Third Trimester Service Reflection

As a student, I have demonstrated many works of service to my community and school. Service opportunities have shaped me into the person I am today and these projects have made me realize how fortunate I am for all that I have. While I've been doing these service projects through the years, it has been a pleasure seeing the joy on the faces of people that aren't as fortunate as I am. Service projects that I have completed include managing the fish booth at the St. Leo's Parish Festival, being an altar server at St. Leo's Parish, helping cook dinner for the Ridgway Fire Department during carnival day setup, participating in the St. Marys Light Up Night by dancing, and Christmas caroling to local residents. I also participated in a zombie/princess

For my service project, I chose to work at the Meadowlark Meals organization. This organization takes in donations of food and uses them to make meals for children at the school to take home on the weekends. If these children did not take this food home, they would not eat at all over the weekend. I chose to work at this organization because I love kids and it is sad to see them hungry when I have plenty of food to eat. I wanted to make a difference in their lives and I thought that this organization could help me accomplish that.

My service learning activity took place overseas on a small island named Haiti. I took the trip with Sister Victoria and five other people. In my short time there I grew a deeper appreciation for all that we have here in the United States. For instance, clear water, readily accessible medical resources, and so much more. Additionally, to a growing deeper appreciate, my team and I did a lot of activities there to help the community of Jacmel. For example, we visited several orphanages within the surrounding communities and helped with meal preparations, feedings, and ADLs. In addition to visiting orphanages, we also had the opportunity to work in the clinic where myself and the rest of our team helped with taking vital signs, general assessments, and wound care. Furthermore, we had the opportunity to visit several hospitals and clinics are were able to drop off medical supplies that the hospital/clinic needed. Lastly, we accompanied Sister Margaret to do home health visits in nearby neighborhoods.

For my service learning opportunity, I chose to help a nonprofit tutoring organization. I didn't tutor, but I did help format the website and used my English skills I've devolved from TOPS to make her message more clear to any viewers. I chose this opportunity because I know how many kids my age hate school and wish school didn't even exist, but I also know how badly kids in these third world countries dream of school. They dream of being able to know as much as we do even though we don't even know that much. They help the national communities of children between ages 3 - 19 to learn English, mathematics, science, and fine arts. They do this, yet they are a nonprofit organization, so they don't even make money off of this which I think is amazing.

For my service learning, I volunteered with two different community partners. The first service learning area I volunteered in was connecting with children at shelter and help work on a beautification project at the Miami Bridge Shelter. Miami Bridge is a Miami-Dade shelter for children who are victims of human trafficking, drug dealers, runaways, and abandoned youths which delivers them a fostering and supportive environment. They reconnect the youth ages from seven to seventeen with educational, social and job-related opportunities. While at Miami Bridge, a group of us from Barry had to paint the children’s bathrooms over with a different color such as purple for the girls and a cream color for the boys. After that, we had a task with the kids to pick up rocks in the sand with shovels because the shelter plans on making a play area there.

Instead of being in the library or at school, I was out on the road with the underground passing out food and water to the homeless. It was my idea to bring out food for those who couldn’t get to us. There were a lot of people who were disabled and barely able to move who needed help.

One school related activity that shows my eagerness to serve others in my school is the Autism Awareness fundraiser for Drama Club. We went around the school and around the community and raised money for a family with a son with autism. With the money we went and bought a sleeping bag and a teddy bear to help the boy sleep, and few toys just for him to enjoy . I helped acquire a large amount of money for donation. The fundraiser went from March 13-17th, lasted the whole school day

I've done a lot of volunteering work at my school working with the teachers’ kids . Looking after them

My service learning project is about helping my community by volunteering at my local pumpkin patch with my nana. My nana asked one day if I could help with something and I said okay and come to find out I was helping at the pumpkin patch. I started Volunteering when I was 16 and I helped by driving the train around for the kids to ride in, put the pumpkins where they needed to go, and be a cashier. I absolutely love helping out there because I got to meet new people and see the faces of little kids smile every time they saw a pumpkin. What I learned from working there was how to be a cashier which I have never done before and also learn how to be more involved with my community by meeting new people. I feel so happy and grateful knowing that

Activities I have been involved in include: the Meals on wheels Thanksgiving Day deliveries for the past three years. On Thanksgiving Day I am given a list of houses and addresses to deliver the meals to that the Argyle NY fire house prepares. This is one of my favorite days of the year because you see the amount of people that appear to assist with the same selfless act, and it is just astounding. Another community service project I participated in with the Biological Honor Society is the Schoharie County Mass Drug dispensary drill for the department of Health. This was in case of a state of emergency to test how well the county could accommodate for each person’s needs, whether it be medical, shelter, or food and water. This activity showed me how chaotic an emergency can and will be, which is an excellent opportunity is for a nursing student. The purpose was to record how many people they could get through the building in one hour. In addition to the Mass Drug Dispensary Drill, I participated in the Mass Casualty Drill that Bassett Health care in Cobleskill New York needed assistance with. They had just opened a new emergency room and needed to test their efficiency. The eight members of the Biological Honor Society assisted including myself in pretend collision between a Volkswagen Jetta and a bus. I had the symptoms of paralysis and numbness in the legs, so they hauled me onto the stretcher and took my first ride in an ambulance, and I will say that it is not very comfortable. When I arrived at the Hospital they took all my vitals, MRI, and CT, and then they actually decided I needed to immediately be shipped to Ellis Medicine for further

For my service learning I helped out the local Boy Scout troop in my town. Every year they do a roast beef dinner. This dinner helps raise money to help cut some off the cost for the boys so they can go on fun trips and go camping. What I did to help them out was I came out Friday night before the dinner and helped them prep all the vegetables, which included 165 lbs of potatoes peeled and chopped, 150 lbs of carrots, 90 lbs of mushrooms. Then on Saturday the day of the dinner, I worked in the kitchen with the other adults there and was part of the process to keep the food coming out smoothly. While we were in the kitchen, the boys went around sat people, and were also the waiters. They had a whole dish crew that was in another kitchen who made sure that there was always clean dishes coming out ready to go for the next people coming in. This dinner ending up serving 200lbs of roast beef and serving upwards of 300 people from 4:30 to 7. This number included people who ate in and tons of to go meals.

A large amount of my community service has been spent in some type of child care facility.Weather it be at an elementary school, assiting basketball, chruch events, or even at the day care. Working with kids so much has made me realise just how much one person can make a positive impact in their lives. It’s what drives me to become a Pediatric Physical Therapist. Not only am I just spending time with these kids, but I am showing them how to be a leader as well as a good person in showing them how that can reflect on our community.

My favorite experience of service was being involved in CASA Operation Christmas Child. It is run throughout the school with the foster care system of the surrounding area. Each club is to raise money and buy gifts for the foster children. The day before Christmas break we have a pep rally and then a party after school where all the kids come, have snacks, and open some gifts.

An activity that I participate in after and before school is Boy Scouts. In this activity we do many things such as service projects and fun activities during meetings. I have been participating in Boy Scouts since sixth grade, during this time I have participated in many service projects. One example of a recent service project in which I have participated in is, a fellow Boy Scout’s Eagle project. An Eagle project is a service project that, an individual does as part of many requirements to earn the eagle scout rank. The project is organized and run by the scout with little to no help from adults or peers. At the Eagle project we helped renovate roadrunner food bank. More specifically we painted four walkin fridge/freezers, while cleaning

Throughout my high school years I have volunteered at the Recreation Center and at Valley Animal Haven. I really enjoyed volunteering at the Mother-Daughter-Tea-Party, an event held by the Recreation Center. This event was held a few days before Mother's Day and the theme was Disney Princesses and it had a fashion show. It was a wonderful day for the mothers to spend time with their little girls. What I did before the event even started was make the food, the tea, and decorate the stage and all the tables. When the place was all decorated, it looked wonderful. When the guests arrived, we greeted them and told the little girls how pretty they looked. When the guests were all seated, we started to serve the tea. To me that was the most difficult