to my community members, specifically older adults, I believe I will be able to address their needs as well as contribute myself to provide them the essential services they want/need in their surroundings. Also, as a part of the course “Aging in America,” my goal is to be familiar with the different aspects of Aging in America such as demographics, aging and ageism, gerontology, and healthcare workforce. Upon completion of this service learning as well as this course, I want to be able to demonstrate the aging process, describe the theories of aging, and appreciate the multidisciplinary

In this paper, I discuss the experience I have gained from my service learning, along

Briefly describe your activities this week: I was schedule to begin my service learning on Tuesday 3/14/17 at 1pm. I was given instructions to meet with volunteer coordinator prior to beginning my volunteer activity as she would take me for a walk through. I arrived 15 minutes early and went to the front desk where I was informed that Ms. Cannon was out of the office. The front desk person told me that he would take me to the food center and introduce me to Darrel the Manager of the food bank. Darrel was out of the office as he had stepped out to get lunch. Initially they told me to begin sorting some items and showed me how they pack things for the clients. Darrell arrived and introduced himself and later came to get me so that I could help

On average on 26% of Americans volunteer, this surprised me on how low this number truly was. I now understand why community service is required for most classes, because without us kids out volunteering the numbers would be substantially lower. This proves to be true by a study done by Debra Blum shows that hot spots for volunteer work is in college towns, such as Provo, Madison, Wisconsin and Iowa City, Iowa. To me this is pointing out that people that have higher education are more likely to give back to their communities. This can be explained with certain theories that will be broken down later in the essay along with other materials.

I enjoyed the day, most of all the children learned from their experiences and enjoyed their day as