Stayin busy...
Hello again! Hope everyone had a fantastic week! I sure did, but I'm not looking forward to next week! I don't know if I've told you yet but I am on the Varsity Swimming and Diving team here at William Smith College and our season starts on Monday...aka I officially will have NO free time, not like I do anyway! haha! In addition to the start of swim season, I also am going to being volunteering at Happiness House and I get to meet my Little for Big Brothers/Big Sisters!
Okay so, we have the coolest thing here at HWS...they are called service-learning classes. Basically these classes integrate community service into your academic coursework! As a Public Service minor, I am required to take these service-learning courses but I absolutely love them! I already took a Philosophy course called Morality and Self Interest in which I volunteered downtown at the Community Lunch Program and for that class we had to basically figure out why individuals do community service...because they are moral beings or whether they do it for personal gains. The service learning class I am taking right now is an education class called Children with Disabilities and we have to volunteer 2-3 hours a week at either ARC or at Happiness House. Because I have a car on campus I am going to volunteer at Happiness House in Waterloo (about 15 minutes away). Both ARC and Happiness House are organizations that involve people with disabilities. Happiness House is a nonprofit health and human service agency that offers various programs and services addressing developmental disabilities and syndromes including neurological impairments, epilepsy, cerebral palsy, autism and mental retardation. The program I was placed at is called the New Friends Integrated Preschool and Child Care Program. This is a NYS center-based preschool and childcare program that combines children, 3-5 years of age, with and without disabilities in the same setting. I will be going there starting next week every Monday and Wednesday mornings from 9-10am to assist the teachers and therapists. For this class I am required to keep a journal in which I have to record what I learn each time I visit, for example about inclusion, disability, experiences for students with disabilities, transition, education, etc. Towards the end of the semester I have to write a paper summarizing my experience, lessons learned, and connecting what I've learned through this project experience with what I've have learned over the semester. For me, this is the best and most effective way to learn and I would encourage everyone to take at least one service-learning course regardless of whether it counts for your major or minor!
Another great thing to get involved with on campus is Big Brothers/Big Sisters! A national program, BBBS is a one-on-one youth mentoring organization. One of my friends last semester was and still is involved and got me motivated to want to get involved too! Basically the local agency matches and pairs you up with a local child who you just hang out with once a week and do fun stuff together. As an older sister with two younger brothers, ages 15 and 10, and always around children at home, at college I sometimes feel like I'm never around kids, so BBBS is going to give me the opportunity not only to be a role model and mentor to a young girl, but also will give me the chance to be around a child!
I've been talking about my upcoming week forever, but what I haven't told you about is what I'm doing tomorrow! I've mentioned in my previous blogs about all the things there are to do on the weekends here at HWS thanks to Campus Activities Board (CAB) and this Sunday there is a school sponsored trip to the Buffalo Bills New York Jets NFL game in Buffalo! The tickets were only $25 for one or $45 for two! We are taking a big charter bus and leaving from here tomorrow morning at 10am and not getting back on campus until probably 9pm! I am sooo excited though! I actually went to the store yesterday and bought a Buffalo Bills t-shirt to wear! GO BILLS!
Since I'm going to be out of town all tomorrow though, I am in the library right now doing work...aka playing online and watching the William Smith Soccer game from the window! I have a paper due Monday, a French test on Tuesday, and an Anthropology test on Thursday! I'd better get back to finishing up my paper for my Sexual Minority Movements and Public Policy class so I can start studying for French! Wish me luck this week! Have a fantastic rest of your weekend and an awesome upcoming week!
