As the students begin classes, they will be asked to blog each night reflecting on the service they have done, something they read in class, or another topic the professors or staff think would be beneficial to have each student think about in more depth.
We will read through the blogs and share some excerpts through the weeks. I am going to leave out the names of the authors so the students continue to feel free to write their true thoughts! They have already contributed some great insight and we look forward to hearing more from them soon!
Enjoy!
July 8th
"Race plays a huge part in our every day interactions with others and you can definitely see the de facto segregation that is still present in today’s society."- SOC 101
"I gave one student a high five and the rest of the tense kids stretched their arms out with smiles and laughter. Apparently, once someone approached them with a positive attitude, the Trenton Central High School students responded eagerly to not only meet me, but to engage in a friendly conversation." - SOC 101
"Today we ventured to the Habitat for Humanity Learning Lab. I was assigned to help with kindergarten and 1st grade with Ms. Laura. At first I was a little nervous because I had never really worked with such young kids. As I got more into the day though, I became increasingly comfortable with the kids and the environment. Ms. Laura introduced us to the class and we sat down in a circle. We went over the vocabulary for the day, and practiced the alphabet. It was kind of amazing at some points to see how the kids interacted with their classmates and teacher, and how immediately welcoming they were of my presence." - USA 101
"Seeing how happy they are despite their struggles is very bittersweet. It's heartbreaking for me because it makes me wonder how such good people can be forced to endure such difficult lives." - USA 101
"All at once, I became aware that this was a completely different environment than the one that I had grown up in--one with more hardships and economic problems." - USA 101
"By the time I left, though, I already felt connected to some that had shared their stories with me and had faced fears such as reading a chapter book." - IDS 100
"As we cruised down busy, unfamiliar roads I overlooked broken down cars, abandoned houses, and pure poverty. Coming from a predominantly white town, with no visible poverty I was beginning to feel slightly nervous. My thoughts wandered to what the 2nd and 3rd grade students would be like. I have always babysat and known how to interact well with kids, but I wondered whether or not I knew how to interact with kids that came from places that I was seeing, places completely foreign to me. Almost out of the blue, the van pulled over in front of a massive stone building. It had beautiful, new black gates in front and seemed like it was in a completely different city from the one I had just driven through. When we went inside I saw that not many students looked like me and I became even more nervous. Next, we followed the group of students into the gymnasium where I participated in a tag game. At this point I began to talk to different students about themselves as well as the activities they were participating in. Following play time, the students had snack at which point, they all wanted me to sit next to them. Once they had finished eating, the students spent the next hour reading to the Bonner volunteers. At this point I realized that although these kids came from a different background than my own, they were still children that enjoyed the same childhood activities as I once did. Never before did I feel so connected to people that seemed so different from myself." - IDS 101
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