My Experiences with Service Learning

 

With Spring 2022 coming to a close, I have almost completed my own service learning which inspired me to write about my experience and show others the benefits of it. This is not the first time I’ve had to do service learning and I’m sure for many students they’ve come across a class that has asked them to give back to their community for a few hours. I could understand for many students that their first reaction isn’t the best. After all, so many students are balancing school with jobs and sometimes even have the responsibility of caring for sick family members or small children. In high school, I knew of a young man who found himself a job at night which prompted him to sleep during the day. I can remember my teacher letting him sleep in the back and how a friend of mine, let's call her Arianna, told me of his struggles to complete community hours for high school because of work. This isn’t to discourage anyone but in situations such as his, I understand why some people aren’t happy when service learning comes up for a course. However, one of the best things about service learning is being able to help your community in a way that can work with your schedule. I would always argue that service learning is not the end of the world and can actually be a great experience if you’re willing to make it one. It can open your eyes to the things that have seemingly slipped past us. 

For those who haven’t done service learning yet or aren’t aware of what it is, it’s defined as a pedagogical strategy that incorporates traditional academic classroom knowledge with public or civic engagement within a selected community. Essentially, people take part in charity work or volunteer or spread awareness of a worthy cause. This could go from helping animals with no homes, helping the elderly, or trying to educate others on policies or laws that could very well affect us greatly. For those in the Women's Studies program, service learning will almost always be incorporated one way or another. There are many benefits for doing this aside from reports of positive impact on one’s personal and academic growth. It connects people and provides an experience that no one can ever forget (Bubriski & Semaan, 2021,). There are many ways to do it and with COVID-19 making many of us put a hold on our lives, many people have had to adapt and come up with more creative ways in order to accomplish these goals. Presently, I have only been involved in two service learning projects and both have been more meaningful than I could imagine.

The first time I did service learning, it was for my first semester at UCF for my First and Second Wave Feminism course with Dr. Maria Santana. Her request was quite simple as we were required to visit UCF Special Collections and University Archives and pick four items that went with themes of the second wave. After viewing brief descriptions of the collections and items online, all the students made appointments to visit the John C. Hitt Library and began looking through the collections. It contained newspaper clippings, pamphlets, buttons, paintings, tickets, speeches, letters, books, almost anything you could think off. I was truly amazed and shocked by everything I could see, to the point where I didn’t want to do a report on just four items. I was there for almost three hours and truthfully, I wished I had stayed longer now. The four items I chose to use for my paper was an article clipping, stamp sheets, a handout, and an ERA button pin. Each item had its own significance whether it was a button pin for women to show support for the Equal Rights Amendment or stamp sheet showing famous and inspiring women such as Mother Tereasa or Margert Thatcher. By the end of the semester, I wrote a report on why the items I chose were so important to women’s history and I learned more than I ever could have imagined. I honestly would love to go back there one day and go through different boxes to see what I missed during my first visit.

For this semester, my service learning led me to this blog. I was not aware that UCF had a blog until the beginning of this semester. I looked through so many, reading a few here and there and I was honestly impressed with what I found. When the opportunity presented itself, I decided to join and I’m so grateful to have been allowed to do so. I was pretty nervous about writing here as I’ve honestly struggled in the past with reading, writing, and speech. I actually didn’t start talking until I was five and was even held back in third grade. I was worried that maybe my work wouldn’t be as good, inspiring, or entraining enough for readers. I can see I’ve gotten a few views over the last few weeks and it’s honestly been pretty exciting to think that people have taken an interest in reading what I have posted. There is value in service learning and the possibilities to contribute are endless. If not at UCF, then I at least encourage everyone to find out ways to help. Whether it’s helping at a hospital making masks and blankets, calling to get donations for charities in desperate need of help, or just spreading awareness through social media, anything would be greatly appreciated and could make a difference.

 

References

Bubriski, A., & Semaan, I. (2021, December 28). Journal Article - Activist Learning Vs.

Service Learning in a women's studies classroom- by Anne Bubriski and Ingrid Semaan.

OKCIR. Retrieved April 14, 2022, from https://www.okcir.com/product/journal-article-

activist-learning-vs-service-learning-in-a-womens-studies-classroom-by-anne-bubriski-

and-ingrid-semaan/