Reflection Blog

In my eyes, the ACC project was a huge  success. I firmly believe that each and every one of us were important in the final creation of the guide.

Personally, I was put on two teams. On one team, I worked with Faith and Lexi in order to format the guide. Moreover, we put together the Burmese backgrounder. The three of us worked very well together, coordinating positions and roles outside of class. Particularly, I helped put together specific parts of the guide, such as the volunteer portion. I also helped to put together loose ends, specifically editing the final version of the project for major problems. Coordinating with other groups was also a major job of mine, as I notified my group of when classmates had uploaded revised documents. With the Burmese backgrounder, I made sure that none of the group members used the same sources. Additionally, I heavily researched the history behind the Burmese refugees to put this information into the overall guide.

On my second team, I was grouped with Jack F. and Taylor. Our group was told to interview refugees. So far, I was the member who had success interviewing a refugee. As the class knows, I interviewed Georgette. With this interview and the data gathered from it, we were able to hear Georgette's amazing personal story that ended up being used in a "Spotlight" in the guide. This brought a new dimension to the guide as a whole, as we were able to portray to employers how jobs can turn around refugees' lives.  

The two teams I was a part of taught me two different things. My first team taught me that teamwork can work very well if all of the team members are on the same page. Further, having members that are committed to the end goal (in our case, helping refugees) can lead to success. However my second team also taught me that life is not always perfect. Taylor and Jack F. both have had problems with contacting their refugees. I can tell you that these two are extremely dedicated to helping refugees. However, circumstances that they could not control have hurt the amount of interviews our group currently has.

In addition, I firmly believe that after Lexi, Faith, and I are done putting the finishing touches on the guide, this project will be a huge success. If you look through the guide, you will notice that the class did an amazing job writing to its target audience, volunteers and employers. We made sure to highlight the benefits of helping refugees not only by giving them a sustainable income, but also by explaining the benefits of volunteering at the ACC. Because of all of the information the guide has, it should be an invaluable source for years to come.

I am very sad to be writing my last blog post for this class. This service learning class has been great, and I really hope that the department sticks with a writing class that helps the ACC. It truly is the right thing to do. Honestly, for one of the few times, I was able to volunteer without thinking of putting this service on a resume. Instead, I looked at this class and the final project as a means of helping out a group less fortunate than myself. As one can imagine, this has been an eye opening experience. However, none of this could have been done without my fellow class mates and Dr. Leake. Thanks for making this class and the service accompanied a special experience I will never forget.