Reflecting on My Experience

There are many things I learned and got to experience through the service learning project and my visit to the community and Our Next Generation. From the outside the community seems rough and not overly welcoming. I got to talk to some of the community members through my investigation for the first half of this project. Although the community members were very friendly they didn’t have much excitement about their neighborhood. Our Next Generation seemed to give inspiration to the students. The staff seemed very encouraging and the students felt comfortable. This facility was not like a school but rather a place to come for help in school. Yes they required students to do their homework but the program doesn’t just dismiss them once they’re done. Instead the program has their volunteers stay and interact with the students in games and other activities. This is the part of Our Next Generation that really interested me.

At first I was nervous about getting paired with a child I didn’t know and how they would react to me. Then I saw how excited the children were to have someone there to help them. Once I saw their excitement it made me excited. The idea of volunteering never really interested me before and I had never thought to go out of my way to do something like that. I enjoyed seeing how the relationships and tutors grew through the few hours they see each other each week. I was also very shocked that there was a waiting list to get into the program. I had never heard of a waiting list to be tutored but after going and seeing the program in action I can now see why students are excited to be there. This is the type of program I would go back and volunteer for. As I left the building I noticed on one of the boards they had photos of the students and their tutors, above the students was the quote “Children are our most valuable natural resource” by Herbert Hoover; above the volunteers “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; it’s the only thing that ever has” by Margaret Mead.

Experiencing Our Next Generation

After going and helping at Our Next Generation I now have a better understanding of what the facility does. I observed children grades 1st-6th and the tutors that helped them during their time at the Homework Club. The Homework Club is an after school program set up by Our Next Generation to help students with questions related to homework. The program uses community members and volunteers to help the students. What I learned from interviewing one of the staff members (Sarah) was that the Homework Club started in a church congregation area in the early 1990s and grew in popularity to the point where they needed a bigger facility. The main intention for this program was for the community members to succeed. The staff members also informed me of how the Homework Club has helped improve the attitude and behavior of the students who attend. What I found most interesting was that this particular program has a waiting list of children wanting to join and the typical attendance for students was a little over 80% with about a quarter of the students having perfect attendance.

After interviewing one of the students I found out what the students actually liked about this program. One little girl in first grade said that she liked the help she got from the program and that she had been in the program all year. When I asked her if she liked coming to the Homework Club she responded, “Sometimes, but then my mom comes to pick me up!” Her personality was particularly optimistic and she was very eager to learn and answer my questions. She informed me that the Homework Club isn’t just for homework but that the children also have snacks and games they can play after they finish their homework. She told me that the games were her favorite part of the club and she tries to finish her homework right away for that very reason. As I walked around I noticed that the relationship between tutor and student developed and that the students seemed very disciplined while they were with their tutor. There were of course a few exceptions to the rule but I found that the less focused students were paired with someone newer and had not developed a personal relationship with them yet. Overall, I was surprised at how attentive the younger students were and how much was accomplished in an hour’s time.

Reflection

After going to the community I learned that this community is in no means perfect. I saw low income housing, bars on windows and doors, and empty buildings. To further convince me of the improvements needed, the two men I interviewed talked about the Mobil gas station being held up a few nights before. On top of that I also witnessed a car accident outside of the Family Dollar where I was interviewing the two men. This seemed to be a community looking for change and renovations. Even though I saw negative aspects there were also positive aspects as well. After spending some time within the community, I saw road construction, newer buildings next to older buildings and churches on every block. From all these observations I came to conclude that this community values its faith and family. Although crime seemed to be apparent in certain places, overall I felt that the community was looking for a new sense of pride. The people seemed friendly for the most part and this community definitely had businesses unique to its surroundings.
Blogging about this experience has further reiterated the observations I made. I really enjoyed the two men I got to interview. They seemed shy at first but warmed up when they found ways to answer the questions with a touch of their own personality. Having lived in the community all their lives, I felt they had a strong connection to the changes they would like to see being made. In contrast to that I also got insight into the changes that have gotten the community to the point it's at right now.
I thought the most difficult part of this midterm was the overall assembling of the blog. Choosing pictures to both show the diversity of the community as well as show the experience I had was probably the second hardest part of this project. The experience with the blog was definitely something I was not used to for a midterm. At first I was having trouble starting the blog, then I had difficulties uploading the video slideshow but after several tries I managed to get everything in order.

Photo Essay

The community around 35th and Libson showed me many things during my time there. My friend Kelly and I walked around at first in order to see some of the local businesses. A few things this neighborhood was not short of were churches and day care centers. Kelly and I interviewed two gentlemen enjoying ice cream outside of the Family Dollar. They informed us that crime was definitely a problem and pointed to the Mobil gas station across the street stating that it was robbed just two days prior. Both men had lived in the community all their lives and said that some things they'd like to see are "a Rec Center and a Home Depot" and when asked to describe the community in one word, "rough." Although the men were cynical about their neighborhood they were friendly and quite honest about the improvements they would like to see happen.