Blog Post #10

From the first day I walked in to Lafayette and took a glance at the kids I immediately wondered how I was going to help make a difference in their young lives. I quickly learned that working with children was not a challenge, but a joyous experience. If we would have been assigned the task of working with adults the point of this course may have not struck them so soon. Kids are amazing, especially when they are young. Working with the 4^th-7^th graders gave me an opportunity to challenge knowledgeable minds to think outside the box.

The three speech types we explored in class were significant when my group was trying to get ideas out of the kids. For instance, by telling them a personal story about an experience in my life; they were able to think of similar experiences where they may have felt the same way. Public speaking allowed me to deliver the problem, and help develop an artistic interpretation of what needs to be changed. I am not sure how effective their showcase was on presenting problems that could actually be changed, but it still opens up their minds to know their opinion counts. Maybe now if they see a broken hinge on a classroom door, they will not just look at it as a broken door but an opportunity for change.  As college students I believe we succeeded in acting to change the community surrounding us in a positive way. Regardless of our service-learning project being a part of our grade, we all seemed to have walked away more enlightened about certain situations and experiences that younger children encounter on a day to day basis.

–D’Andrea Green

The End Of The Road

All semester long I have awaited the service learning project at Lafayette. On the first day, as I walked in along with my group members, I had no idea as to what we were getting ourselves into. Our three weeks went by so rapidly and so did the lessons learned. There are so many things that I have learned and so many experiences that I have walked away with. But based on public speaking I have learned how to relay certain messages to different audiences. Whether it be race, gender,  or, in this case, age groups. Although everyone’s main goal was to show the kids how to use their voices and speak up for change, we all did it in a different way. We all know that everyone has a voice, and during our presentation (1st grade) i think they finally realized how important it is that they use their voice. Once they saw one person speak about changing something, they all wanted to speak about changing something. And although it was some what out of order it all worked out. Therefore this service learning project clearly demonstrates public speaking as a tool for change. It was a wonderful experience and I walked away with no regrets.   

Janae M. Pierre

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