Serving & Learning Together

When Lina first gave us our service learning assignment, I'm not going to lie...I wasn't very thrilled. I didn't really see the point in selecting a random student to tell them about their dream career. Don't they learn that stuff in school? Fortunately, our student completely changed my view on this project. The student we were assigned was an 8th grade girl named Angelica. Angelica is an aspiring chef. The first assignment we completed with Angelica was a dream career collage. The collage was supposed to serve as an icebreaker, which was needed since we were all strangers to each other. We sat at a circular table while talking, cutting out pictures, laughing, and getting to know each other. Before we knew it, 2 hours had gone by! Our collage turned out to be a pretty neat masterpiece.

The second task we were assigned was to create a PowerPoint presentation that was filled with information about being a chef. The presentation should include average salary, top chef schools, what classes to take in high school, how long it will take to train, etc. It was challenging to create a PowerPoint with such complex information on the 8th grade level. Angelica appreciated the PowerPoint. I think it gave her a little more insight on what to expect as a chef. The third assignment we completed with Angelica was a short career essay. We sat down with Angelica and assisted her in writing an essay based on the information in PowerPoint and other research she had done outside of our meetings. The last activity we engaged in with Angelica was creating an action plan for Angelica's near future. The purpose of the action plan is to lay out all the steps that Angelica should take starting now in order to reach her goal of becoming a chef.

When reflecting back on this service learning project I realized how important of an opportunity this was for my partners and I. Knowing that I could potentially make a difference in this little girl's life was what motivated me. I think Angelica was blessed to have this opportunity whether she knows it or not because not all kids get this opportunity. The most challenging part of this project was getting Angelica to be comfortable around us. I didn't like the awkward atmosphere that surrounded us. I felt that it kept her from asking questions and engaging in conversation. Luckily, the dream collage activity took care of that.

Not only did I learn a lot about Angelica over the four weeks, I also learned a lot about myself. Before this, I thought that I could only work with little kids because every time I volunteer for something I always pick the young ones. This activity showed me that I can work with older kids too. I appreciate this activity because it broadened my horizons when it comes to working with youth. I almost like working with older kids better because it was easier to make a connection with Angelica than with a 5 year old.

In the end, what impacted me the most was Angelica's growing appreciation for the information we were presenting to her from week to week.