One of the requirements for the Ogallala Commons internship program was to complete 10 hours of community service. One of the biggest challenges for me was getting started. My family just moved to Holyoke while I was away at college this year. I was very new to the community, so I did not know many people or what community service projects were occurring. I wanted to get involved, so I asked my advisor, Trisha Herman, to help me out.
My first community service project that I participated in was helping with the community summer school program. I helped serve lunches and direct activities with this program, and I completed my first seven hours with this organization. This was one of my favorite parts of the summer because this service project allowed me to get out of my comfort zone and get to know many children from my new community as well as the other people that helped with summer school. Much of my internship is surrounded by people that are much older than me, so this was a great experience to be around children as well. One of the goals that I set at the beginning of the summer was to work with my fellow interns to grow my professional network. I worked alongside Emma Roll, also an OC intern, during this community service project. The two pictures that I attached are from the summer school. The first picture is a group picture with some of the summer schoolers. The second picture shows some of the younger kids playing. My hope is that when these kids are older, they will remember and want to become an Ogallala Commons intern.
I finished my last three hours of community service cleaning Holyoke Fitness Club. Two of the Commonwealth aspects are a sense of place and health. The Holyoke Fitness Club was the first place that made me feel at home after we moved to this new community. I wanted to give back to that as well as hopefully promote health in the community by aiding in keeping our gym clean. I very much enjoyed my community service projects that I completed this summer.
