Service Learning- Final Post

For the duration of this semester, I have been tutoring 6th grade math at the Andrew Wilson Charter School. I decided to volunteer for this site because the volunteer coordinators seemed to be the most enthusiastic about the good that this school brings to the Broadmoor neighborhood. Upon orientation for the school, the directors emphasized the importance of belonging to the Broadmoor Community. The neighborhood came together after Katrina to turn a run down area into the booming community that it was once before. I immediately knew that I wanted to be apart of this community.

The children were beyond amazing and taught me more things about life than any class could teach me. The stories that the kids would tell me about their home life and teachers were astonishing. These kids lacked a positive leaning environment that we all take for granted everyday.

Each day I took a small group from 4-8 kids into a separate classroom to work on math. Once we were finished the problems, I let them bring any other material that needed extra enforcement. I wanted to help these kids get any advice in the most positive way. The teachers at this school are not willing to sit down and help these kids learn. The environment of the school is harsh and unwelcoming. The reason why the volunteers are so important at this school is because they allow the kids to take a break from being scolded by their teachers and just engage in fun learning.

At the end of the semester, the volunteer coordinator emailed the volunteers for extra house to partake in a Kaboom playground build day. It was a great way to interact with some of my students in an environment that was fun for the benefit of their school. The playground serves as a place for the kids to explore and relax at school.

Everyone who volunteered at the playground build day were divided in separate groups to make one aspect of the playground. My group was to build picnic tables.


What I loved about this day was the willingness for everyone to work together to build something greater than themselves. Everyone was so happy moving mulch and lifting heavy wood across the gravel. I never would have imagined that I could build a massive picnic table with the help of a 60 year old lady and a 12 year old boy. The final product was beautiful. Each imperfection in the playground was nothing more than volunteer love.




At the end of the day the Broadmoor community came together for lunch and marveled at the work that they created. The environment of this community was so beautiful and everyone was genuinely happy to have worked together. I made some great friends that day and I will continue to volunteer at this school and this community for the duration of the school year.
Here are a few pictures of the finished playground:





I realized afterwards that the environment of the school doesn't matter. The kids of this school love it because of the volunteers who help to make their lives special. School is an escape from the confines of their houses and their home environment. The teachers are so harsh because they want the kids to live up to their potential and focus they just don't know how to handle the kids in the nicest way but the kids don't resent their teachers. They are so grateful for everything that they learn at the Wilson Charter School and will see this playground as a gift from the people of the community who love them.