Service Learning: Week #10
Friday was my last day at VOA. Greg was very gracious to Brenna and I for helping out this semester--even though it didn't necessarily feel like I did very much to deserve such praise. I enjoyed being in a high school environment and the squirreliness of high schoolers on Friday afternoons. Although just one hour a week didn't allow me to get very close to the students, I will remember this lesson that I learned: treat everybody with kindness because you never know what kind of burden they are bearing. It was apparent that most of the students at VOA don't have the same family and home environment that I grew up with. Nonetheless, I found them to be very polite and respectful of me--something I wasn't certain I would receive when I started. When some got frustrated with the repetitiveness of the My Life Plan surveys, Greg respected how they felt and suggested they take a break from that survey and try something else. He works well with the students, and they seem to respect him for it. If I do service-learning again, I wouldn't mind going back to VOA. Greg said that next year VOA High School is going to be converted into a school that specializes for students where English is their second language.