Goal 2

Introduction

The second goal of the Honors Program is to exhibit a commitment to community awareness, involvement, and service. Accomplishing this goal gives students the opportunity to engage with the community and help people in impactful ways. Community involvement is highly important within our society. As the saying goes, “It takes a village to raise a child” and this concept can be applied to an entire community. People are stronger together, and I believe everyone would fare better if we helped each other out. The following artifacts under each outcome will display my achievement of this goal.

Outcome 1: Enact solutions to real-world problems for individuals and society

The first outcome of the second goal of the Honors Program is to enact solutions to real-world problems for individuals and society. I accomplished this outcome through my citizenship assignment for The Honors Community class (HON 191H) and through my community service project for the Citizenship and Service class (HON 395H). For the citizenship assignment, I chose social issues posed to the deaf and hard of hearing communities. Many people within these communities cannot afford the numerous costs associated with hearing loss which include the price of hearing aids, hearing tests, follow-up appointments, ongoing support from audiologists, fittings, adjustments, and routine cleaning.

I decided to volunteer for the Minot Sertoma Club who has helped fund programs and equipment for the Communication Sciences & Disorders (CSD) Department at MSU for many years. The Sertoma Club has organized the Celebrate Sound walkathon for multiple years which is where I completed most of my volunteer hours. My sister, Jenny Castro, is a member of the Sertoma Club and informed me of this volunteer opportunity. I met her at the loop in front of Old Main at MSU to set up for the event about an hour before it began. Then during the walkathon, I worked at the registration table and helped people sign in and pick out their t-shirts. After the event, I helped take down the tables and chairs and loaded the Sertoma's supplies into a member’s car. Due to a low turnout, the walkathon ended a few hours shorter than expected. Since the Sertoma Club did not reach its original goal of $8000, they decided to cover the rest of the funds with the money they earn from Christmas in the Park. Thus, I also helped at Christmas in the Park to fulfill the rest of my volunteer hours. For Christmas in the Park, I worked the cashbox in the entry booth and handed out candy canes to the people coming through. I was able to hand out some bones to dogs as well, which was always a treat. My artifact for this outcome is a letter written by my sister verifying the hours I volunteered.

The second artifact for this outcome is an Action Plan for a community service project I completed for Citizenship and Service (395H). For this project, I was able to choose an ongoing community service project that I originally started with a group of five students for a Management class. This project is called Raking for Veterans and we help elderly or disabled veterans in the Minot and Burlington areas with fall cleanup. We wanted to do something for the veteran community as a thank you for all the sacrifices they made for our country. Fall cleanup is physically grueling and expensive to hire a professional. Thus, we wanted to alleviate some of this work for veterans in need. I began this project by contacting people and organizations within Minot who work with the veteran community. These connections put me in contact with veterans who need help with fall cleanup. My friend and previous classmate, Mackenzy Houston, and I decided to keep the project going due to the positive and highly appreciated feedback we received from the veterans we helped.

This was the third year we have completed the community service project. Since Mackenzy moved this year, I did all of the organizing and planning of this project while Mackenzy called all of the veterans we helped previously to verify the times and dates of the project. For the recruitment of volunteers, I began with word of mouth through my job and people I know who would be willing to help if available. I also made a flyer to recruit volunteers. I sent this flyer to Paul Siebert, who is an previous coworker of mine. Paul is also an active member of the Sertoma Club of Minot and the I II IV MC biker club in Minot, and he sent the flyer to the members of both groups. Though, all of the volunteers I recruited this year was through word of mouth. One of the volunteers had equipment we used that significantly lessened the time spent at each house and allowed for us to complete the project with fewer volunteers. In addition, another volunteer recruited his teenage sons to help us. This year, we completed six houses over the course of four days. For three of the days, we only had two to three volunteers which is why I spread out most of the houses over three days. The two large house lots which required the most volunteers was completed in one day. For the duration of the project, I provided bottled water and snacks for the volunteers. This was especially necessary for the day with the larger lots. I also purchased industrial garbage bags and extra rakes for the project with a donation from a generous community member.

Outcome 2: Reflect on a civic effort which addresses civic responsibility and citizenship

The second outcome of the second goal of the Honors Program is to reflect on a civic effort which addresses civic responsibility and citizenship. I accomplished this goal through my citizenship assignment for the Honors Community class (HON 191H) and through my community service project for the Citizenship and Service class (HON 395H). My first artifact for this outcome is a paper I wrote on my experience volunteering for the Sertoma Club. Within this paper, I also included research on hearing loss and resources the deaf and hard of hearing communities need. This project was personal to me as I am hard of hearing, and I also cannot afford the costs associated with hearing aids. Through my research, I discovered that hearing loss can cause cognitive and functional decline if left untreated. This was a worrisome discovery because 28.8 million people in the United States could benefit from hearing aids, yet most people in need of hearing aids have never used them (National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, 2021). My reflection for this project also focused on the importance of community service. Numerous people and organizations came together for the cause and the event would not have been as successful if people were not willing to donate their time. This event not only helped raise funds for the CSD Department, but it also brought community awareness to the cause.

My learning experience for this project can be applied to everyday life because we cannot achieve our goals or full potential without the help of others. We are all in this world together, and we can accomplish so much more if we work together rather than separately. In this assignment, I also reflected on the legacy I want to leave behind which included a legacy of kindness, compassion, and empathy. In the future as a criminal defense attorney, I hope to help as many people as possible and I can help more people if I recruit the help of others.

References

National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. (2021). Hearing, Ear Infections, and Deafness. https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/statistics/quick-statistics- hearing

The second artifact for this outcome is a Civic Reflection Journal I wrote for Citizenship and Service (395H). Through this reflection, I discussed how the Raking for Veterans community service project was accomplished this year and areas in need of improvement. In addition, I reflected on our interactions with the veterans we serve, recruiting volunteers, and connections to reading materials from class. Every year we complete this project, the veterans are so grateful for the work we do. We look forward to catching up with the veterans as well, and through the years, we have created a little community between us. I reflected on how the recruitment of volunteers always poses the most stressful aspect of this project. This project requires hard labor. Thus, it is difficult to find people who want to volunteer, who are physically capable of volunteering, and who have available time to volunteer. This year I discovered that with improved equipment, we can accomplish more with less volunteers. In the future, I plan on utilizing these connections again to alleviate some of the stress of finding volunteers. Within this reflection, I also discussed how the reading materials in class relate to community service and the Raking for Veterans project. One of the poems I mentioned in my reflection is called Choose by Carl Sandberg. I found this poem impactful as it depicts how we as humans make a choice to greet someone with a "clenched fist" or an "open asking hand". We can choose to help others in need. We can choose to treat people with respect and kindness. We can choose to be more accepting and understanding of each other. If more people consciously made these choices, society could progress towards a better future for all.

Conclusion

I thoroughly enjoyed all the community service work I completed for the Honors Program. It has encouraged me to be active in my current and future communities. I met so many kind-hearted and interesting people with the same interest in helping a particular community. I learned that to be an engaged citizen, I must be an active citizen. I am already spreading awareness by communicating with people about solutions for problems within our communities, but I can help more by putting my words into action. When more people are actively in support of an issue, more can be accomplished to benefit the communities affected by the issue.