Savanna Smith

Dec. 8, 2020

Ms. Larson

Service Learning Essay

For years, my sister has made beautiful three dimensional snowflakes that she hangs in

her room. I was thinking of different activities that would be more unique than raking the leaves

for some neighbors. I suddenly thought that I should make these snowflakes and hang them on

someone’s door or in their house. I was having trouble on who I thought would appreciate this

most. I then had a great idea. For my service project I would bring snow to Brazil. For

Thanksgiving Break my family went down to Brazil. We used to live there about seven years

ago and we hadn’t gone back since. In Brazil it is very common to have a maid who cleans and

watches the children while parents are at work or running errands. When I lived there, we had

one but she was not just our maid, she became one of our dear friends for life. Vera, our old

maid loved snow but since it doesn’t snow there I thought this would be a great way to bring

some love and snow to her and her family.

Before my trip, I did the first step which was cutting the paper into their proper sizes with

slits in them to create the three dimensional effect. This first part took me an hour just to cut out

all the pieces. One I arrived in Brazil, I taped the ends together to make them three dimensional.
Each snowflake has six parts/points to make the whole snowflake. After each snowflake had the

right amount of points, I stapled them to each other to make the whole snowflake. This process

took a little less than two hours to tape and staple all the pieces together. In total, I made nine

large snowflakes and seven smaller ones. This means I made ninety six individual pieces. The

process seemed easy but it was quite difficult because the tiny snowflakes were so hard to tape

the little pieces together.

The next day we visited her and her family. We visited them and their house. I brought all of the

snowflakes and brought along with me scissors, tape, and string so we could hang the

snowflakes around their house. When we arrived, I asked the family where they wanted the

snowflakes. They wanted big ones on each of their doorway entries and the small ones on their

mantle. I cut string different lengths so I could make their mantle look cute and decorative. I

taped each snowflake across the mantle and then hung the rest of the large snowflakes around

their house.
 The feeling of seeing how happy they were to have their house decorated in snow was

so rewarding. This was such a simple action but meant so much to this family. I felt so much joy

seeing their faces light up when it was done. Vera said the snowflakes were beautiful and she

was so grateful we took time out of our trip to decorate her house. From doing this simple

action, I had the desire to make more and make people feel happy. I loved the feeling of making

someone feel loved and thanked for, especially for someone we really love.

Vera and her family now wanted to set up their Christmas tree in order to complete their

new holiday-decorated house. Her husband recently lost his brother and they were very sad and

were mourning. They did not have the motivation to set up their tree but after seeing the

snowflakes and getting all excited they immediately wanted to set up and decorate their tree.

They also wanted to make some of their own and decorate their tree as well as their neighbors

house. This would make their whole neighborhood holiday decorated.

From this service project, I learned that such a simple thing that takes a couple of hours

out of my days will really make someone so happy and feel so loved. I did not spend a drastic

amount of time making these snowflakes or decorating her house but this meant so much to

Vera and her family. I learned that even if you do something very simple the people will always

really appreciate your work that was put forth.

Ever since this service project, I have thought about their family and how much joy I

brought to them. I have noticed a change in myself since this project. I am wanting to make

more snowflakes for people who would really appreciate this and decorate their door or

walkways. This relates to the “Happy Secret to Better Work.” I have seen a difference in myself

and the way I think. I have started to think of others a lot more and am trying to find more ways

to serve people. I have been very positive lately and am always looking for a good outcome for

situations.