Application of Knowledge

Kansas City, MO

Molly Matts, Elaina Irving, Lui Hishikawa, Becca Swanson

Active citizenship includes the contribution of one's time and effort in addition with becoming educated about the issue they are trying to help fix. In this way, a volunteer can contribute to a cause in the best way possible by approaching an issue in an informed way.

We became active citizens because of the listed reasons below:

What We Learned Before the Trip:

Studied the history of the community, especially the racial history of Kansas City and how it contributes to the issues regarding the education system and lack of funding for schools (which we saw and experienced at YMCA Head Start facilities). We read about this information in the article "Equity Begins with Effective Early Childhood Education"
Listened to a podcast and did an in-depth discussion about Brown v. Board
Read articles about how we should approach the trip and our service as active citizens, not just volunteers
Talked about the importance of all this learning, so that we, and the organizations we worked with, could have the best possible experience
Discussed how social media can be used in a positive way, to bring awareness and support to a cause, but it can also be harmful, such as when volunteers post photos that make them look like a savior in a helpless community. We learned this from an article called "To Hell with Good Intentions"

The Knowledge We Took Away From the Service Trip That Can Be Applied in the Future:

Never judge a situation from the outside, because you don't know exactly what is going on and what factors are contributing to it. Instead, try to learn more about the people in the situation and how their valuable resources can best be utilized for growth. This knowledge was furthered on our trip, but it began after reading and discussing an article called "Body Ritual Among the Nacirema"
Voting matters, especially local voting! By voting, you have the power to:

Choose how money is spent on education, schools, etc.
Put into focus the growing concerns of your particular city's problem that others may not be aware of
Be a part of your community and become an active citizen

What We Learned on the Trip:

Networked with alumni from the University of Iowa in the KC-MO area
- Talked with Ray Weikal, the public relations and marketing manager for the Kansas City Public Schools
We utilized our knowledge about Kansas City and the organizations we worked with to amplify the positive outcomes of our work
Members of our team made it a priority to ask many questions to learn about each organization, its assets, and the best ways we can help
Did nightly reflections
1. Brought all of our individual experiences together
2. Changed the way we perceived our volunteering
3. This was the time we were able to connect our past knowledge to our current interactions
4. Allowed us to look back and understand the reason behind the service we did that day

Steps to becoming an Active Citizen

The Active Citizenship Continuum

This semester through lecture presentations and our class discussions, we learned about the process and importance of becoming active citizens. We were able to use what we learned in class to enrich our experiences in Kansas City!

The Components of Active Citizenship

We learned that the key to an effective and impactful service trip would be for us to embrace the roles of active citizens. This requires prior education on not only the community we work with, but also direct service in the community, effort to make connections with members of the community, and reflection of our experiences.

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