Commonwealth Essays in Community Service Learning

During my past four years, the myriad of roles that service learning has allowed me to play in the community has made me think broadly about the role that I will play in the world after graduating. From my first IMPACT! Seminar session onward I began taking my service experiences home, where I would sit and search through course offerings and UMass programs to find educational paths or career goals that would allow me to translate my service learning into a career path. Working with children proved to be the best opportunity for me to observe the discrepancies between various populations. Children are blameless victims of circumstance, representing not only their own individual identities but also their social identities (Millette, Better the Child, Better the Village). They stand as living, developing testaments of the differences in education, health care, and family functionality that generally tend to split classes and races apart. Strongly affected by my experiences with ill children, toddlers from low income families, and foster children, my goals became focused around equal health and education opportunities for youth of all backgrounds. After graduation, I will be a part of Teach for America in Saint Louis Missouri, where I will be teaching elementary school students for two years and hopefully connecting with their community outside of the classroom as well. It is a privilege to be accepted into such an exceptional program and I would not be prepared for it were not for my service learning experiences.

Over the past six years, I have worked closely with children and families of Camp Sunshine in Casco, Maine and the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp in Ashford, Connecticut. When my experiences at the service sites began, I was so immersed in the emotional experience of interacting with children and parents who were watching loved ones pass away that I failed to notice some of the broader social pressures facing the families. Families were strained by more than medical problems. Insurance companies denied coverage to many patients with serious health conditions because of the high expenses associated with specialized physicians, treatments and medications, surgeries, etc. The time required to take care of a terminally ill child forced many parents to quit or lose their jobs, which terminated insurance policies provided by employers. This fall, I kept thinking back on the families of camp as I took a course on health policy in the United States. The reality of the situation is that health is too often an issue of affordability- whether a family can financially support themselves medically. But I have been asking myself this question more and more every day: should health really be a privilege, reserved only for those who can afford it? I firmly believe that progress can be made in the coming years with the adoption of health coverage programs that guarantee basic health rights for all people, and I would embrace the opportunity to join the teams of people who make that happen. In fact, one reason I applied for Teach for America was its partnerships with public policy graduate programs. Thanks to these partnerships, I may be working to advance equal healthcare access within the next five years.

It came as no surprise to my parents when I first announced my thesis’s subject of research, a topic which combines my passions for public health and children. My research is specifically focused on dependent children, a population of children that lack the advocacy and protection provided by families. The working title is Health of the Hard-Knocked: A Reflection on the Health Status of America’s Dependent Children. I began thinking seriously about foster children in the United States and wanted to research their history and current health environment after I served as a volunteer counselor for Camp to Belong (CTB). CTB is a week long summer program that reunites siblings who are in separate placements due to out-of-home care (e.g., foster care or kinship care). I’ve become immersed in the lives of the children in the program, serving monthly at mini-reunions called “Sibling Sundays”. While it may be unprofessional to have “favorites”, one of my campers from last summer has become quite important to me. He and his two brothers (I’ll refer to them as “the Smiths” in this paper) live with their grandmother while their older sister and two younger brothers live in three different houses in other regions of the state. After learning that the Smith boys had never been to a hockey game or spent much time as UMass, I took them to a game and was blown away by their reactions. That night, they were overjoyed at the chance to meet the hockey team and the hockey coach, an opportunity graciously put together by Coach Cahoon and Todd McDonald. They could barely stay in their seats on the ride home, and the youngest one still insists it was the best day of his life. It’s been two months since the game and they still insist on being “Team Minutemen” when playing with other kids at Sibling Sunday programs. Even more exciting is the earnest discussion the boys had with another volunteer at the beginning of March, a conversation centered around what it will be like when they go to UMass. I look at how much that one night impacted the boys and wonder, “why can’t more opportunities like this be made available to dependent children”? It’s not just the luxuries like hockey games that are being kept from foster children- the lack of stability and community connections has a grave impact on a foster child’s life. I’ve become engrossed in learning about the physical and psychological effects of dependent care on children, and the systemic inequalities that perpetuate cycles of substance abuse and child maltreatment. I hope to use the learning from my thesis to work with programs for dependent children wherever I settle, and someday become a surrogate or foster caregiver myself.

When I think about Teach for America, I am excited to learn more about children and the realities of income and race disparities in the United States so that someday I can be an effective policy advocate. However, it’s quite possible that after Teach for America I’ll be inspired to stay in the education field. I see education as interconnected with systems that affect health care access and family functionality, and I look forward to any opportunity that allows me to work towards social justice. I’ve always seen teachers as community leaders (when effective), but I only started thinking about the effect of educator quality during my freshman year, when I spent three hours weekly in a Head Start classroom as part of IMPACT! I view education in the same light as I view health care access: it is my opinion that every child has the inherent right to both. At Camp Sunshine, the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, and Camp to Belong, I have encountered children from lower income backgrounds. Back at home, my job as an art director for my town’s parks and recreation program has allowed me to talk with children from what is generally an upper middle-class community. In the lower income camps, children were typically less likely to refer to school as a positive thing, and were more likely to admit that their grades were poor (Millette, Better the Child). When I mentioned UMass or college, campers in my hometown took it for granted that someday they too would go to college, while in the camps I served at the children considered college to be a real possibility in their futures. Race certainly plays a factor as well; the proportion of white students in the upper-income program was nearly 100%, while in the lower=income camps the proportion was closer to ten or twenty percent. I look at the two populations of children- higher income versus lower income, and it’s terrifying to realize that already the children are on completely different levels in terms of their ambitions. Statistics show that the education gaps only increase as children turn into teenagers and then adults. Teach for America will allow me to take a proactive role in working against this trend of disparity. Through the interconnectedness of service and learning, I know that my future experiences will continue to be as mind-opening and motivational as they have been during the past four years.

Before college, I did not fully separate my service work from the various other activities I participated in. Piano lessons, Interact club, student council, figure skating, etcetera, etcetera. Service work was only something I did. During my active engagement with community service learning however, I learned to look introspectively at the impact my service work was having on me, rather than the obvious effects it was having on others. These methods of understanding myself through service work became internalized and enabled me to take great strides in my own personal development while also enjoying the simple pleasure of giving back. As CSL courses required me to critically reflect on my service work, I quickly came to understand that community service is not just something I do; it is the means through which I learn and grow to understand myself and the world I live in.

As graduation rapidly approaches and nostalgia, anxiety, fear, and excitement simultaneously begin to surface, I have found myself mulling over my cumulative college experience; what I have done, what I have learned and how I have changed. Through intense reflection of this person I am today standing at the edge of the world preparing to jump in, I realized that the stages of my growth can best be traced through my experiences with service learning. I first became involved with service learning three years ago through a CSL course that was attached to Big Brothers Big Sisters. It was also at this time that I became a Big Sister to an amazing eleven year old girl. Furthering my journey through service learning, I became a course assistant the following year for that very CSL course that had initially sparked my interest in the field of service learning. At the same time, I had the privilege of participating in a seminar with course assistants from a diverse variety of CSL courses. During this seminar we were introduced to different methods of teaching service learning, and the ways in which service learning can be applied to many academic fields. As I studied the field of service learning while simultaneously teaching its importance to my peers, I began to truly grasp the meaning and purpose of service as it relates to academic learning. Through this experience I was able to broaden my understanding of the field, give others the tools to become better mentors, and in turn become a better mentor myself. Now, though I am no longer the course assistant I find myself constantly relating my academic course materials to the field of service learning and am always on the lookout for reading materials that will enhance the “Mentoring With Big Brothers Big Sisters” CSL course. To broaden the variety of service work I engaged in, I enrolled in a service learning dean’s book course that placed me at the Amherst Survival Center; a service environment that was unlike anything I had experienced before. Throughout high school and college the majority of my service work and employment positions had been with children, with whom I have always been comfortable and happy. At the Survival Center I would for the first time be working with disadvantaged adults rather than with disadvantaged children, and I was exposed to a segment of society that I had never been a part of, or even introduced to. The unique challenges I faced however stretched my growth in new directions and led me to comprehend my service work in a more meaningful way.

At the center I worked at the reception area with a small group of mentally and/or physically disabled adults who called themselves “the crew.” Though I encountered a range of challenges throughout the service, the difficulty I found in relating to and communicating with this group of adults stands out to me. The dynamics of the “crew” were unlike any I have experienced and while they inexplicably seemed to always understand each other, I had trouble understanding them. For the first time, I was the anomaly in the group; the person who had difficulty communicating within the discourse of the community. Also, as an organized person who often takes charge, I was frustrated by the disorganized and unstructured way the Center functioned and had trouble working and feeling comfortable within its chaos. As opposed to my service experiences in the past, I sometimes left the Center stressed and agitated. As I continued returning however, the “crew” who at first did not recognize me each time I came, began to remember me and soon began to trust me. Likewise, I began to understand their codes, their conversation, and their relationships. Throughout this process I began to recognize and appreciate the beauty in the Center and the magic in its everyday accomplishments in spite of the chaos and disarray.

The new challenges I encountered gave me the unique opportunity to really reflect on the reasons why I was doing this stressful, difficult work in the first place, and what it was that made the service so gratifying. I discovered my answers in the dysfunctional, disorganized, disadvantaged, and wonderful group of adults I worked with. The individuals I met and slowly became close to had the most to teach me precisely because they were so drastically different from me. Learning about life experiences, lifestyles and obstacles that I was never even aware of or asked to comprehend, gave me the tools to think more critically about my own life; both the experiences I have had thus far, and the directions I wish my life to go.

My involvement with CSL and with Big Brothers Big Sisters continued to expand and I decide to embark on an independent capstone project that combined the two. I had become increasingly aware of the disconnection within the community of Bigs at UMass and the lack of awareness of Big Brothers Big Sisters on campus. Because UMass Amherst is big enough to be its own city, many students never discover the opportunities in the surrounding community. Additionally, the students who are engaged in community service are often disconnected from their peers who are participating in similar work. This realization inspired me to create the Registered Student Organization (RSO) “UMass Big Brothers and Big Sisters” as one component of my capstone project. In addition to developing the RSO, my capstone project included helping to facilitate a Big Brothers Big Sisters site based program in Ware, MA, and also focused on my own leadership development as well as building and implementing my ability to develop leadership skills in others. Because I applied my project within the context of “real” social environments, the goals I set and the actions I was able to take were often out of my control. The program in Ware was confined with the unpredictable and often inexplicable realities of the school’s arbitrary administration and was also affected by the ability (or inability) to communicate successfully with the parents of the Littles. Despite these limitations, many of my goals were reached throughout the first semester of my project and the challenges I faced in Ware provided me with more opportunities to learn and grow from the experience. Unfortunately, for reasons out of my control, the Ware program came to an end before the start of the second semester of my capstone project. This however, enabled me to shift my focus to the development of the RSO during my final semester at UMass.

Through the RSO, I found an effective way to strengthen and maintain the alliance between UMass Amherst and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Hampshire County, while also connecting the Bigs on campus who can now form networks, support one another, and utilize university resources to enhance the experience of all Bigs and Littles. To create a sustainable student organization, I united the already existing Bigs at UMass through meetings and events and strengthened leadership skills in students who showed interest in becoming future leaders for the RSO. I applied for and received University funding to support the financial needs of the new organization, and ensured that both Big Brothers Big Sisters of Hampshire County and the newly formed RSO has and will continue to maintain a significant presence on campus. The involved process of navigating university policies and the non-profit world was challenging, but through the process I gained valuable knowledge and many useful skills.

My hard work paid off as I have watched my vision become a reality and take on a life of its own. “UMass Big Brothers and Big Sisters” is an organization that stands on its own, but for me it represents an encompassment of my journey through service learning; the experiences I had, the people who influenced me, the challenges I faced, the lessons I learned and the impact I made. Positively impacting the communities that give me so much has always been important to me and it is beyond rewarding to know that my project will continue serving UMass and its surrounding community years after I have left. I am proud to graduate having left a lasting legacy that I know will thrive and grow into something much bigger than I could have ever imagined. The positive experiences I have had with community service learning and the ways in which service work has become so embedded in my values and lifestyle, heavily impacted my decision to continue service work after graduation, and will forever influence my life.

I have encountered many inspiring and thought provoking experiences throughout my college career. I am attentive in class, active in intramural sports, and have always enjoyed social events on campus. However, there has been one experience that has been life altering to myself as an individual because of the impact I have made on an entire community in my work with the Holyoke community. The knowledge I have attained from Information Technology courses has given me the tools to contribute to a community. That opportunity was so rewarding and enriching in ways that I had not expected.

Towards the end of the fall semester, I became interested in the idea in designing a website for a community. The opportunity came when I received an e-mail that described the Holyoke community in need of a website. The mission was to create a shared participation and leadership opportunities among the people who live and work in Holyoke to build a more connected, safe, and healthy community. The idea is that together, the community can improve the well being of everyone. My initial thought was that this should be a fairly simple task and that I would not be interacting much within the community; this was far from actuality. At one point I was overwhelmed with the amount of work I needed to complete within such a short period of time. I realized that this community needed a website that needed a calendar with a list of upcoming events, an organized list of agencies and coalitions throughout Holyoke, and the website needed to be bi-lingual. Before starting with the project, which at this point seemed to be a monumental task, I learned a lot about the Holyoke community and the struggles they faced. Holyoke is not only one of the poorest cities in Massachusetts but also in the nation. Approximately fifty percent of schoolchildren are currently living below the poverty level and over a quarter of the total population is under the poverty level. The median income for a household is less than thirty thousand dollars. I never realized that a community so close to me, could be in such dire need.

My work began immediately. I worked with a team of two other UMass undergraduate students and another UMass graduate student. Together we needed to find the least expensive and most efficient way to get this website online. After much research, we found a website that provided domain names at a reasonable price and a webhosting service that met their demands at an inexpensive cost. Our research for the domain name and webhosting service certainly saved money for a community that was on an extremely tight budget.

Throughout the semester, we met several times with individuals who were overseeing this project. They asked numerous questions regarding what they can include in the website and if it was feasible. We designed many layouts and showed them the possibilities of this website. They were impressed with the knowledge we demonstrated and grateful at how well we accommodated their needs.

After countless hours and many sleepless nights trying to meet all the requirements, we finally completed the website. The community held a launch party where we presented the website and demonstrated the capabilities it holds. We presented in front of nearly thirty people that represented agencies and organizations throughout the community. At the end, everyone stood up clapping. One woman was almost in tears of joy and came up to us after and said: “I thought this was just a dream, and that this community would never see something as beautiful as this!” Another individual came up and thanked us for making this idea a reality, and he never thought that anything like this would happen in his life time. Our team successfully designed and created a website that finally will bring a community closer: Holyoke Unites!

Community Service Learning is the focused integration of community service with academic skills to enhance both service and learning. Through service learning, I have experienced how active engagement combing with reflection can help me better understand myself, surrounding communities, and the academic content I am researching. Academic learning, personal learning, and civic learning have all come together to help me understand service learning. This experience has helped contributed to my academic learning. I applied knowledge attained from web-design courses to learn how to use Plone; an open source content management system, which made this website possible. This system was new to me and took weeks to understand the possibilities that lie within.

Civic learning is also a very important part of this experience. I worked with a team who all had the same common goal; to satisfy the requirements of a community in need. The decision-making within our team was vital to the success of this project. It was an honor for all of us to watch this community grow and become stronger. The personal experience I have gained is invaluable. I learned so much about my own strengths and qualities. Also, I learned I need to focus more on my weak points such as communicating with other people. My leadership skills have grown exponentially through this opportunity to lead a team to completing a successful website. My knowledge has amplified as I learned about Plone, webhosting, and domain names. I realized I need to focus on my communication skills. Prior to this project I did not realize that I lacked in my communication skills, but there is certainly room for improvement to better understand people’s needs and desires. I did not fully comprehend the urgency that this community had for such a website.

I strongly believe there needs to be more courses that focus entirely on helping a community. Classes that involve webpage design with the purpose of learning and personal-use should be used to create webpages for surrounding communities that can not afford to pay a professional. Students will get more hands on learning as well as become more aware of surrounding community issues, needs, and struggles. Our success in this webpage could not have been possible without each individual on my team. Each one of us was able to inspire each other and prove to a whole community that anything is possible. We led each other to success and when one person was having difficulties, all of us were there to support that person in need. We did not give up. That is why this project was a success and we were able to change the lives of so many and help a community unite.