Reflection

When I began this class, and found out that service learning would be a part of the class, I sighed. “I’ve got plenty to do outside of a volunteering project, I work full time, go to school, have a band and a girlfriend, where can I squeeze volunteering?” And the truth is that I learned more about the world while volunteering than I did in any college class, anyone can tell you poverty rates and unemployment rates, and you may even be able to recite them from memory, but experiencing it is something new entirely. No one can teach you what you learn at a place like Our Next Generation. The kids you meet are just kids, they are not some statistic from a textbook. They just want to have a good time, do what kids like to do, and emulate who they look up to, which unfortunately is normally a single parent household who likely never even was accepted into college. The kids need positive and successful role models to look up to and follow.

When a positive role model affects a student, it becomes apparent. Grades will go up, behavior will get more acceptable; reward will be given to this kind of determination from a child. This is who will grow up with these same morals about hard work and reward, and eventually may go to college, and affect even more people with his or her individuality that would otherwise never be heard. Enabling the students is what we aim to do at ONG. Give them all the tools necessary to succeed.

After my few months at ONG, it helps me to understand and appreciate everything that I do have, and not to take anything for granted, even heat in the winter. Something that without a government program like there is today, would probably be a luxury some of these families could not afford.