INST 105 - Growing Up in America - Shannon Lakanen
Abstract:
We worked with Kevin McNamara, Clinical Director at United Methodist Children's Home, to develop a service program involving 11 students in my Growing Up in America (IS 105) class and 12 child residents of UMCH. Otterbein students traveled to UMCH each week to develop relationships with residents, help establish a computer lab equipped with digital life book software, train residents to use digital cameras (donated through this grant) and the software to create digital lifebooks (photographic autobiographies). Several Otterbein students also attended an inner-city church service with UMCH residents in order to nurture their relationships with UMCH residents outside the residential center (half of the Otterbein class did this on a Sunday morning, even though it was not required for the class and asked them to step outside of their comfort zones).
Partnership and Collaborative Development - Established a lab with three computers capable of creating digital life books
- Supplied UMCH with cameras we can use in future projects
- Established and put into action a working relationship with Kevin McNamara to have Otterbein students lead UMCH residents through the digital life book creation process
- Ran the program for the first time in Fall 2007 (next in Fall 2008)
Evaluation - UMCH has all resources it needs for residents to create digital lifebooks - this is a project UMCH children can continue to work on after the Otterbein term ended
- Kevin McNamara and I have gained a lot of experience working with Otterbein students and UMCH residents
- Otterbein students established significant relationships with UMCH residents and learned the valuable role that service can play in their lives
- UMCH residents gained skills and confidence in digital photopgraphy and computer skills
Stories and Successes - On the day of Otterbein students' last visit, UMCH residents were putting together their own digital lifebook pages with very little assistance from Otterbein students and were asking if they could come back to the lab the following week to continue working.
- Otterbein students dedicated a weekend morning to attending a church service with UMCH residents - it was not required; they just wanted to get to know their partners better in a setting other than the residential center
- UMCH has a fully-operating lab to use for digital lifebook creation (and, obviously, other uses as well)
- Otterbein students were asked to reflect on their experiences, and here's some of what they had to say:
"I have learned so much from this class and I wouldn't change this experience for anything."
"I grew because of [this class]. Maybe it was the combination of learning about race and racial divides in America in the classroom, and then experiencing it first hand at UMCH, but I began to look at the issues dealing with race in a new light, and I have become more likely to become involved in a group that would work to end this. I am now much more aware of race and how it affects everyone, including me."
"I have learned through this class, that a service-learning course is something that should be taken by every student. It teaches us that serving the community is hard work, and does not always change the world, but that even the smallest impacts on the lives of others help."
"The final conclusion that I came to was that some children in America just need a little compassionate interaction with another human being that cares about them."
"I think that the major positive impact of the UMCH experience was the fact that we all learned something new about ourselves and they way we interact with people who we normally don't surround ourselves with."