Goal 2: Exhibit a commitment to community awareness, involvement, and service.
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One of the key aspects of the Honors program is emphasizing the need to be active members of the community through service. Community is an important contributing factor to how people thrive in the world, because whether small or big, we all belong to one community or the other. The Honors Program taught me that the little input in community involvement contributes to the greater change that we hope for. Through these projects and artifacts, I was able to be aware of community needs, serve, and give back in my own way.
Outcome 1: Enact solutions to real-world problems for individuals and society
My first artifact for goal two is my volunteer project for HON 395H Citizenship and Service class. In this class, we were asked to identify some pressing needs and issues in the Minot community and volunteer for at least 20 hours while connecting our discussions of social issues in class to our volunteer work, as well as journaling our experience. This volunteer experience was semester-long, and through the experience, I learned firsthand what it looks like to work closely with the elderly. I decided to volunteer with people in Hospice through the Caring Edge Hospice agency, and it was and still is one of the most impactful decisions of my life because of the long-lasting connections I built. My artifact, as you will see, is my reflection of my volunteer experience throughout the semester. It covers all that I did as a volunteer, what I learned from the experience, and what I thought about my volunteer experience overall.
One important thing that this experience instilled in me is empathy and respect for human life. Through volunteering, I was able to offer companionship to the elderly and contribute to fulfilling that need not just for the agency but in general, and in doing that, I contributed to providing solutions to the loneliness that affects the elderly population at this critical stage of their life.
HOSPICE REFLECTION.docxOutcome 2: Reflect on a civic effort that addresses civic responsibility and citizenship
My second artifact is my final paper from HON 391H, Community Problem-Solving. Before this project, I had been involved in a few small projects with people, but having to do this project and “solve a community problem” with my fellow students was both a challenging and a wonderful experience. For this project, my group and I decided to do both an educational event as well as a games event called “Cops and Dodges,” and our goal was to first educate people on community needs and resources that address poverty, homelessness, mental health, and police-community relations, and to also encourage students and first responders to have some fun together by playing dodgeball. We decided to do this project to correct the label people in the Minot community have about first responders. For our educational event, we spoke to some community agencies and invited them to speak about their agency and share helpful resources at our event, and then for the game event, we decided to have some of these first responders and Minot State students play dodgeball together.
This project helped me realize that civic responsibility is not just knowing that certain issues exist but doing something about them: taking action. Working on this project with my peers made me realize that while small individual changes are helpful, it really does take a village of like-minded people to achieve a big goal like the one we had. Through this project, I got closer to my peers, and we were able to work effectively together for this project. One of my biggest takeaways from this class and project is that citizenship is not just a legal status.
Copsand Dodgers.pptxCOURSE REFLECTION HON 391H.docxSummary
In conclusion, each of these artifacts has instilled in me a huge sense of commitment to my community and has encouraged me to be involved in any way I can. They helped me meet my goal of exhibiting community awareness, service, and involvement. The Honors Program, from my very first class, highlighted for me the need for community service and engagement, and being an active member of my community.
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