First Impressions Can Tell A Lot!

When beginning the service-learning experience, I didn’t know what to expect. I knew that I wanted to find my own service-learning location and I also wanted to work with younger children because I am going into the Elementary Education major. So I started off by looking into places on the Internet that met the criteria but I was having trouble finding a location that matched. I wanted to volunteer with kids from the range of preschool to fourth grade by tutoring, helping with imagination, and challenging kids of different ranges and ability of learning. I finally decided to ask my professor of any places that fit the description and she gave me feedback with about 5 different places of volunteer. I went from being over-whelmed of nowhere to work, to over-whelm with to many places to work. Once I called around, I reached Allison at Head Start and we talked over the phone for a while about what occurs at Head Start and what she expected of me as a volunteer. It was exactly what I was looking for. At our meeting together, Allison showed me around the location, told me different things about the kids themselves, and also showed me the daily schedule. I left that day with a huge smile on my face and an exciting feeling inside. I literally called my Mom to tell her my good news and she was just as thrilled as I was! After that, my day went extremely well which proved to me that this was what I wanted to do when I grow up and that’s something that a lot of people don’t experience on a day-to-day basis. On my first day of volunteer, I couldn’t wait to go and I actually arrived 15 minutes early. Allison had some car trouble that morning but the other volunteers were very nice in showing me what to do. I got to help the kids learn the calendar, experience how to eat properly at a dinner table, and expand their imaginations during open play. Once my time was up, the children’s faces made it very hard to leave and I am very excited about the next time I get to volunteer.

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