Community Reflection Paper

I was much more interested to come back to the soup kitchen and meet my fellow volunteers again. The same people weren’t there though, instead there was a whole new brand of volunteers who were all female. Interested about what their decision was for coming here I asked the group of volunteer. Each person responded by saying that they were from St John’s and doing this service for DNY. Some said more and talked about how that they wanted to help the poor in any way they could. I then asked these volunteers why they believe that they must help the poor. They explained that poor people need our help in order to help them over this stage in their life. It was very interesting to not hear a word about the cause or reason behind

On Tuesday, June 16, 2015, I attended Jefferson County Public School District board meeting. All of the board members were in attendance as well as the superintendent and building level principals. The agenda items were Mississippi Department of Education new graduation option, dropout prevention restructuring plan, summer school, and school status for the 2014-2015 school year. In my opinion, the board meeting was very informative and quite productive. The first item on the agenda was the new graduation option from MDE. All of the board members agreed that the new graduation option was beneficial to our students both past and present. They expressed excited and relief because as one put it “the state is finally stepping up to help our children.”

Each year 200,000 children are charged as adults in court according to the Open Society Foundations. Children held in adult prisons have very high recidivism rates, but only if they are not in there life! Children charged as adults do not get the help they need or are not taught what to do better. A couple solutions for this problem could be community based groups, focusing on their mental and physical needs, and lastly, having people to work with and tutor the children. These things could turn the children into productive members of society instead of repeat offenders and criminals.

This course can be of useful in my everyday activities of dealing with Nursing Home facilities, NYDOH and Department of Social Services. I will increase my knowledge of different approaches on how to distinguish issues for solutions to operational challenges and learn advanced techniques on processes I can use to enhance my productivity in getting our members approved for institutional

Yes, I have read it. I thought our survey responses were going to be totally anonymous. If I would have known that some of our comments were going to be put in a letter and then posted on the board, where everybody can read about my disability, I would not have included that information. The only reason I put that in there is for future students who are younger than me who have disabilities. my study classmates figured out it was me and asked me to confirm it. I would prefer to come and talk to you in person about the issue before the final and not continue to discuss this on an open discussion

Sense of community “refers to a perception of belongingness, interdependence, and mutual commitment that links individuals in a collective unity” (Kloos et al., 2012, pg. 27). Within my placement at the Queen Street Commons Café, I see multiple instances of sense of community each day I am there. The café strives to include every person from the community in order to ensure that they feel included and a member of the overall community. Two elements of sense of community that I see most often during my time volunteering are membership and integration and fulfillment of needs. Both are seen through the program at the café called, the Speak English Café. This program serves to integrate immigrants or refugees to Canada into the Kitchener community by helping them practice their English through a welcoming, informal

The logistics of the preparation, the chosen recipes, the delegation, and the organization of this affair mirrored our involvement in our churches. The psychological immersion began before we even gathered. The day before Cookie Day each of my aunts, my grandmother and even my cousin’s grandmother would work on the phone to assure the assignment of each desired recipe and food item to each member. Aunt Cindy always made the oatmeal raisin cookies and Linzer cookies, Aunt Dana always made the thumbprints and peanut butter kiss cookies, Aunt Sherry, the gingerbread, Aunt Monica, the chocolate chip, my grandmother, the almond Spritz cookies, and my mother made Italian ricotta cookies. Aunt Colleen made the sugar cookie dough in advance so that the dough had time to chill and on Cookie Day she sat with the children at the living room table and helped us cut and decorate our cookies. My mother always bought the foundational food items like the flour, the sugar, the butter, and the baking soda, and depending on their assigned recipes, everyone brought what they needed. Though my grandmother always arrived the earliest with extra mixing bowls, baking sheets, and electronic mixers, my mother had the leading role given that she was host. She managed

Going to the event was not what I expected. The room was even smaller than a classroom at Arlington. Unfortunately, only half the committee was attending, but the ladies that were there were very nice. They were very serious and considerate of what issues were on the table. They were well prepared to address ideas that were from previous meeting and the diversity of the jobs the women worked in gave new insights to the situation on hand. The women had a very clear understanding of the work that needed to be done and were trying to come up with solutions to the problems. I appreciated the consideration they took to answer any questions I had and explain a few things throughout the meeting. They also had an agenda packet full of what

“Do you like cake or pie?” Food questions are among the most common I am asked by my 6th grade students during our Thursday, Ask the Expert, warm-up activity. Each week I plunge my hand deep into the bucket of anonymous questions, and somehow I seem to pull out a slip of paper with this type of topic scribbled on it. “Neither,” I share. This, of course, leads to a roar of disappointment and surprise, which undoubtedly transforms into ten-plus follow up questions. While their reactions exemplify the beauty and humor of teaching middle school students, I revel in the spontaneous spark of inquiry dominoing off of one simple answer. My answers lead to their questions, their questions lead to their stories, and ultimately their stories, and

Initially when I began this project, I applied to a school which I went to called Abington Senior high school. I wanted to go to this school, so I could see my old teachers and learn from them again. Unfortunately, that did not happen. When I applied, I provided the school with all the necessary clearances and I sent an email to the head of the education department as they instructed. However, the department head did not respond to any of my emails.

Growing up in a small town in Northeast Vermont, there isn’t much of anything. The economy is poor, there isn’t many jobs, and it’s cold. My hometown is similar to the made up town of Catamount in the novel, Continental Drift, by Russell Banks. I saw my family in likeness to the Dubois’s. My mom stayed home with us kids until we needed extra cash so she began to waitress. My dad got one of the better jobs at the new correctional facility a town over.

Over the course of the semester, I volunteered at the Positive Attitude Youth Center, a non-profit organization that gives the youth community a positive social and learning environment. I tutored Michelle, whose name has been altered for privacy, I helped Alyssa, another pseudonym, lead the arts and crafts activities, and I played indoor and outdoor games such as tag, jump rope, and basketball with the students. “Schools Families and Communities,” “Debunking the ‘Pull Yourself Up By Your Bootstraps’ Myth,” and “The School and the Community” are three class articles that helped me unpack and understand my experiences at PAYC.

I recently had the privilege of spending a week with a community called Furaha Community Center that provides education, social services, and community action efforts within a slum community called Haruma located in Nairobi, Kenya. The community of Haruma has roughly 500,000 people living in the equivalent of 12 square blocks. The community suffers from poor sanitation, rampant disease, and violence. Furaha Community Center serves the poorest and the sickest of the community in efforts to provide food, education, micro loans, and social services. The community is defined by some outsiders as poor, sick, dirty, lazy, disease ridden, gang infested, violent, sexually deviant, uneducated (education is not free in Kenya so many families cannot afford to send their children to school) and beyond hope. Although some of these descriptors are partially true, I found the community to be generous, supportive, hard-working, resilient, and joyful. To live in Haruma and be a member of the community you have a difficult life. Tribal hierarchy defines your ability to obtain opportunities to better yourself. Religion is a source of comfort, but is also used by some religious leaders as a way gain power and influence over the desperate. Most people work as “day laborers” and live day to day. They often do not eat every day because they cannot find work. Fires, building collapses, gang activity, and violence are a part of everyday life. Diseases spread rapidly while no medical care

Eating dinner as a family is not a practice purely saved for special occasions and holidays. It is a practice that can and should be carried out on a daily basis. This practice of sharing food and eating together as a social unit is called commensality (Ochs 2006 p. 37). Through commensality, parents and children, specifically adolescent children, are able to connect and communicate about themselves and their lives. There are a multitude of benefits that go along with that including better well-being for the adolescent and a stronger family unit. But these same types of conditions and benefits are not found at other mealtimes. There are rarely family breakfasts or family lunches, due to how busy adolescents and adults are during those times. There is clearly something special and unique about dinner and its benefits that is worth taking a closer look into.

Learning about the events of September 11th, 2001 was an eye- opening way to start the semester of Citizen Education, and I learned about the many duties of our citizens from this day. After our nation was attacked, it took some time for the United States to heal from this wound we suffered. I believe we came out stronger as a nation from this terrible event. I learned of the brave souls who put their lives on the line for others, I learned of the firefighters who never stopped climbing, and I learned of the people of all ages who died as heroes. There were so many examples of the three types of citizens the day of the attacks and the days following. The first type of citizen is the personably responsible citizen. This person shows responsibility and contributes their part to the community. This person could have been found contributing to organizations to help families suffering loss. The second type of citizen is the participatory citizen. This person organizes events and actively contributes to the community. This person could have been found bringing victims to shelter and give people ways to avoid danger. The third type of citizen is the justice oriented citizen. This citizen is constantly fighting for what is right and strives to make a difference. This person could have been seen making speeches on what they think needs to be done to stop terrorism.