Senior Project: The Importance Of Youth Development

The act of volunteering is more than the time spent at an organization. Volunteering is about learning not only how to complete a task, but the lessons gained through the experience. In this year’s Senior Project, I was lucky enough to participate in the construction of a playground with the KaBOOM organization. While volunteering at this site, I was able to learn about the importance of youth development programs and their effects on children and youth in the community. In this paper I wish to focus on the importance of youth development programs, my experience with my organization, as well as other organizations paving the way for youth success. KaBOOM is a wonderful organization that is making a change one playground at a time. KaBOOM was

From the initial idea to the completed structure.” I was shocked to hear his response to be “the entire process is about 6-8 months”. (Kur-Lasky) I had imagined that building a playground would take a longer time considering negotiations, processing paperwork, let alone the construction of play structure. However, thinking back to the build and seeing the playground built in the matter of 8 hours, I can understand that the process is not as long as I imagined. Overall the entire experience was completely mind-blowing as I saw our diverse group of people make a change in our

This organization has been active since 1968 marking its 46th year of empowerment. (Special Olympics) Living with a disability has to be one of the most difficult challenges a person can be faced with. The mission of the Special Olympics is to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in sharing gifts, skills and friendships with families and the community. (Special Olympics) Similar to KaBOOM’s goals providing a play area in which children can express themselves through physical fitness and social interactions. The Special Olympics wishes to show the physical and mental accomplishes that these brave people overcome as the display their valor at these events. Organizations like Special Olympics break stereotypes and promote the strength and courage that each athlete possesses in these events. Volunteering is indeed more than the time spent at an organization. For me, the time I have spent allowed me to learn an important lesson about the power of unity and the reward that follows. Though many organizations may have a different goal or mission there is always one thing that is similar between them, to help. My time spent at KaBOOM has allowed me to see this similarity of youth development in the organizations, whether it was social skills, physical fitness or leadership. This experience has permitted me to understand the power I possess