There are three levels that define a person, one’s physique, one’s interests, and one’s beliefs. Of these, one’s beliefs are the most defining, followed by interests, then physique. My description of myself shall begin with physique. I am male, Caucasian, and stand at six feet two inches in height. I have brown hair and brown eyes. I wear size thirteen shoes. If you go one level down, to interests, you will learn that I enjoy playing guitar and all music in general. I find family, friends, and faith to be immensely important. I want to make a positive mark on the world. On the final layer, you will see my character and beliefs, what truly makes me who I am. I am on fire for Christ. I believe that we all have a significant purpose in this world. I believe that I have been placed here to glorify Christ and to promote the well being of mankind. I was taught that chivalry is not dead. I believe in true and unending love. All these beliefs provide me with a firm desire to serve.
Life has been a sequence of events providing experience in service and leadership. One of my first service and leadership opportunities was Boy Scouts. After nine years of Boy Scouts, I may not have learned how to tie every knot, but I have learned how to be a servant leader and the importance of service. Recently, I was elected Senior Patrol Leader of my troop. While it was a lot of work, I found it to be immensely satisfying. Service is not just a one-way thing; you receive as much as you give. The children I led taught me just as much as I taught them. The parents that I interfaced with often provided me with encouragement and support as I was learning what style of leadership was required to focus a group of rowdy boys. In August I began work on my Eagle project. I planned and build three hundred twenty-five feet of trails, as well as three waterproofed, stained picnic tables. The project really taught me about the administration side of service. Leadership primarily has two components, the leadership side and follower side. Leadership is then split into logistics, and actually “leading”. Until my Eagle Scout project I had only been a “leading” leader. The project required me to quickly step into an administrator role. I was no longer able to just showing up to a place and be appointed a leader. Instead, I was now in charge determining how to pull of the project, contacting contractors to bush hog the trails, and communicating with the volunteers. It was definitely a daunting task. My other leadership and service opportunities include volunteering at food drives, volunteering as the Special Olympics, volunteering at the library, and volunteering on my church’s praise and worship team. Each and every opportunity stretched me in a new way.
When I heard that I was placed in Pritchard Hall, I was honestly worried. Pritchard Hall was supposedly the party hall, where kids spent their days drinking and is general behavior contrary to my own. Luckily I was proven incorrect. As soon as I entered the hall I was bombarded by my hall mates, who are now some of my best friends. We are now one big happy family of Virginia Tech students. Whenever we are not studying together, we can be found eating together, playing wallyball together, watching TV together, or just being together. I believe that we mesh this well because, despite our differences, we are united by a common goal: to serve. When I came to the hall I had no idea that the SERVE Living Learning Community even existed. After talking to a lot of my friends in the hall I decided that I should join the SERVE Living Learning Community. Community service should not end with my high school career. Service is something that we are called to continue through the rest of our lives. While there are many opportunities to serve in my community, SERVE made the most sense to join, as I was already invested in the community. I am truly excited to serve through SERVE.
7 September 2016
- How can you educate others or raise awareness about this group or social issue?
- Do you see benefits of doing community work? Why or why not?
- What institutional structures are in place at your site or in the community? How do they affect the people you work with?
- What did you do that seemed to be effective or ineffective in the community?
- How are your values expressed through your community work?
- Complete this sentence: Because of my service-learning, I am…
7 September 2016
I’m from hopes and dreams,
From nights spent hoping for a family.
I’m from community and respect,
From a family that truly cares for each other.
I’m from faith and commitment,
From a God that love to praise and glorify.
I’m from cold winters and hot summers,
Sleepless nights and drowsy days.
I’m from the mountains and the fields,
The trees and the streams.
I’m from the deer and butterflies,
A world filled with life.
I’m from a purpose and reason.
I have a life to live to its fullest,
Be it service to God or others.
I’m from love.
14 September 2016
Our skills, passions, and beliefs strengthen and add diversity to our communities. Where one person may fall, another is there to support and strengthen the entire community. Our diversity is something beautiful. To know one’s strengths (or a they are sometimes called: gifts) is something we all pursue at one point or another. Some of us are lucky and find and capitalize upon their strengths early on in life. Others continue to find and develop their strengths through their entire lives. Either way, our gifts are one of the major pursuits in life.
Our strengths can be split into three categories: interest skills, personality skills, and innate skills.
One of my first skills falls into all three categories. I am a jack of all trades. My personality and innate skills enable me to obtain an extensive array of interests. From liberal arts to STEM (Science Technology Engineering Mathematics), from athletics to reading, from cooking to cars I am interested in gaining new skills. However, on the other side of the jack of all trades skill is master of none. My range of opportunities and interests are so widespread that I find it difficult to narrow my focus to only a few skills. Thus, I am extremely lacking in finely tuned interest skills.
From interest skills we can move unto personality skills. These skills are less of a physical skill, and more of a type of character trait or interpersonal manner. Personality skills include many of the skills mentioned in the Virginia Tech Strengths Quest Assessment. My skills, as given by the strengths assessment, are: input, connectedness, belief, intellection, and developer. These skills are in the strategic thinking, relationship building, and executing domains. While these skills sound kind of boring, like Jerry Gergich of Parks and Recreation or Stanley Hudson of The Office level boring, they make me who I am. My unique skills, experiences, and strengths are tools given to me to help me relate and interact with others. While being smart and athletic is great, and honestly something we should aspire to achieve, how we interact with each other is exponentially more important. My input skill allows me to perceive situations and people (unless it involves me, then I am clueless, but that is another story). The connectedness skill gives me insight into how our actions are connected to consequences, either good or bad. I will be your number one supporter in almost anything because of my belief skill. The introspective portion of the intellection skill ties all of my skills together, and the developer skill goes hand in hand with my belief skill. I hope that all these skills make me a warm, friendly, supportive friend and human. All of the skills in the strategic thinking and relationship building domains also cause my jack of all trades master of none interest skill. By being able to see so many wonderful and interesting possibilities, and how they all connect to each other, I desire to follow as many of them as possible. My executing domain skill is a little weird, belief does not appear to be an “execution” of something. However, while it is not a direct execution of action, it indirectly causes action. Belief goes into many things. Science, faith in a God, honestly our entire perception of the world and the things that govern it require belief. Belief probably motivates 75% of our actions. For example, many of the students in the SERVE Living Learning Community decided to join based of their religious faith and belief in service to others.
Finally, while it may be debatable, I believe that we are given innate skills. Some of us are more talented in arts than others, some in sports, and others in academia. Any of these skills can be obtained through training; however, some people tend to have a head start in these skills. I am still searching for my innate skills, so far I appear to be average.
So what can I bring to the table in my communities? I can bring myself. I can bring my support and love for others. I can bring a passion for others. While it might not seem like much, I think the world need a little more love.
28 September 2016
It is almost indisputable that we now live in a world of generalizations and oversights. Frankly, our world has always been plagued by this problem. Most of us, but not all, typically tend to only see what is right in front of us; or in the more unfortunate case, what we want or expect to see. Honestly, the majority of our current social issues stem from this idea of hearing only a “single story”, especially when those people hearing a single story are in politics. The idea of compromise has slowly been being subdued as we move towards political extremity. This is just one example of how generalization is negatively affecting our communities. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie also has many stories about the danger of a single story, the namesake of this assignment. I am not sure if its human stupidity, selflessness, or just our inexplicable ability to rarely see the big picture, but we have all been accusable of hearing a single story and letting it affect how we view other communities.
As an individual I honestly cannot say that I have ever been the subject of being seen as a single story. My geographical community is generally well educated and non-judgmental. A lot of the citizens of Fauquier county will often say we live in a bubble. A bubble of wealth. A bubble of social equality. Frankly it is a fantastic thing, I wish more communities were like this. My community gave me, and many others like me, the chance to grow up without the stereotyping and the shortsightedness many other communities develop. Therefore, as an individual I have never been the subject of a single story.
Honestly, this assignment is rather difficult for me, it is kind of hard to paint any of my immediate communities with a single story. At least I have never directly heard someone grossly over generalize one of my communities (relating back to the state of my geographical community). However, I suppose there are universal stereotypes that all communities receive. A sports team will typically get a single story of being jocks. A chess club will receive the stereotypes of being egg heads. Honestly, a lot of these stereotypes can be true. A sports team is typically full of jocks. A chess club is typically full of egg heads. But, and the but is immensely important, we are so much more than one thing. That jock could also be a caring brother or sister. That egg head could also be an artist. The world is too big and too unique for a single story. Just as one would not solely describe Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night as being swirly, one should not generalize each other, or our communities, as being one thing.
I suppose that one of the greatest examples of a single story for me is how Christianity community is often viewed. Typically, the biggest single story we receive is that of hypocrisy, saying one thing and doing another thing. I think that a lot of that comes from how we portray love, or in some case not portray love. Christ’s entire message was that of love. When asked what the greatest command is, Jesus replied “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” I think that a lot of the church is preaching this message. But unfortunately we are not living always living it out, and actions speak louder than words. With all the social issues and causes that took place in the last few years, and are occurring currently, it has been easy for us to get that single story of being a hypocritical, judgmental community. I guess the loudest, wildest voices are always heard the most. With people listening to figures such as Donald Trump and the Westboro Baptist Church, it is no wonder that people are getting the wrong perception of Christianity. A lot of us are caring, loving people. While we may not agree on what is considered “politically correct” all the time, we are more than one story.
5 September 2016
Abraham Lincoln once said, “He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help.” I think this quote accurately begins the discussion on volunteerism. Specifically, the use of “help” versus “serve” displays the difference between pro-volunteerism and anti-volunteerism ideologies. While researching “helping” versus “serving” I found an article that articulates the distinction well. “Helping, fixing and serving represent three different ways of seeing life. When you help, you see life as weak. When you fix, you see life as broken. When you serve, you see life as whole. Fixing and helping may be the work of the ego, and service the work of the soul.” (lionsroar.com) This is where people start to confuse volunteerism. Volunteerism envelops both “helping” and “serving”. However, more effective volunteerism is carried out through service.
Merrian-Webster.com defines Volunteerism as “the act or practice of doing volunteer work in community service.” Volunteerism, like most things, is not an absolute “good” or “bad”. Volunteerism has its time and place. There are situations where volunteerism is necessary, given that it is carried out through “serving”. On the other hand, there are times where volunteerism can be detrimental to a community. If we wish to serve others, and there is such a great need, then we need to first examine ourselves and understand why we volunteer. Do we want to help? Do you want to empower yourself through others? Or do you want to serve? Do you want to empower others? After our hearts are in the right place we need to closely examine the situation. Will volunteering here actually have unforeseen consequences? “Most of the evil in this world is done by people with good intentions.” (T.S. Elliot)
No one is truly against volunteerism. However, one of the biggest critiques is that we should help ourselves first. Recently while scrolling through my Facebook feed I found a perfect example of this ideology. One of my friends shared a post critiquing those serving refuges, saying that we should instead serve homeless veterans. Now both sides of this argument are valid. Both the refuges and the homeless need support, but I do not see why it must be an either/ or situation. It is more of a both/ and situation. It is indisputable that there are people dying on our streets, especially as winter approaches, but at the same time there are millions of people overseas being displaced by war or their governments. Both deserve our service.
While from a moral standpoint we are required to serve both domestically and internationally. However, feasibility wise, it is not always possible for our government support every cause. The 2017 United States of America federal budget proposes 50.1 billion dollars towards foreign aid. This comes out to 1.2 percent of the total U.S. federal budget (4.15 trillion dollars). While percent wise this is not a large number, 50.1 billion dollars is a lot of money. I definitely think we could, and should, move some money from other U.S. programs to foreign aid. Unfortunately, after the Great Recession (late 2000s) opinions on foreign aid spending changed into what they are now. Now we tend to look at domestic issues before international crises. We miss the big picture when we do this though. There are social inequalities and economic problems in America, but they pale in comparison to the problems in other countries. When nine million children under the age of five die each year, and seventy percent of these deaths could be prevented, you know that there is a problem in the world. The majority of these deaths come from malnutrition and not having access to basic medical necessities. There is a major food surplus in the world, but the distribution is not even close to even. You have countries like America and the United Kingdom where there is a gross excess. You have third world countries where there is a major scarcity of food.
Maybe we should take a step back and breath. Maybe we should look up from what is directly in front of us. Maybe we should strive to understand why and how the world functions around us, not just our small sphere of influence. The world is so much bigger and diverse than we care to know, yet in other ways it can seem really small. We may be seven thousand miles away from Syria, a country we consider to be an utter opposite of America, but when the day ends we are all still humans. We all have dreams. We all love. We all debate Pepsi versus Coke. I think people lose sight of the fact that the only difference between us all is culture, which should be celebrated. “So long as we love we serve; so long as we are loved by others, I would almost say that we are indispensable; and no man is useless while he has a friend.” (Robert Louis Stevenson) I think what we are losing in the world in love and compassion for others. Hate, fear, and other notions are easier, they make us feel good. It is much easier to hate or fear someone across the world than it is to love them. Love requires an investment. Love requires time. Love can hurt. Maybe this is the heart of the reason as to why we do not always serve.
Volunteerism is so much more complex than “the act or practice of doing volunteer work in community service.” It is the conflict between “helping” and “service”, and the struggle between fear and love.
“Though my work may be menial, though my contribution may be small, I can perform it with dignity and offer it with unselfishness. My talents may not be great, but I can use them to bless the lives of others... The goodness of the world in which we live is the accumulated goodness of many small and seemingly inconsequential acts.” (Gordon B. Hinckley)
9 November 2016
As I look back upon my service experiences I find that there is only a handful that made me feel truly alive. Sure, I have enjoyed many of the experiences, but it is not until recently that I began asking myself what makes me come alive.
When I first read the prompt the first occasion that came to mind was building hiking trails in New Mexico at the Philmont Scout Ranch. After hiking almost seventy miles, with approximately an additional forty miles to go, we began a service project building a new trail down the mountain. While it was incredibly difficult work, especially after being physically exhausted, I found it to be a highly fulfilling experience. This was something that I helped to construct, and that I as a hiker knew others would appreciate and enjoy for years to come.
However, as I reflected further on the prompt and myself I found that there is more to me feeling truly alive. According to the online personality tests I live a strange life in flux between introverted and extroverted. I thoroughly appreciate people and their company; however, I am not one to put myself out there. I tend to enjoy just having a discussion among one or two people. Not necessarily giving advice or anything, but just actively listening and making the small comment here and there.
Active communication can be used for service just as much as a shovel can. Service does not have to just be physical labor that makes an enormous visible mark on the world. We can serve each other and our communities through the small everyday things we do. It is kind of like the idea in A Wonderful Life. Our actions have consequences, we choose if they are done in service to others or not.
All my life I have sought out these kinds of deep meaningful conversations. I had them through TeenPact for a while, and now through SERVE LLC. I believe that listening is one of my “gifts”, and I find joy and feel alive when I am able to use it, especially when it helps others. For now, I shall continue to seek out opportunities to serve in a way that I can best use my skills and gifts.
7 December 2016
The first entry of the Active Citizen Continuum is the member. The member is not really concerned with their role in society. The second step on the continuum, the volunteer, knows that there are issues within society and attempts to aid in these issues; however, they lack a complete understanding of the problems. I would argue that most people tend to exist mostly between the member and volunteer steps on the Active Citizen Continuum. Once one begins to ask “why?” they have begun to move into becoming a conscientious citizen, the third step of the continuum. The final step of the Active Citizen Continuum is active citizenship. An active citizen takes initiative to see problems and issues in his or her own community, and additionally take the next step in attempting to fix the issue. As a continuum tends to cycle through different stages, and this is the case with the Active Citizenship Continuum. There will be times in life where you are a member, a volunteer, a conscientious citizen, and hopefully an active citizen.
Synthesizing and Unpacking the Authors and Concepts We’ve Covered this Semester
During the SERVE class, we took a systematic look at unpacking community service in both a local and global aspect. First we looked at what citizenship is (via the Active Citizenship Continuum). Then we looked at what specifically community is, and the different types or levels of community. We then spent the next portion of the semester looking at criticisms of volunteerism and how we, as conscientious and active citizens, can make a pointed effort to serve in a positive way. Citizenship in a very basic sense is belonging to a community. However, at the same time there is something that is to be expected of a citizen. As citizens of the United States of America we are expected to comply to our civic duties, paying taxes and staying within the arms of the law. Virginia Tech expects us to actively pursue our academics and comply with campus policy. But taking things a step further than civic duties we reach duties beyond those required by citizenship, yet they are still recommended. Service is one of these duties.
"Why serve? Here are five reductive answers: (1) we are God’s children; (2) we share the earth; (3) I find myself in you; (4) I win praise serving you; (5) I suck… Whomever service is good for, we should also note that different reasons for service appeal to different understandings of what the good consists in. Service is good because of the aid it brings to those served, because of the habits it instills, because of the pleasure it provides, because of the sense of unity it begets among all parties involved, because it is divinely sanctioned, because of its capacity to move the way things are toward how they ought to be. That is, service might produce goods that are necessary, educational, pleasurable, beautiful, holy, or right." (Davis)
Service is a principle that goes beyond citizenship, yet also is somehow related. We are all citizens of a global community, and some would argue that we are also all citizens of God’s kingdom. Either way, almost all of us feel the call to serve each other. However, our motives for service can also play into the quality of our service. Our best service is when it primarily focuses upon those in need. Of all the service stories shared in class, the one about the service frat’s service cruise stuck out most to me. It was a prime example of going into service for the wrong reasons (along with a host of other negative reasons), and it definitely affected the outcome of the service. Another major critique of service that stuck out to me was the idea of assets based community, or rather the opposite: needs driven service. Needs based service looks for a need in a community and then attempts to fix it. It is a very top-down approach to service, and often leads to negative affect, cultural shocks, and sustainability. This is not to say that needs based service is all bad, there are times where swift action is necessary. However, a better alternative is assets based service. “The hard truth is that development must start from within the community and, in most of our urban neighborhoods, there is no other choice” (Kretzmann). Assets based service is more of a bottom-up approach to community service. Instead of using foreign resources, the local resources (including people, materials, and more) are invested. This greatly increases the sustainability and positive impact (as the community is approached, asked what they require). However, “Establishing within each community a sense of responsibility for the health of the local community, along with mechanisms that allow communities to influence and even control some aspects of the institution’s relationships with its local neighborhood, can prove much more difficult [than needs based service]” (Kretzmann). The best social change comes when the community is directly involved.
Constructively Looking at Virginia Tech, Ut Prosim, and How You Can Encourage Active Citizenship on Campus
Virginia Tech is a university that prides itself with community service. From the motto Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), the Big Event, numerous service frats and sororities, campus organizations, and the SERVE Living Learning Community Virginia Tech students are surrounded by the idea of community service. I suppose that we qualify our citizenship with the word “active” to create a distinction between just living day to day in a community and actually taking an active interest in the well-being of the community. I believe that most communities, especially Virginia Tech, provide opportunities to step up into the role of an active citizen. Organizations such as SERVE really lets us as students step up and embrace Ut Prosim as a way of life. For some at Virginia Tech, Ut Prosim is a way of life. I would say the most of the SERVE LLC students are pursuing service in life. “That I May Serve” is truly something done everyday, and this is the same for many of the Virginia Tech students. However, at the same time, many of the students here also see Ut Prosim as just a motto. Most of the students here at Virginia Tech lie between the volunteer and conscientious citizen stages of the active citizenship continuum. There is a desire to actively serve, but the pursuit of “why?” and the initiative to actually make a change is missing. Virginia Tech definitely encourages us to become active citizens, and the organizations and needs to do so are here in Blacksburg. At the same time, what Virginia Tech is offering is great for the volunteer stage of the active citizenship continuum, but VT often fails to provide the “why?” and asset based service. I believe that the infrastructure to better promote active citizenship is here, but at the same time it is not being fully utilized. For one thing, we as students need to be better educated on service. For many (including me) service is (was) something that you sign up for to create a better resume. We do not necessarily think about the fine details in service, beyond the “help other people” mentality. Thus, one thing that the University, and we as SERVE students, can actively do is educate our fellow students on what service really is, and how to best carry it out in our communities. Perhaps Virginia Tech’s first step could be including a service guide alongside Haven and AlcoholEdu. I appreciate that Virginia Tech does not require service to attend or graduate, but as a school that prides itself in service I find that requiring something service based is not unreasonable. Not community service hours, but education. A lot of people can be intimidated by service, or even the idea of searching out service opportunities. Overall, Virginia Tech is on the right path towards promoting active citizenship, but we could definitely further promote service, and we could definitely better educate ourselves on service.
Taking A Critical Look at Your Own Active Citizenship and How You Plan to Advance Yourself Along the Continuum Next Semester
Specifically for me, my placement on the active citizenship continuum changes from issue to issue. I would say that baseline I am a volunteer; occasionally, and becoming more often, I am a conscientious citizen; and rarely am I an active citizen. All my life I have taken part in service through my church, Boy Scouts, or just by myself. I have volunteered at the food bank, on numerous food drives, and at the Special Olympics, but through it all that is all I was, a volunteer. I was never told why we were serving or why we had this need in the first place, and I never thought to ask anyone. Honestly, I was satisfied with serving for the purpose of serving. Through a lot of my service it was not even for a resume. Just service for the purpose of serving. Occasionally I would educate myself on some issues, but usually it was by accident. However, I started approaching the rank of Eagle Scout in Boy Scouts, I started asking myself questions about service. Around this same time I was moving into Virginia Tech, where I happened to be placed in the SERVE LLC hallway. After meeting my hallmates, and poking around the SERVE Living Learning Community webpage, I decided that SERVE was the next doorway in my trip through service. It is not a decision that I regret in the slightest. By being here many of my questions and concerns with service (even the ones I did not know I had) have been answered, or are in the process of being answered through experience. Back in August I had no idea that SERVE existed, that there was even a active citizenship continuum, or that there was a “method” to service. Service was something that I signed up for on Monday, and went to on Saturday. However, I was becoming tired of just serving without understanding “why?”. Why do we have these issues in the first place? Why hasn’t someone already fixed this? Not necessarily questions about how to carry out service, but questions about the people we are serving and the issues specifically. Back in November I had the opportunity to serve with World Relief Durham. World Relief Durham is an organization that provides support to refugees from Syria and other nations. I went into the trip knowing almost nothing about the actually refugee crisis. I knew what I saw on Facebook and what I heard from my peers, but I do not really trust either of those sources for my information. However, surrounded by negative understandings of the refugees, I was excited to actually get involved and expand my knowledge of the world. Nothing could have prepared me for what I learned. What stuck out to me most during the entire service trip was the refugee family we met. The family was composed of a mother, a teenage boy and girl, and a young lad with autism. Unfortunately (as I soon learned) the father was captured in Jordan, and executed. However, talking to the family you could only get a sense of joy. Through all the hardships they endured, even through all the change they went through, they still had joy. I think the idea of one story has challenged me the most over this semester. I like to think that I have things figured out, that I know everything about the world already. But honestly? I have no clue really. After we returned from Durham to Virginia Tech I quickly joined a refugee service organization started by one of the girls on the service trip (a good example of active citizenship). I hope to become further involved next semester. This semester has really pushed and grown my perspective on volunteering. There is so much more to service than meets the eye. I am heading further into the conscientious citizen stage of the active citizen continuum. Next semester I plan on continuing my education on service, as well as finding a service opportunity to volunteer with on a regular basis. My passion is people, especially children and human trafficking victims. Hopefully I can find opportunities on campus to pursue these passions, and hopefully make a positive change in the world.
Taking A Critical Look at Your Own Active Citizenship and How You Plan to Advance Yourself Along the Continuum Next Semester
Specifically for me, my placement on the active citizenship continuum changes from issue to issue. I would say that baseline I am a volunteer; occasionally, and becoming more often, I am a conscientious citizen; and rarely am I an active citizen. All my life I have taken part in service through my church, Boy Scouts, or just by myself. I have volunteered at the food bank, on numerous food drives, and at the Special Olympics, but through it all that is all I was, a volunteer. I was never told why we were serving or why we had this need in the first place, and I never thought to ask anyone. Honestly, I was satisfied with serving for the purpose of serving. Through a lot of my service it was not even for a resume. Just service for the purpose of serving. Occasionally I would educate myself on some issues, but usually it was by accident. However, I started approaching the rank of Eagle Scout in Boy Scouts, I started asking myself questions about service. Around this same time I was moving into Virginia Tech, where I happened to be placed in the SERVE LLC hallway. After meeting my hallmates, and poking around the SERVE Living Learning Community webpage, I decided that SERVE was the next doorway in my trip through service. It is not a decision that I regret in the slightest. By being here many of my questions and concerns with service (even the ones I did not know I had) have been answered, or are in the process of being answered through experience. Back in August I had no idea that SERVE existed, that there was even a active citizenship continuum, or that there was a “method” to service. Service was something that I signed up for on Monday, and went to on Saturday. However, I was becoming tired of just serving without understanding “why?”. Why do we have these issues in the first place? Why hasn’t someone already fixed this? Not necessarily questions about how to carry out service, but questions about the people we are serving and the issues specifically. Back in November I had the opportunity to serve with World Relief Durham. World Relief Durham is an organization that provides support to refugees from Syria and other nations. I went into the trip knowing almost nothing about the actually refugee crisis. I knew what I saw on Facebook and what I heard from my peers, but I do not really trust either of those sources for my information. However, surrounded by negative understandings of the refugees, I was excited to actually get involved and expand my knowledge of the world. Nothing could have prepared me for what I learned. What stuck out to me most during the entire service trip was the refugee family we met. The family was composed of a mother, a teenage boy and girl, and a young lad with autism. Unfortunately (as I soon learned) the father was captured in Jordan, and executed. However, talking to the family you could only get a sense of joy. Through all the hardships they endured, even through all the change they went through, they still had joy. I think the idea of one story has challenged me the most over this semester. I like to think that I have things figured out, that I know everything about the world already. But honestly? I have no clue really. After we returned from Durham to Virginia Tech I quickly joined a refugee service organization started by one of the girls on the service trip (a good example of active citizenship). I hope to become further involved next semester. This semester has really pushed and grown my perspective on volunteering. There is so much more to service than meets the eye. I am heading further into the conscientious citizen stage of the active citizen continuum. Next semester I plan on continuing my education on service, as well as finding a service opportunity to volunteer with on a regular basis. My passion is people, especially children and human trafficking victims. Hopefully I can find opportunities on campus to pursue these passions, and hopefully make a positive change in the world.
Works Cited:
Davis, Adam. "What We Don't Talk About When We Don't Talk About Service." Canvas.Vt.Edu. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2016.
Kretzmann, John, and John P. Mcknight. "Assets-based Community Development." National Civic Review 85.4 (1996): 23-29. Web.
"Ut Prosim | Unlocking Potential | Your Virginia Tech Experience." Division of Student Affairs. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2016.
Davis, Adam. "What We Don't Talk About When We Don't Talk About Service." Canvas.Vt.Edu. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2016.
Kretzmann, John, and John P. Mcknight. "Assets-based Community Development." National Civic Review 85.4 (1996): 23-29. Web.
"Ut Prosim | Unlocking Potential | Your Virginia Tech Experience." Division of Student Affairs. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2016.