Category Archives: Service-Learning

Service Learning vs. Studying Abroad

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What I’m about to say shocks many people, but I honestly feel like my experience in service-learning while at UMass has been much more profound than my experience abroad. I know, it’s crazy because going abroad is supposed to be this life-altering experience, and everyone is supposed to come back from Spain with a deep yearning to return and sparkles in their eyes. However, that isn’t really the case for me. I have found my niche through volunteering in both an after-school program and a classroom in Holyoke. I have made connections with students and teachers that will certainly last a lifetime and will never be forgotten. Continue reading →

Why Choose Service Learning?

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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. Continue reading →

My friend, Jake.

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I have been struggling with this blog post for a couple days now. I want to share the experience I had with Jake with all of you, but I am having the hardest time finding the right words to describe my sentiments. As I mentioned in one of my homework posts, I met Jake (20 years old) at the homeless shelter I have been volunteering at. We clicked and became friends right from the start.

When I first started volunteering at the start of this semester, Jake had no contact with either of his parents (they are divorced and live in different states) and had been a guest at the homeless shelter for several months. He was on probation and participated in mandated community service every week in order to lift his probation.  No parental support, no job, no car, no house…not at all an easy life. Continue reading →

Reflections on the Importance of Service-Learning

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I decided very early on in my high school career that teaching was the job for me. When I got to college and decided to be a Spanish major, I thought that I would enter the graduate program for foreign language teachers at UMass and teach Spanish to high school students. However, my plans were disrupted when I found out this program was in redesign and may not be available to me when I graduate. I knew there were other programs I could apply to at different universities, but my heart was set on UMass. I felt disappointed and scared for what my future would entail, and it was too late to switch majors. Why did I major in Spanish if I couldn’t be a Spanish teacher in the future? Continue reading →

Reflections on travel, study, and self

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I arrived in Valparaíso in July of 2012 for my third year of university.  Within a month I was in love: new friends, new house, new city, I felt unbelievably lucky to have settled where and how I did.  I feel powerfully influenced by the culture and people I met there; this is not to say that I now feel Chilean, but rather that I am more reflective and analytical about my assumed (American) culture, beliefs and practices.  Acknowledging that self-reflection as an ongoing process, throughout my time in Chile and since returning I am recognizing in new ways the greater implications of growing up as a white female in Boston in the United States.

In Valpo I lived in a house with people of many different nationalities: Chilean, Spanish, French, German, Australian, Italian, American, and Canadian.  There was constant intercultural interpretation and explanation in addition to the various language barriers. This was an enriching and exciting (and sometimes tiring) environment that allowed me to examine what it meant to me to be an American from the United States. Ongoing reflections on how I approach and interpret cross-cultural experiences, whether in a classroom, kitchen, or bar, or at student protest, has allowed me to better understand the particular influences in my life and how they are similar or different from those around me. Continue reading →

The Holyoke Tutorial Program (LATINAM398A)

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A Class

In the fall of 2012, I enrolled in LATINAM 398A, more commonly known as the Holyoke Tutorial Program. This service-learning program offered to UMass Spanish and Portuguese majors allows students to earn 3 credits by volunteering at the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Holyoke’s afterschool program. My job was to act as tutor and peer mentors for the group of 5-8 year olds that participated in the program, primarily whom were underprivileged Hispanic children from Holyoke and Springfield. Initially I enrolled in LATINAM398A just to fulfill a requirement for my Certificate in Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies and perhaps to broaden my experiences as a Spanish major. Yet to this day the Holyoke Tutorial Program stands out in my mind as by far the most life-changing and eye opening class I have ever taken. Continue reading →

Better Late Than Never

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Well, March 5 and I’m finally putting up my first blog post. I don’t really know what to discuss so I guess for now I’ll just talk generally about Service Learning. Sometimes in class I feel like I have the boring topic to discuss because everyone went to beautiful places and all I did was go over the bridge to Holyoke. Then I remember how incredible that experience was and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. And it’s not like I wasn’t abroad I just wasn’t abroad last year. Instead a spent a month in high school living with a host family in Spain. Holyoke changed my life, as corny as that may seem to some. Continue reading →

Reflecting on the reflection: a personal reaction to student experience and writing

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[My friend Nicholas Belardes encouraged me to reflect and write about my teaching experiences at UMass. My first post on this subject was inspired by the reflections of this year’s Integrative Experience students. I repost here what I wrote for the Nicholas Belardes site. As students’ understanding of themselves changes through experience, so does faculty’s; and as we ask students to reflect, so should we. Here is my own personal reflection.]

THE ASSIGNMENT WAS SIMPLE – a reflection about our seniors’ changing relationship with the Spanish major -, but it made for one of my best weeks as a teacher. Not necessarily because of my own classroom performance, but because of what the students’ writing revealed about their development. I spent a couple of days checking my computer every ten minutes, expecting to receive their texts. Continue reading →

CHANGING PERCEPTIONS OF THE SPANISH MAJOR

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When I first came to UMass, I had no idea what I wanted to major in…even less of an idea that I would end up getting a degree in Spanish. I knew shortly after I learned to walk, however, that I am not the type meant for an office job, or for that matter anything that restricts me from running around, kicking down doors, and catching bad guys. Maybe I watched way too much Law and Order growing up, but nevertheless I decided one day that I wanted to pursue military service and eventually a career as an FBI agent. I ended up enrolling at UMass in the fall of 2010 as a Political Science major.

I chose Polisci because a good friend of mine’s parents are both agents and told me it was the most useful major to pursue Government work. I also started a Spanish minor simply because I got good grades in Spanish classes in high school and figured a second language would only help my chances of making the rigorous cut into the Bureau. Continue reading →