Outside the Classroom

Final Service Reflection

            Walking down the streets of Meadowbrook neighborhood located in the 5 parks community you cannot imagine the people you will meet or the experience you will gain. You have to go there and knock door to door to really understand the experience I had and the people I met. I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I first heard about this project, I had very low self confidence in going door to door and I also wasn’t confident in the process. All it took was getting the first survey, when my inner senator came out and I had lots of motivation to continue the mission. The prompts we were given and what we had been told about the survey wasn’t what my group thought it was going to be. We came up with our own prompt and it seemed to work, I didn’t look ahead of time at the survey and that was my fault but it felt like it took forever to get finished. The survey was very personal and it wasn’t until I started asking the questions did it get uncomfortable. But letting them know what this information was going to be used for, and giving them the option to say “pass” helped a lot. Next time I would prepare the students who are going to be doing this projects on how to ask some of these questions and just practice what they’re going to say.

            The process of giving the survey surprised me very little compared to the people I met. I thought that the people living here had no choice because of money situations but that wasn’t always the case. An old lady lived there with her husband because they liked the simple life and the community and most families on average lived there 6 years or more. I knew there was going to be lots of different age groups and ethnicities and that proved to be true but I never thought about education level. I thought everyone would have least finished high school but that wasn’t true. I spoke to at least five families that said 6^th or 8^th grade was their highest level of education completed  and some said a little of high school but they never  received  their GED. But the families with kids said that they talked to their kids about college and the importance of going. I could have already guessed that education is important to our society, but it really made me look at myself and the opportunities I was receiving in school and pursuing my career. One family that I and Liz talked too asked about opportunities in college, so we told them about student life and leadership at SLCC and told them how their kid should apply so that they can help out with their school. This made me feel like a leader and that I really was giving back to this community. I think knowledge is a powerful thing to have and I recognized that this was one thing I could give and this is what the survey’s purpose was to collect the information and then turn around and make those opportunities possible.

 I was also surprised about how many people we talked to were sick and didn’t take care about their personal hygiene. I know in some circumstances that they would have to skip a medical treatment because they couldn’t afford it but hygiene I can’t figure out. When we asked if they use a budget in their house, I was surprised how many times we had to explain what a budget was. I don’t follow one but I know what one is, the same goes for the taxes question and that I was really shocked about. Like I said it was a very diverse neighborhood but it was weird how different each street was. We did one side of the neighborhood then switched last Saturday morning and everyone on that street spoke Spanish, and the Spanish version of the survey wasn’t working. So it was a bit of a challenge but we did the best we could with the people that agreed to take the survey. We finished this one house and a minute later the husband came out and handed us his business card to an online makeup store that he had created, he helped us so now he wanted us to help him. I looked online at the makeup and its very well priced I might order a few things. I met some very cool people with awesome stories and very hard workers. Most of the people there were happy and smiley that brightened our day just a little bit more. The people who declined us were leaving for work, didn’t have time, and one guy was so old he said he couldn’t hear anymore, I was so appreciative of his efforts though. Very few people knew about 5 parks community action center but were glad to find out where it was at, and that someone was taking the time to bring in services they don’t have access too.

I think what needs to be done now is for a better relationship between all the communities. We had trouble with the manager of Meadowbrook he said some rude things to us and felt like he was getting attacked when he had already talked to Brandi about this project we were doing. I know the center is new but if it had weekly or monthly meetings with all the managers of the communities I think they would be able to organize services better. The survey in my opinion was too long maybe simplifying it depending on the age of each family member. Plan more class time to go down there, I felt like the time we did have was very effective and it brought the class closer together. This project did change me, it really opened my eyes and this needs to happen more because when it does it brings out the best person in you. Almost every household had some sort of disability and this is my career choice so helping out more in communities like this and volunteering more I think will help prepare me and make me a better leader. I feel more confident now going door to door and knowing some of the things you can run into. I feel accomplished because we were the first class to do this and we set a goal and followed through with it, which makes us all leaders.