Service Learning Project

Politically, socially, environmentally or one person at a time, how will you give back to society? Day in and day out many citizens change the world, or they do just the opposite and make the world a worse place than when they woke up. The article I chose to review is, “Community Service” written by Robert Coles. The article tells a story of college students who make a difference in the world through peer tutoring, an act of community service, and have such an impact that they act as role models for Coles and he begins to do the same. Briefly in the beginning of the article, Coles states that, “students are likely to express their lofty political and social impulses and practical desires to change the world through community service, even if in limited or modest ways.”(Robert Coles, pg.93) We must make an ultimate decision about the world we live in, will we choose to make a difference in the lives of fellow citizens or discriminate and punish not only them but ourselves by not sharing the knowledge we have been taught.

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 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.

“Community Service is important for many reasons. Taking part and volunteering teaches compassion and understanding. You can volunteer for something you really believe and have an interest in, and can volunteer as much or as little as you'd like or have time for.” Community service is really easy to get into. I mean, it is not like you have to put out an application and have an interview in order to do it. It is really easy to get into, and is really fun. It is things you wouldn’t even think are considered, like:

For my Reflective Service Learning Project, I volunteered at Westminster Shores Community Living. Westminster Shores is a community living center, with independent living and assisted living. They hold many events for the residents that lives there, as well as involve the volunteers in discussion groups. In addition, on of the main goals of the volunteer program is to create a connection between the students that volunteer and the residents who Live at Westminster Shores. As a volunteer, I participated in discussion groups, Saturday morning activities, and a “Day of Friendship”. Originally, being introduced to this volunteer opportunity, I though I was going to be sitting and talking to residents while playing games and doing puzzles. Although I love those activities, I was very pleased when I learned that I was going to be involved in discussion groups and projects. One of the main goals of the volunteering program is to connect students with the residents, so being involved in communicating with the residents creates a connection. I was able to connect one on one with some residents, as well as chat in bigger groups. In addition, I participated in the set-up of the Holiday Market, which is held annually, and I met several female residents with tables, selling homemade items. I enjoyed and learned about them talking to them through set-up. Furthermore, during the “Day of Friendship”, I spent the day with one resident and am still in contact with him and his wife. Through

Prior to working on the service learning project, I had to pass the basic income tax course on the IRS website which required a lot of reading. I failed the first attempt so I had to re-read the basic tax course again. I finally passed and was ready for my experience in the service learning project

Initially, it was my understanding the article would discuss the positive impacts on a student after completing a service learning outside one’s home country. In regard to “hard questions,” I assumed the author would address challenges that arise while working with individuals that live in a different culture from our own, speak a different language from our own, etc. I thought the “impact” mentioned in the title was dealing with the student who was venturing out to complete the service work, and not the recipient of the service learning.

In Service-Learning and Academic Success: The Links to Retention Research, Dan Simonet puts forth the idea, that students more involved in their learning benefit socially and academically. His writing uses a formal approach to inform educators about the ways that Service-Learning can improve the academic success and retention of their students. Explaining one of the advantages for educators, Simonet suggests that service-learning can be a tool to help create “positive relationships” with their students (1). Simonet uses climax to organize and present his evidence, providing various examples of research throughout the article, to further the claim that service-learning increases student retention and bolsters their academic success.

Prior to the service learning my hands on experience was limited to activities and recreational therapy in assisted living environments. I wanted to explore other facets of the field. For that reason, the Senior Reach program was chosen to gain knowledge about senior interventions and community health operations.

When I was in my first semester of college as a dual credit student, I was assigned to do a service learning project. For this project, I had to volunteer somewhere for a few hours and then analyze what I saw and experienced. I decided to volunteer at a nursing home and spend some time with the elderly residents there. The experience that I had impacted my outlook on nursing homes and those with mental illnesses. While there, I saw many residents that were physically impaired but I was not prepared to witness so many people with failing minds. I feel like this project really opened my eyes and my heart for those that had once been able to live full lives and were now unable to care for themselves. A few years later, my own grandmother’s

In today's modern society many students in preparatory school such as high schools and junior high schools are now requiring students to do “donate” their time to volunteer work or community service. These preparatory schools are doing this now in hopes that it helps prepare the young adults for the “real world” where the teenagers will have

I chose the Kayak Cleanup service learning from the Edmonds Community College website. In my mindset, the reason I picked the Kayak Cleanup is because it totaled six hours, exactly the number of hours required to do service learning on my Bioanthropology class. It was perfect. I asked my 20-year-old female French housemate, who was also taking a Bioanthropology class to come with me and she agreed. On Wednesday, the 27th of January, a group from Edmonds Community College departed from the campus garden to Lake Union at exactly 9:00 am. Apart from my housemate and I, there were three other people: a young male organizer in his 20s and two other students – an older Asian girl in her late 20s or 30s and a young white guy about

During my course I was instructed that I had to attend volunteering. I attended three very different events. One involving students with exceptionalities, the second involving younger children, and lastly, I would classify the last one as a rewarding opportunity. This essay should be regarded as a reflection of my service. It contains the details of each event I attended, what I learned, and the activities I had to do at each event. Lastly, I intend to evaluate the overall service learning hour project.

A generation ago, "community service" was a punishment juvenile offenders must endure. Today, more and more students like to help out their communities. There are three main reasons why students volunteer:

If service work is in the form of a “course” assignment, does a student completing volunteerism achieve the feeling(s) of accomplishment--and what it brings--or moreso a grade in the grade book? Volunteerism can show good citizenship and create compassion; however, by having volunteer work forced upon student it forces compassion, making it an unreal and false experience of what service work can actually bring someone. People choosing to volunteer for events or support do so in the thoughts of others; volunteerism is to be completed without getting anything in return except for a feeling of accomplishment that pushes to do more to help his/her community. When volunteer work is changed to mandatory, a student is not focusing on helping others, he/she is more focus on gaining points to earn a certain grade in a class. Service work should not be abused to form students into better citizens with more kindness; a student should want to be a compassionate citizen of their community on their own, the idea should already be formed.