#1 September 23,2009

On Wednesday I had my first experience with my service learning group. The Landing Community Center is basically an after school program for the elementary students in Eagle. When I first got there no students had arrived yet, but there was Jesse the main leader of the Landing Community along with three other co-workers. Once the kids started arriving I felt a little awkward and unsure of what I should be doing. The kids all new exactly what they wanted to do because they were already in a routine and I was the new girl. So all of the kids didn't understand who I was yet.

To break my awkwardness i went over and sat by a little girl named Olivia who was sitting on the couch waiting her turn to play a game. I asked her what her name was, what grade, what her favorite color was, and then she went off to play. Then this little boy named Sam came up to me and asked if I wanted to play Lego's with him. Once I started playing Lego's with Sam there were a number of kids who would come up and join us or just come talk to me. After there play time they had a snack break where I learned more of the kids names. Then they had there first class. For this Wednesday class the kids had to choose between Guitar Lessons, a game of kickball, or a study hall where the kids would do their homework. Then after their first class they went to a second one and by the time this session was over all of the kids would have already been picked up by their parents at sometime.

One thing that I really enjoyed at the Landing Community was "1234 Who Do You Appreciate". The kids would raise there hands, stand up, and say who they appreciated and why. Whether it was because they were friends, or someone said something nice, sat by them during snack, basically gave the kids the freedom to say whatever they wanted. It was really interesting to watch the kids get so engaged in this activity. Even one little girl said she appreciated me for being a new leader. It was really cute. I couldn't believe the impact i gave on these kids just by being there for a couple hours. They loved to talk and ask millions of questions. One little boy named Logan was talking to me for the first time and said how he is really big BSU fan and asked me how often I was going to play with them. I responded by saying every Wednesday I would be there, and he replied by saying, "you should come everyday" and it just touched my heart.

It was amazing going from being extremely awkward to being so loved by the kids. I cant wait to grow a strong friendship with all these kids each week. Its really interesting just to observe their actions and different maturity levels with kids that may be really shy, the bully, the loud one, or even the troubled one. Seeing what an impact I have already made on only a few kids I cant wait for the weeks to come.

Before the Landing Community Center Experience

For my service learning project I am volunteering at the Landing Community Center. There i will help the youth of all ages and backgrounds helping them in partnership and growth. I am very excited to do this project beacause i will be working with children, and hopefully someday thats what I will want to do for my future. When i was in the eighth grade i volunteered at a retirement home for one of my classes. It really opened up my eyes to new experiences, seeing the effect i actually put on the five women in the retirement home. I grew a bond with them that i will cherish forever, and within the month period of doing this, one of the elderly women I saw passed away leaving a even bigger effect on me.

I haven't done a vast amount of community service type volunteering a bunch, so I am actually very excited that this is a requirement for the class. That is sad that I need to be required in order to take an interest in community service but hopefully I will grow a love for it as I did at the retirement home, only this time I will continue commuting.

Again i couldnt be more thrilled to be working with kids and serve as a leader to the community. I am going to go into it open minded and by the end of this I will bet that I see a change in views from myself as well as the people I will be commuting. I am very excited to grow from this experience and bring back stories that will have changed my life and then some.