Me and my fellow volunteers
For my group’s community service activity, we decided to join an event from New York Cares. We assisted an elementary school photography after-school program. Pictures are worth a thousand words. We helped the community by teaching the young students how to identify, analyze, and make conclusions on what they see. These are life long lessons. Words are not presented everywhere we go. Thus, using descriptive skills can lead to better understandings not only of the picture but of the world.
When I think of volunteering, I usually think of a soup kitchen or a hospital. Although I have worked with kids, it wasn’t until this experience that I became more social with them. I thought it was be unmanageable and a bit chaotic.
It felt good and enjoyable to give up my time and energy to help the kids learn about the world. We went to many diverse trips that showed them a different side of the world. (We went to volunteer for this after-school program more than once because it was such a delight the first time.)
Even though the students were learning how to “read” pictures, I believe I caught some of the knowledge as well. It was interesting when we all went to the Ruben Museum of Art to see the Buddhist and Hindu statues, pictures, and photos. I learned that children are very engaging when it comes to art. I learned that punctuality is important. If you’re not on time, then the show still goes on with or without you. I also learned that NY CARES is an amazing opportunity to do vast fields of volunteer work and still have loads of fun.
The most trying experience would be bonding with the students. Fifth graders are the seniors of elementary school. They are the role models of all their younger peers. They are not little kids but are soon to be pre-teens who don’t favor the topics of silly cartoons or their favorite flavor of ice-cream. It was hard to talk to them about a subject we both were interested in. Silence usually filled the room. However I learned that this batch of fifth graders was into music and sports. Laughter and conversation soon spilled the once I realized there was common ground between us.
Education is not just math and science. It is creativity, communications, and patience.
A group picture taken after the photo tour at the museum
By teaching the students how to identify photos, they achieved creativity. Creativity is necessary to help solve problems that d not have the most obvious solutions. The pictures and photos they analyzed were of different cultures and religion. This too, helped broaden their minds about the world and is a step to help make them be more open-minded to people that may not be of the same origin as they are.
This volunteer experience relates to the Leadership and Service session in two ways. Being in charge of ten students is a big responsibility. Leadership was needed to help direct, assist, and be responsible of the students while we went on trips. The second way is that as a leader, I had to cooperate with the teachers and faculty and comply with their requests but also instruct tasks so the after-school trips would be a success.
By this community service experience, I learned to be more patient. I am very outgoing and engaging but there were times when I needed to reserve myself and let the students take over those roles. Patience was the key.
I think this community service activity impacted my decisions on what I want to do in the future. By volunteering, it helped me decide on what I want to become based on the experiences I went through instead of blindly picking a job. The most important thing I learned was to be open-minded. They are so many types of people, places, and jobs that it becomes a requirement to be observant and an acceptant of all types.
I do see myself very well involved in community service because it is a chance to gain experience and have fun.
A one sentence headline to sum up my experience would be, “Pictures worth a thousand words opened up minds and created relationships for future generation.”
