Goal 2

Introduction

The second goal of the Honors Program is to exhibit a commitment to community awareness, involvement, and service. This goal allows students an opportunity to serve their community and learn about the importance of helping others. I believe serving my community is crucial because being a part of a community can bring so many positives to people’s lives and being able to return the favor is very important.

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

I completed the first outcome under the second goal through a group problem solving project in the Thinking Outside the Box course (264H). In this project we were tasked with identifying a problem within the community and to develop a solution. We identified that there were not enough easily accessible first-aid kits on campus. After researching the issue our group created a prototype first-aid kit that would draw the attention of students/faculty when walking past, so that the first-aid kit was easily accessible and the location would be known in case of emergencies. 

I also completed this goal through the volunteer project in the Citizenship and Service course (395H). For this project, I volunteered with United Way and helped run their Backpack Buddies program. While I was working with United Way we helped address the food insecurity problem in the Minot area. The backpack buddies program created a solution for food insecurity by providing children with meals for periods when they can not rely on school provided meals. For Backpack Buddies, I helped organize the food once United Way received donations and helped put together the meals to be sent out to children for the weekend. 

I believe that I was able to improve my achievement of the second outcome from the project in 264H to the project in 395H. In the first project, my group did a great job of creating a solution, but we were only able to make a prototype and we were not able to implement our solution. For the second project, I was able to carry out the solution to the problem and see the results form. 

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

I was able to complete the second outcome through the citizenship paper in The Honors Community (191H). For this project, I worked with a partner to research a problem in the community and volunteer to help address this problem. This project took place in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, so we were not able to volunteer. However, we were able to interview a number of people that work in the community tackling the issue of poverty. This project gave me a great opportunity to address the importance of civic responsibility as it highlighted how impactful it can be to help someone who is less fortunate than me. 

I was also able to accomplish this outcome through a journal prompt in the Citizenship and Service course (395H). In this journal prompt, I reflected on what it means to be a citizen and the civic responsibilities that come with that. I believe this journal prompt helped me gain a better understanding of what being a citizen truly means. 

In the citizenship paper I wrote in 191H my view on what being a citizen means and the responsibilities that come with that was very shallow. Comparing the journal prompt in 395H to the citizenship paper shows the advancement in my view of what being a citizen means and why it is important to fulfill the civic responsibilities we all have.

Conclusion

No matter where I go or what I do in life I will always be a part of a community in one way or another. Therefore, it is important to commit myself to community awareness, involvement, and service. The Honors Program furthered my understanding of the importance of becoming more involved and serving my community. The development of these skills has helped me further relationships in my community and it also will help me better work in teams, as being a part of a team is being a part of a community.