PCF 858, arts and crafts with kindergarteners. The name’s not really interesting, but the details of the activity grab my attention.
Conditioned by UWC, as well as my own personal experiences, I’ve come to look at service as more than just an hour a week of working with a group to get a simple task done Researching and looking specifically into the needs of a particular community, attempting to use my specific skills and drawing upon the resources surrounding me to brainstorm a plan of attack to deal with an issue is more up my alley – that’s what service looks like to me.
This, on the other hand? An hour a week, essentially babysitting kids.
Still, I reflect – I genuinely enjoy spending time around kids. Arts and crafts aren’t that bad either (despite what I’m told in regards to my own abilities in this area). It’s a deviation from the activities I normally engage with, but something different might be nice. With that in mind, I decided to go ahead and add the extra slot to my list of services.
Going into this, I think the main thing that’s stuck in my mind is the idea that I don’t have any concrete plan or vision for what I want to do with this opportunity. Other projects – the Blue Dragon podcast project, or MUN – I’ve got ideas, timelines and multiple plans for them. This, nothing – except that I want to see where this goes, and what happens. It may be very informative – giving me a chance to reflect on my strengths and develop areas for growth (L01) and is definitely going to present new challenges that I’m not going to be prepared for (what if a kid starts to cry???) – LO2. It’s also a nice way to try to work with people who I wouldn’t usually work with, in an environment I wouldn’t usually be (LO5) – collaborative skills always something to work on.
Let’s see what happens!
