Expanding the Boundaries of Education Through Service Learni

“The most important thing an institution does is not to prepare a student for a career, but for a life as a citizen.”(Frank Newman). In this mini-mission, I will show how the service learning project reflects this quote. This project will get me involved with serving my community and the people in it as well as preparing me to be a citizen and learning what it means to be part of a community.

Integrating situations from my service learning to improve my writing is one goal I have set for myself. Describing my experiences from the project will enhance the content of my papers making them more meaningful and real to my audiences. I lack the knowledge and understanding of too many issues facing this community to have personal examples in my writing. I want to broaden my understanding of these issues and through the service learning, be able to provide concrete examples of them from my work in the schools.

To reach this goal, I must venture outside of my comfort zone and into the realm of the unknown. Faced with different racial and cultural issues in today’s society, I have to open my eyes, ears, and heart to the children that live with these proble

Gaining awareness of other cultures and races that are alien to me is a major goal that I will stop at nothing to obtain. Being at college I have come in contact with what seems like a million different types of people, and I don’t have a clue about their values, beliefs, or ways of life. I believe I have caught myself behind my own personal filter because I haven’t made an effort to speak to anyone different than me except for those who have approached me first. A personal filter is screening out people that are different from me because I am afraid of what I don’t understand. I am not racist, I am just uneasy about what is unfamiliar to me. For example, there is a girl who lives down the hall from me in the dorm. I think she is from India because she has very tan skin and always has a wrap over her head and face. I see her out in the hall almost every night, and I have made no attempt to get to know her or even speak to her. I feel as though I would have nothing to say because I know nothing about her. I’m afraid that if I do speak, I may say something that would offend her. Taking on the role of a service learner would put me in contact with younger kids that I would have no problem talking to. The kids that are of a different ethnic group or culture could be my teacher and tell me about their homes and ways of life. I would gain a better understanding of what I am not from these children and I could face my peers at UT whom I have been hesitant to meet because of our differences. By coming to terms with the fact that impossible doesn’t mean impassable, I will have taken a gigantic step toward learning what community is about and what my place is in that community. The service learning is an opportunity for me to construct a new bridge toward communicating with different people.

I want the children I work with to see how important community service is and want to get involved with helping others. My mom has always tried to get me involved in doing volunteer work, but I never wanted to. Just recently, she has been thinking of doing foreign mission work in our church. She feels such a strong passion for those less fortu

Some topics in this essay:
Service Learning, Dolores Huerta, Marie Curie’s, service learning, community service, people afraid, service learning project, service learner, personal filter, coming terms, understanding issues, learning project, proud talk,