Service Learning Experience

Evelyn Morales Ramirez

Introduction to Special Education 203

Service Learning Experience

Wednesday, May 02, 2018

 Service Learning Experience

The service I chose to do for my service learning experience was volunteer for an event at

school called “Take Your Child to Workday.” For this event, education majors were sought out

to volunteer in working directly with children by supervising, guiding, and teaching them. The

children that were part of this event were the sons and daughters of several CSN employees.

Kids from all ages were involved from the age of six all the way to sixteen. To make the event

run more efficiently the children were spilt up into groups based on their age. On average there

were about ten kids in each group and each group had two leaders. My group included children

of the ages ten and eleven.

In the email that we received a couple of days prior to the event we had been informed

that we would get a quick training before the children got there, but due to a bit of planning

issues and trying to get everything set up as the children were arriving earlier than expected the

committee members and event leaders were not able to provide us with that quick training. In all

honesty, I do not think missing out on the training affected us much because we served more as

guides as opposed to actually teaching them.

There was a whole day full of activities planned out for us to do starting with meeting our

group, of course, and having a quick breakfast. During the time we were meeting our groups we

gave out name tags where the children could write what they wanted their careers to be in the

future. Most of the activities that were planned throughout the day had to do with careers and

showing the kids what they could be doing in the future as well as what kind of classes are

offered at CSN. Several of the activities were enjoyable not just for the kids, but for the leaders

as well. The group leaders were encouraged to participate in the activities and interact with the

children and try to get to know them in between activities and even during the activities,
depending on which activity it was. We decorated cupcakes, toured the culinary and auto

department, the planetarium and the art gallery. The children were able to get a school ID made

for them as if they were actual college students and keep them. We learned how to sign the lyrics

of a Disney song, which was pretty cool and the CSN police gave the children a police car demo

where the kids were actually able to go inside the police car and play around with everything that

is inside. To get the kids active and going we were able to participate in a Zumba class which I

think many group leaders enjoyed more than the kids. Towards the end of the day the children

were taught about STEM as they got to eat ice cream. After that we went back to the June

Whitely Lounge where the kids received a certificate of participation and were signed out to their

parents.

This experience was one I feel I was able to learn more from rather than volunteering at a

shelter or something of that sort, just because I was able to interact and work with kids. It helped

me learn some leadership skills which are pertinent to becoming a teacher as well as being able

to handle kids and learn how to keep them under control. I would like to say I did a good job for

the most part with trying to interact with the kids, Mrs. Emily Rafael gave me some positive

feedback at the end of the day and told me that I had done a great job with the kids, which made

me very happy to know that she thought that. The main organizer of the event also thanked all of

the group leaders at the end and told us that we had done a great job interacting with the kids as

opposed to the group leaders from last year because she said they would barely even talk to the

kids and encouraged us to be on the lookout for an email next year as well. If I had a suggestion

for the event and event organizers I would say that they should try to be a bit more organized,

just so the event can run more smoothly. It seemed as if in the beginning things were a little

unorganized and sometimes throughout the day because we would run out of time at certain
stations. Not saying that the whole event was unorganized, just some moments and parts were.

Although it could have used a little bit more organization, it was still such a great event and I’m

glad I was able to be a part of it and help out. All of the kids were able to enjoy a fun day seeing

where their parents work while learning about several different subjects and new topics. If I had

the opportunity to do it again, I most certainly would.