I found Phyllis Ryder’s “Rhetorics for Community Service” book most useful in helping me reflect on my service learning. I am currently volunteering in Miriam’s Kitchen, which is a non-profit organization aiming to end the chronic homelessness in DC. In order succeed, kitchen volunteers help prepare and serve meals to people in need. However simple this job may seem, there is a deeper meaning in what we do. We make our guests feel respected, safe, and treated as ordinary people. But first and foremost, we listen them and try to do our best to prepare everything flawless. One of Ryder’s quotes is directly related to my community service, which is, “…doing good needs to begin by listening to the people on the ground and by working with them.
The move to New York was planned with Jeannette’s sister Lori after their father stole a lump of the money they had saved from working odd jobs. “Lori would leave by herself for New York and use it to get established, so that by the time I arrived, everything would be set” (223) Jeannette was determined to move to New York and start a new life. When Jeannette arrived in New York she experienced a sense of freedom and independence that she never had before. Jeannette was able to make her own decisions and mistakes without the judgment of her parents. A research paper by JC Wilson “Service-learning and the development of empathy in US college students” its findings are about the development of college students who participate in service learning assignments.
Service to me means, giving your all to you school and community without expecting anything in return. At a young age, I participated in many fundraising events with my dance team where we provided a service to others such as annual car washes, waiting tables at various restaurants, and organizing dances and activities for kids. In Junior High I was a key club member and we volunteered for concession stand duties, helped out at elementary basketball tournaments, and acted as line judges or referees at volleyball tournaments. Since my mom is a first grade teacher, I spent many summers setting up and organizing her classroom, and on my days off from school, I provided kids in my mom’s classroom with help in reading or math. As a part of Earth Week at our school, I did various jobs for people in my community.
In Rachel Remen’s article Helping vs. Serving she provides her stance on the distinction between helping and serving. Remen feels that, though the two words are often used interchangeably, ‘serving’ is the most appropriate term to use as it implies equality that ‘helping’ does not. While the author acknowledges that both terms refer to the act of assisting others, Remen offers readers a new, more in depth perspective. Essentially, Remen likens helping to having pity on an individual, whereas serving is an act of selflessness. In this selflessness, servers do not focus on what an individual is lacking that they can provide, but rather creating wholeness in humanity.
In 1868, Elizabeth Cady Stanton delivered the "The Destructive Male" during the Women's Suffrage Convention in Washington D.C. The speech was given in the height of the Women's' Suffrage movement, which gathered an abundance amount of women. These gatherings were mostly attended by women that fought for their rights and a small percentage of the participants were men that as well supported the end to women's suffrage in America. The author's purpose for this speech was on how men in society were the leading cause of violence and disorganization. If men and women were to share power ,then the world will work in harmony and be safer.
(public service) all about” I realized that public service ought to be less about competing ideologies and more about serving people who are often forgotten, like the veteran I had just met. A year later, I volunteered to tutor and mentor veterans and prepare them for the academic and social challenges of an undergraduate experience. Under the guidance of the program’s leadership, I used techniques and strategies that were tailored to the individual veterans, and saw each veteran I worked with, take significant
Service does not have to be something extravagant, it can be a simple minute of helping a peer or neighbor do a task. Every act of kindness can make a difference in
I think this reading, “Building Partnerships for Service Learning”, effectively sets up a framework to use as a tool in order to reflect on one’s own service work. While it does not tell you how to build partnerships, it instead gives benchmarks to describe what those relationships should look like. What most resonated with me is the important idea that service learning is not providing services on behalf of the community, but partnering with communities “to meet collective needs”. These relationships need to be collaborations, where they are equally beneficial for both the institution and the community around it. Universities should not go into communities with a savior complex, instead service should provide a learning opportunity for the
• Cultural Competency: The ability to understand, appreciate and interact with persons from cultures and/or belief systems other than one 's own. Cultural Competence for me is the foundation of communication and it involves in the ability to understand the surroundings by becoming aware of the cultural values, beliefs and perceptions of my fellow human being. This can be a workplace setting, school, or public encounter. For instance, I’m originally from Somalia, and after completing high school, I went Pakistan to pursue an Agricultural Science degree. This was the first time I left my home—It gave me the opportunity to learn a new language, culture, and custom values, other than mine.
" I agree with this definition of service, the only thing that I would add is that service should be done with no alternative motives. However in many cases, this is not the case, people do service to help them look better or to improve their resume. In my case service means a lot to me because I remember when my community building me into the person I am today. I want to give back to my community because someone helped me. Service to me is giving back to someone else so they can to
We must understand that it is our responsibility to help others as well as ourselves and to contribute meaningfully to society. When we are kind to others, we make the world a better place to
This quote really embodies my message, and the manner in which, I believe, my community should carry themselves. The impression of the matter is people in my community often do kind things just for recognition. If I had the authority, I would ensure that they are carried out for long periods of time rather than once or twice. If I had the authority to change this about my community I
For one week every summer, the senior high youth at St. Michael’s Lutheran Church in Roseville drop everything to venture somewhere in the United States on a service learning trip. Since I happen to attend that church, and I just so happen to be a senior high youth, I have joined these trips for three years running. Usually, we help out in soup kitchens, do some yard work, or visit homeless shelters. However, our trip during the summer of my junior year was destined to be different from the very beginning.
When doing our service learning project my group and I gave back to the community. We went to the boys and girls club and worked there for 3 hours packaging food and other items that they needed us to do. When doing this, it wasn’t about the hours that we put in to do this. It was about doing what is right and giving back to the community. Some people in this world don’t have things given to them like others.
What knowledge and skills have you learned or developed as a result of doing this Service Learning Project? I have learned to be punctual. I would call their office and ask if they needed my help that day, I would be told if I could make it at a certain hour and I would always say I’m available. I would make sure I’d be there 5 to 10 minutes before. I also learned to speak to strangers without being nervous, the nicest parents would come up to me and ask me about my day before making me tell them about the organization.