Community Service Reflection

Sadie Moran
Since starting my education at Dakota State, I have had a few very exciting opportunities

to volunteer for some great programs and some even better people. The last two summers I have

spent time volunteering at my local church, Holy Name Catholic Church, in Watertown, SD. I

helped with our youth Vacation Bible School. In the summer of 2021, I was a group leader and

helped in the first-grade room reading bible stories and teaching important life lessons in a

classroom setting. I brought the first graders to different stations throughout the week and saw

just how unique each one was. I also saw just how much work and planning goes into teaching

kids in a way that keeps their interest. This summer, 2022, I was in charge of the music station

for all grades. The youth Bible school is put on for kids in kindergarten through fifth grade. A

few others and I learned and taught songs, dance moves, and motions to help kids remember the

importance of why they were there. The hands-on activities helped them to relax, let loose, and

to have fun while still learning.

Another volunteer opportunity that I had was helping with a program called Freshman

Impact at Hanson High School in Alexandria, SD. Freshman impact is a program designed by

C.O.R.E. to prevent and protect kids from potentially harmful situations such as drugs, drinking

and driving, sexting, and other major life issues. At the end of the day, there was a fake crash

scene where students acted like they were seriously injured in a car accident to show how grave

these real-life experiences could be. My responsibility was to be a group leader for the kids.

During the day I led the kids to different stations, was there to answer any questions, and helped

them to stay on task without being distracted by their phones or making light of the situation

since it was such a serious day. I think this event impacted not only the students, but all the

supervisors, teachers, volunteers, and everyone who attended.

 These two opportunities have given me great impressions of the kids I am possibly going

to work with in the future. I know for certain that these kids are the future and I love being able

to help them grow and develop. These kids all mean the world to me and have shown me that I

am making the right choice by becoming an educator. Teaching music to kids in VBS helped me

see how kids of different ages develop and how they can learn, and it was also a great learning

opportunity for me to watch different teachers have different but useful strategies. I firmly

believe that hands-on learning is the easiest and most effective way of teaching. I know that with

this information, I can take these new skills and add them to my own classroom one day. By

helping with freshman impact, I saw and experienced firsthand how high school freshmen are. I

saw real and raw reactions let out by these kids and it was pretty emotional.

By comparing these two opportunities I know that if I had to decide right now, I would

most definitely choose to teach a younger grade. However, if I were to ever teach older grades

or even middle school, I would be able to integrate strategies to help everyone get involved and

want to learn. By having these volunteer hours and countless others from previous years, I feel

like I have a pretty good understanding of how to work with kids of all ages. This has helped me

become a better person and hopefully someday an even better educator. I will cherish the lessons

and observations I have experienced and take the skills I have learned and use them for years to

come.