Why choose Service Learning? I chose Service Learning because I was unable to go abroad but it was actually the best decision I have ever made. At first I was unsure what my opportunities would be or if there would be something I could fit into my already crazy schedule. Luis had introduced the entire class to Ellen Correa who works in the CESL department and I decided to set up a meeting with her in order to talk about my options. There are tons of service learning options offered by the university but not all of them apply to the Spanish major. Ellen told me about being a liaison for Education 377. In order to become a liaison it is necessary to have already taken the Education 377 course which I had done a year previously. In order to be a liaison you must do three things. First you must attend and facilitate discussions in the 377 course as a TA would. Second you must attend a Leadership in Service Learning class taught by Ellen. And finally you must continue your service learning experience at the site you worked at previously in Education 377. If you do choose to do service learning attending Education 377 may count but I would suggest talking to Luis first. Otherwise it does cover a GenEd requirement if you need to do both parts, as I did. I was very upset about not being able to go abroad but this was a very important opportunity because service learning had already changed my life and career goals. In Education 377 I participated in service learning with the Connections Program in Holyoke. This program works after school with students from the Kelly School in Holyoke as well as the Morgan School. They have similar programs in other schools in Holyoke. This program consists of homework help and then participation in a club. The first time I went to Connections I was extremely nervous because I was used to working with first graders in my own hometown and working with fifth through eighth graders seemed like a daunting task. I ended up in a fifth grade classroom doing mostly math homework help and at first I was kind of awkward. After my second or third visit I began to make a connection (pun intended) to two students in particular. They said they liked the way I dressed and wanted to know everything about my life. It was clear that these two girls where close friends and knew everything about each other. We were also in cooking club together so spending time with them was easy. They both have a lot of family still in Puerto Rico and enjoyed speaking Spanish with me even though I did not know a lot of their slang words. The other students were nice enough but did not know I speak Spanish so they would say rude things about their teacher, classmates, or even myself. When this happened I would turn around and tell them if they said it again I would tell the teacher, they were embarrassed but also found it funny. My first experience in Holyoke was what sent me back the second time in order to fulfill the Spanish department’s requirement. I was very nervous about becoming a liaison because it seemed like a lot of work for only four credits. I met with the teacher I would be working with in the Education 377 class and he is from Chile so I discovered that he and I had a lot of the same knowledge base about language and how it affects students in school. We both understand the importance of multicultural education and agreed quickly on was the most important for the students to know because it was his first time teaching the course. Unlike the other students I would be attending a different service-learning site than those students I was the TA for. I would go to Connections every week and they would go to Homework House. This was not a serious problem but I couldn’t necessarily give them advice about the site they were going to attend. When the Homework House representative came in to give the students their CORI forms and tell them about the program I think she did a little bit more damage than good with some of the students because many of them left feeling very concerned about violence in Holyoke. They were afraid to drive their own cars and even considering whether or not it was a good idea to go. This was when I received my first real test as a liaison because I was forced to calm them down and talk about my previous experience in order to help them realize they were about to have a life changing experience. It isn’t just about crossing the bridge into Holyoke and helping some kids with their homework. It is about going to a place that has a strong sense of culture that may not necessarily be the same as your own. It is about a reciprocal relationship with students where you are able to teach them certain things about school and life and they teach you about yourself. By going to Holyoke I realized how important service learning is and how much the kids got out of it just as I did. You don’t go to Holyoke or into service learning in order to make yourself feel good. You go to interact with people and whether or not you get something out of it is up to the two of you. If UMASS students didn’t get anything out of it and didn’t want to go back than why would the program exist at all? The program helped me decide who I want to be and hopefully there are other people who gain that realization of themselves through the program.