Final Children's Museum

A few weeks ago, I was completely hesitant going into this project. I just wanted it to be over and done with and to get a good grade for it. Little did I know that, this week I would be looking back at it and missing all the fun times we had with the kids. Service learning has changed me in a healthier sense. I feel as though I'm a happier person. Each week I looked forward to doing child-like activities on friday's. I'm glad that we chose to work with the kids over at the museum and Tonya our coordinator couldn't have been more helpful and kind. Although none of our projects were ever too difficult, it was the simplicity involved that kept it interesting. We tried not to get too stuck with specifics for our projects and we usually just went out on a limb once we got there.

I would have to say my favorite project was being able to help out with Autism Night. Going into it we weren't sure what to expect. I had never met a child with autism and I wasn't sure if we would be doing activities. That night I learned a severe lesson in life: the ability to listen. We sat and listened to parents pour their hearts out about their unique children. I have forever been changed by their words of wisdom and hopefully by talking about it in our blogs, someone has read them and taken something away from it. In my opinion, the service learning portion of this class was a vital part of the curriculum. There is only so much that lectures and labs can teach us. I thought it was cool that we were all able to come up with our own project. It was important that we were never really given alot of specific examples of previously done projects because it forced us to think and be unique. By working in groups I was able to learn the value of cooperation and teamwork, and I also made new friends. Through our service learning project I realized how we can't always assume that kids know even the most basic things in life, they usually learn from casual conversations. They were generally intimidated by us when we came to visit because we were the "big kids", but I hope we proved them wrong by creatively teaching them new leasons about animals without them even knowing it. My hope is that we managed to educate these kids while still having a good time. I hope that they look back on their experiences with us and are just as happy as they have made us.