Service Learning Experience Reflection

Our group decided to participate in Little Event for our community service task. We chose this because it was already organized, and it was a guaranteed four hours. Upon arriving to Little Event, our coordinator had texted us what the tasks were going to be and told us her expectations from us as a group. Beforehand we knew we were going to be sweeping and picking up leaves and trash from outside a local elementary school. Although it was difficult waking up so early, we all got to UCO on time and were ready to go.

We donated our time to a charity during the fall, the JROTC program decided to do the Mana Cafe to help those in need. It was a food drive and people would help gather food together to deliver it to families that needed it for the winter. Everyone was pitching together and doing their part to get the food together and in the people’s car. Even in the cold weather, everyone was having fun, knowing that they were doing excellent in their hearts. Therefore that day families were allowed to eat despite their economic struggle and all as a result of the service we did to help them.

The summer before high school, I decided it was time to get involved in the community. A close family friend who attended my church offered a volunteer position with her organization called Clothes to You that supplies low-income families with free attire. The non-profit organization resonated closely with me as my tribe, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, suffers from severe financial hardships, and realizing how life changing an organization such as this could be I promptly accepted her offer. On designated days we drove the mobile van to predetermined locations and transformed the desolate parking lot to a bustling shopping center. People of all ages filled the aisles and I assisted shoppers searching for outfits as varied as interview

For my third trimester service project, I provided help to my school. I went to daycare for two hours helping Mrs. Riley. I helped kindergarteners with their homework inside so that they wouldn’t have any homework to do when they got home. I also helped run a couple games and make sure everyone was making smart decisions on the playground. I then helped Ms. Maynes in the 5th grade classroom for two hours as well. I helped her with cleaning the students desks, I helped with correcting papers and putting them in numerical order, I finished coloring a Mary drawing to put on the bulletin board, and I also helped punch out some letters so she can use them in the classroom. Ms. Maynes was also kind enough to bring me down to the Kindergarten classroom

I mainly did these volunteer service hours during my time in high school and some others in grade school that I can’t quite remember. For my first three years in high school each student had to get a certain amount of service hours. For all three years I chose Merrimac Park for the location I would choose. It was close to me and I went there often. My first year I simply walked around the park and picked up all the trash I spotted. The second year I did this but then I also asked if they would let me help in the park house as well. They said yes so whenever I came I would sweep the floors of both the hallways and the gym. The third year I was once again looking to do a little more so I offered my services as a score board operator for the youth flag football league I had once been a part of at the park. I knew the person in charge of the athletic programs at the park so he agreed. I was even allowed to ref a few games because I know the basic rules having been in the league and also playing football myself in high school. I think that year was my favorite out of the three. I loved cleaning the park but adding on the role to help out the flag football league was a blast. It was something that at the time I was passionate about and had a close tie with. To be able to help was truly an honor and made me glad I was able to volunteer my time at the

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.

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

Initially I thought my service learning time in the campus gardens would be working on one task, such as weeding, the whole time. While my first few minutes of service learning were occupied with weeding, I was pleasantly surprised to be working on different tasks. The time spent in the campus gardens has been time of learning and building community. With each new task I learn why I am doing it and how it helps the garden continue to flourish or give back to the surrounding community. When I harvested butternut squash, I learned first how to know when it was ready to be picked. That squash I harvested is for the Farm-to-Table event on campus. Knowing that the campus garden grew butternut squash, I chose to try it later when it was an option

This year my grade split up and all went to different places to help people with their charity. I went to Webster-Rockhill Ministry, with a great group of people. When I got there I did not exactly know what we would be doing. They put us to work within the hour. It was surprisingly really fun. We cleaned up a kitchen and organized it, unloaded plants from trucks so they would not have to do it, and carried goods from place to place. I really enjoyed helping the people there. Last year, we went to a place called Compassion. Compassion was a group of trucks all placed together, that told the stories of three young kids in poverty from all over the world. We were given iPods so we could listen to the kids tell their story and the trucks were decorated for each scene. I remember walking out of it wanting to help. That is what stewardship is all about, helping someone other than

In the spring of my junior year, myself, other National Honors Society members, and members of the community came together to put on a spaghetti dinner fundraiser. This fundraiser was to help the family of a freshman who was battling cancer. This experience impacted me in a way that I will never forget. By working to put together this dinner and working as a waiter at the dinner I realized how much I take for granted, and that I need to be more grateful in every aspect of my life. In preparation for this dinner I went to businesses for donations, made personal donations, and worked to get district and community involvement. As a waiter at the dinner I greeted the public, served the three-course meal, and helped to accept further donations for

The course objective for the class Service Learning in English is to increase one’s knowledge about language arts tutoring through readings, discussion, and experience working with teachers and a specific student struggling with academics as well as his/her work ethic. I was assigned to tutor Aaron Ring, a freshman at Christel House Academy South, a nationally acclaimed award-winning school. The school has a healthy and safe, welcoming environment that contains a diverse assortment of students and a 20:1 student-teacher ratio to allow teachers and students to build a close relationship. The different rooms of the school were well-ordered and well-maintained. Majority of the classrooms were clean with different lighting, colorful decorations,

I started this semester with high ambitions of what I was going to do for my community service hours, but time took control of that and got away from me. I still was able to do the Ronald McDonald which is great especially since this time I really try to interact with the people that were utilizing the services. I talked to each person that went into the lines and just sit down with a couple of them and learned more about why they were there and what they was going through. This communication made me understand what the Ronald McDonald house meant to some of these individuals. They really enjoyed our food that we prepared. Also they really took advantages of the can drinks we brought because they had been drinking water and tea about

For my service learning project I completed hours at Holiday Brook Farm. Within this paper I will relate my internship to my bioregion. An overview of the business itself is included along with why it is important to my bioregion. An inquiry of what was done at the farm for my project. This includes my expectations, if those expectations were met, how it’s related to class, etc. An abbreviated review of literature that includes background information, history, etc. related to my project. A log of hours along with field notes and Kate's signature is included. A section of my possible resume is included describing tasks that I was responsible for throughout the service learning. Finally, a wrap up of the project, if it was beneficial, what I enjoyed or did not enjoy, and how it’s related to my bioregion to conclude.

During my time at Archmere, I have founded a club called the Pencil Project that collects pencils and other school supplies and sends them to a less privileged school so that students have a chance to learn and excel. During my sophomore year, we collected over $800 and supplies to send to a school in Detroit, MI where 72% of the students are enrolled in a free lunch program; this year we will send the goods to a school in South Carolina where 86% of the students participate in the free lunch program. Additionally, I have recently partaken in providing a hot meal and clothes to homeless people through Faith Victory Church in Wilmington. With my siblings, I woke up early on Thanksgiving Day and New Years Eve to serve a hot meal and run a clothes drive for the homeless to brighten their holiday. Watching the individuals' faces light up and ease when they ate a hot meal and then picked out clothes filled me with gratitude.