My Service Learning Projects
Note: This story was submitted to the Rally Call Blog through the Center for Civic Engagement by Ivy Tech student Gina Blondell.
This semester for service learning I took my children to the Bloomington Community Kitchen where we got to prepare and serve food to the homeless. My children had never experienced anything like it. They were nervous at first, but after they said they were so glad they did it. This not only served the community, but the benefit my family got out of it was so very valuable. My sixteen-year-old had such a good experience that he ask the staff at the Community Kitchen if he could come back and bring some friends to help out! They, of course, said yes!The second thing I did was write a paper, more like a letter, to future psych students about the actual psych rotation. I actually worked in psych for nine months as a nurse intern and a nurse/psych tech. I absolutely loved my experience while working there and my experiences during the psych rotation. I wanted to let the students know that it is not a place to be feared, that most of the patients on the unit are just people that have undergone things in their lives that they could just not effectively cope with. I also want students to know that the staff is by far the best staff I have ever worked with in a rotation setting and I know others that feel the same way. My paper encourages students to look at this as an opportunity to fine tune their skills and be able to pick up on things that can help their patients throughout their nursing careers no matter what unit they are working on.
Gina Blondell,
Ivy Tech ASSN 2008