Service Learning Project: Reflection Paper

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.

Since I was five years old I would always give my community a help hand, whether in beautifying my community by planting flowers, or by volunteering at local places. From the ages from five to ten my after school program would go around the neighborhood to plant flowers. In my town library I donated my time to help the children with hands-on activities to promote original ideas such as creating objects with everyday items. I have also volunteered a total of 36 hours for the American Cancer Society.

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.

Through out my service-learning project there were different activities and sites my cousin and I visited in the community. The first site my cousin and I had our activity in was in my home in Boyle Heights, where we had a conversation about his diabetes and talked about his experiences with type1 diabetes as a teenager. I decided to choose my home as our first activity because it was the perfect place to ask my cousin to participate in my project and make him feel comfortable enough to share his experiences with me. The second activity we arranged was a lunch date at Outback Steakhouse in Glendale. Having lunch at a restaurant was my cousin’s idea because he wanted to show me how different and difficult it can be from eating a home made meal.

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.

I decided to start volunteering at the local humane society because I’ve always been really passionate about animals and wanted to start benefiting them in the community. Prior to my service I was delighted because I’ve wanted to start volunteering for years and was glad the opportunity had presented itself. Throughout my experience I learned a great deal and met a lot of new people. Even though I’ve only just started serving my time at the Fox Valley Humane Association I can truly see the difference it has made in the community.

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

The service day on April 5th, really gave me a precious opportunity to have access to the life and health of immigrant persons from South America and their priorities in life as well as their consideration about health. This is my first time to help so many immigrant persons from South America check their blood pressure, height and body weight, and give them information about how to have access to free clinical and blood pressure control as well as weight management. I really thank Professor Raja, because it was she who gave us this precious experience to do service for and know this special population in USA.

The service learning project for ForKids organization was organized to analyze the existing data and information concerning the performance of the beyond-the-bell (BTB) tutoring program. During the semester-long project working for ForKids, I observed and now better understand the best practices of nonprofit organizations. Additionally, although most best practices are universal in nature, there must be considerations for the unique characteristics of a nonprofit organization such as organization culture and the community it serves.

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.

In my Service learning, I was involved with the Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation tutor program for Refugee Action Support. Blacktown North Public School is where I completed my Service Learning and 96% of the student population is born from a country other than Australia and 43% of the population is only in phase 1 English as a second language (ESL) according to (NSW Department of Education). The school demographics is students come from over 20 other nations around the world and they speak over 35 languages, the website for the school gives parents the opportunity to change the language of the website to cater for the minimal knowledge of English (Blacktown North Public School, 2018). This is the reason why the RAS program is implemented

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

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

It is also a “boundary spanning” activity in that it requires active involvement from people both within and outside of the classroom context, often resulting in participant contributors who represent a variety of generations, ethnicities, social groups, and experience levels (Billig and Furco, 2002, p.vii). Service-learning is designed to reduce the boundaries between an institutional campus environment and the community around it. It is designed to connect learning to real experience through service and reflection (Ball and Schilling, 2006; Becker, 2000). As a baseline to facilitate this development, service-learning is distinct from other types of community service and civic engagement experiences in that the service-learning experience must not only have a service and reflective component but also be clearly tied to the curriculum through learning objectives and theoretical underpinnings (Bloomquist, 2015; Pritchard, 2001). As Barbara Holland, former Director of the U.S. National Service-Learning Clearinghouse, shared, “Service-learning is all in the hyphen. It is the enrichment of specific learning goals through structured community service opportunities that respond to community-identified needs and opportunities.” (Kenworthy-U’Ren, Taylor, and Petri, 2006: 121).

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