Mackenzie Sims

February 6th

Community service Reflection

For community service, I did two different things for my community service. Starting

with working two softball camps with the softball team as volunteer hours and working a color

run. Both camps lasted about three hours and the color run lasted four. The next bit I did was

helping a Madison middle school softball team at practices. I do that Wednesday and Fridays

now and will be doing that all this semester and going to continue during summer.

For the camp, we had two days of pitching camps here in Madison through the college

team. A lot of girls on the team stayed to help and we just had specific drills to work on with

each group. We would have the girls rotate in groups with a lot of their parents there with them

to help because they were younger. In the end they All got together and had a fun competition

throwing a ball through a tire.

The color run was something here in Madison also where we all had to stan around the

running area they had et up around town. We were given bags of color and got to throw it at a

bunch of kids or families running by. This was one of my favorite community service things to

work on because it was just a blast seeing l the kids covered in colors and smiling every time, we

got them.

My next community service Is every week on Wednesday night and Friday I help a

middle school softball team. Wednesdays for about three hours I just teach the girls how to

swing correctly or do some catching drills with the girls who want to be catchers. I make a list

of drills I want to do with the catchers beforehand and try asking them what they want to work
on and try to do specific things for each one. Friday, we have a group of girls who want to learn

to pitch come in and I just help catch a couple of them for two hours. It is a team a family runs

and they do it all summer so I plan to stay and continue to help while I am living out here in

South Dakota. The girls are all just learning how to do stuff and I have really been enjoying

helping out the girls and getting to learn more about them. Some of them have such big

personalities and it is so fun to see them enjoying a sport the way I used to.

The growth I have felt comes from these experiences is exponential. Helping children

more specifically has made me feel surer of what I want to do. Teaching just feels right for me

because I have realized I love being able to teach kids new things even when it is just softball

practice right now and seeing how differently they take the information. To see how the kids take

it and how you need to change the way you explain for others is so fascinating. I enjoy being in a

position the kids look up to me as a role model and can be there for them to talk. Working camps

has taught me organization and being able to work with people. I think this has helped my

growth in becoming a professional educator by teaching me to work with others and learning

how hard it can get in busy or faster-paced situations with lots of people waiting on you to direct.

This would be similar to being in a classroom with a lot of children and them all learning

something new. It might get a little overwhelming in harder lessons when kids begin to get

frustrated. The color run showed me how little things can really make the kids have fun and

enjoy something that isn’t usually as fun like running a 5k.

Both of these different settings of community service I feel have helped me see new ideas

when getting into teaching settings and realizing information doesn’t always need to be

explained in one way. There is more than one correct way to do something. It has made me eager
to get in the classroom and use some of the things I am learning from the girls on the team and

using team activities to help with more complicated solutions.