Looking Back...

As of this writing, I have spent a little over twelve hours interning at the Grandview Community Center, which is set up in a low-income housing district so that children have a safe place to go after school where they can supervised. (Most of the children come from families whose parents work, and this offers an alternative to them being home alone and unattended.) Grandview encourages educational activities that are likewise entertaining, in order to help the children excel in school, and thus have more opportunities available to them when they enter the work force, or pursue college. Many of these children are extremely bright and talented, but because of their social class and limited means they have more hurdles than most. In addition to being a safe haven, Grandview is a positive environment that also encourages personal growth, teaching them through personal interaction about respecting others as well as themselves. Instilling within the children a strong sense of self-esteem is critical, as this will ultimately determine where life takes them after school.

It was difficult for me to initially follow through with the Service Learning Program; numerous physical and psychological disabilities make it difficult for me to function properly in social situations, which included all of the sites associated with this assignment. Eventually, I decided on the Community Center, as the desire and opportunity to help children with their education helped me to overcome much of the fear and anxiety. The knowledge that I had the means to make a positive contribution to their futures became my mission statement, and is what helped me to overcome some personal issues in order to make that a reality.

The first day was difficult, because of my unfamiliarity with the program and the children's specific needs, but through observation I began finding ways I could contribute, particularly through tutoring. (Luckily, I excelled in school as a youth, so I was able to help the children with their homework, regardless of age or subject, as the weeks progressed.) On my second day, I revealed my modest abilities as an artist, and offered to teach anyone who was interested some advanced basics. Through this, I developed a closer relationship with the children, and found that I could spark their creativity as well as their intellect. During this second week, I also discovered a means in which I could contribute to Grandview that would now only have a lasting effect on the children with whom I had personally interacted, but also benefit children who would come to rely on the Center after I had left.

On my third week, I brought in about 150 like-new books with which to expand their wholly inadequate library. Most of the books they had had long since served their purpose; many were tattered and incomplete, and the children had grown bored with rereading the same tired books week after week. Although I also come from a low-income situation, I acquired the books using my own money from Goodwill, where I used to work, and was able to get a good discount once I explained the situation. (Grandview's funding for books had been cut off months before, and they had received almost nothing in the way of donations since then.) As I mentioned in a previous blog, I always had a wealth of books at my disposal as a child--which had a profound impact on me--and I felt these children deserved the same luxury, and if I was able to facilitate this, it would bring me a great deal of personal satisfaction knowing I made a difference, however small.

Although I still have a few weeks left at Grandview, having started my Service Learning late, I have a stronger sense of how I can contribute my time. I am still working on expanding their library, so much so that they are looking for another bookshelf with which to accommodate the growing catalogue. I think I have also located a set of encyclopedias and a children's reference series someone is willing to donate, as I feel this would help them with school work immensely. I have been told by the supervisors that numerous students keep asking when I will return, as they are eager for me to teach them more about drawing and art in general, so I think its safe to say that any time I spend at Grandview is already accounted for.

In retrospect, I am glad that I made the choice to not only follow through with the Service Learning Program, but also that I chose Grandview as my project. (I have the feeling that even after I have fulfilled my obligations as an intern, I will probably return there time and again when time permits.) It has been fulfilling on several levels, and I hope that the self-esteem of the children has benefited from the experience as much as my own. These children are extremely special, and the world will only benefit from their diversity and uniqueness; all they need is a fighting chance, and hopefully my efforts will give them some small edge that they didn't have before. It may be lot to hope for, but in my eyes, it was worth the effort, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

New Books

Being that the children didn't have school yesterday, turnout was fairly sparse. This actually worked to my advantage, though, as I was busy improving the Community Center's library collection. During the week, I purchased about 150 like-new books to donate to Grandview; because of my connections with Goodwill, I was able to get a decent price. The timing turned out to be good, as the only funding they had for books through VOA had been cut off a few months prior. The Community Center puts a great emphasis on reading--even requiring students to read for at least thirty minutes before spending time online--and the children were in need of new books as what they did have had been well picked over and reread countless times. I tried to get a nice variety to take into account the different age groups, and found a nice balance between fiction and non-fiction.

Because it was slow during the hours I volunteered, I also spent time weeding out books that were missing pages or damaged beyond repair, and repairing those older books that could be salvaged. I still have about fifty or so books that are in need of mending, but this shouldn't take long as I have years of experience with mending books, accrued when I worked in Tech Services at the Everett Public Library doing just that.

I am also working on going through books I already own in order to find more donations for Grandview. By the time my internship is over, I hope to have built a fairly impressive library for the children, with enough new stock to hopefully keep them interested for some time to come. When I was young, I thankfully always had access to books, which had a profound impact on my life, and I hate to see others not have the same at their disposal.

Until next week...

It's a Good Start...

I just finished my second shift at Grandview Community Center, and I feel it was success. Turnout was a little better than the previous week, but what really mattered is that I think I have finally made a connection with the children, thus creating a foundation where I can be more than just a temporary volunteer.

Shortly after they began trickling in after school, one of the older students asked if I could help him with an art project. Once I started making various sketches, the children began flocking around, in awe of my admittedly rusty talent. They began asking for drawing of various cartoon and comic book characters, to which I happily complied. Once I had their full attention, I offered to teach them some slightly advanced drawing lessons, and soon I had children from the ages of six to sixteen mapping out some fairly complex faces. Once they seemed to have the basics down, we went into more detail, including the mechanics of light and shadow and how it creates depth. I occasionally had to break so I could offer additional help to some of the younger students, but everyone was patient and soon I had some of the better students helping out those who found the exercises more challenging. Even a few of the kids who were normally quite hyper proved attentive and receptive. By the end of my three-hour shift, there were drawings scattered everywhere, with a few children continuing to draw on their own.

I was extremely pleased that I could help these children explore a creative outlet that was extremely important to me when I was young. When some of them became frustrated, saying they simply couldn't draw, I encouraged them by saying that--like anything else--it takes practice, and that they were doing better than I did when I was their age, which seemed to give them hope of improvement. After the exercises, a few of the students were surprised by what they could do, so I'm hoping that I've inspired a few burgeoning artists with natural talent to explore this new avenue of expression.

In addition to what will probably be weekly art lessons, I talked with the supervisor, asking if I could help improve their library. The Center has probably about two hundred books that are made available to the children. Unfortunately, many of the books are in poor shape and in desperate need of being retired and replaced. Additionally, the set-up they have--which amounts to the books being heaped on the various shelves indiscriminately--makes it difficult if not impossible for anyone to find what their looking for without a major excavation. Since I have quite a few years of library experience at my disposal, I will be creating a system in which to organize the stock proper. After recycling the books that are incomplete or completely dismantled, I will be donating a fair number of new books with which to upgrade and expand the existing catalogue. Since many of the children are always eager to help out with tasks around the Center, I will appoint any eager volunteers to be "Assistant Librarians," so the library can be maintained in the days when I am not there. I feel that the more we can get the children involved with helping out the Center, these additional responsibilities will give them a sense of accomplishment and better their self-esteem.

Suffice it to say, my second day at the Center exceeded my expectations, and finally gave me a strong sense of where and how I can help out. Like Mortenson, I've always believed that education is a vital part of personal and cultural development, and knowing that I can help out even in some small way is extremely gratifying. Honestly, I'm hoping that even after this quarter is done, I can arrange my college schedule in such a way that I can continue helping out at Grandview on a regular basis and not have it affect my school performance. Only time will tell.

First Day, and All Is Well...

Well, today was my first day volunteering at the Grandview Community Center. It was a pleasant reception, as the supervisors were nice and the children fairly well behaved. I was a little disappointed that the turnout was small--I was told that this was to be expected on days with nice weather, as most of the kids would be outside playing in the park--as this left me with little to do for the three hours I stayed, although I did my best to make myself useful in whatever capacity I could.

I did help one young girl with her math homework; not only did I show her a more advanced method of approaching substitution, which she picked up quite fast, I also introduced her to multiplication. For fun, I also challenged her to come up with large multiplication problems and see if I could perform it on paper faster than what she could do with the calculator. (Although I did well at first, I began losing once she started dishing out problems involving two sets of four to five-digit integers.) Not only did she seem to enjoy the challenge, it showed her that one didn't need to rely on a calculator to do more advanced math problems.

Although, like I said, the turnout was under-average, it did give me a good idea as to the cultural diversity amongst the children and teenagers. (I think I was the only person present who wasn't fluent in more than one language, which was actually quite impressive.) On the downside, two of the young teens, who were regulars, were caught stealing food from the kitchen, but this did give me an opportunity to see how the supervisors handled such situations, which was quite admirable.

So, despite being slow, my first day was a good primer as to what I can expect in the weeks to come. Hopefully, the children will become comfortable with my presence and not hesitate to ask for assistance with their schoolwork, which I enjoy doing, and which I feel I am fairly good at.

Until next week...