Engaging the Public with Science

Other than my own service hours, we also completed some service hours as a class that I very much enjoyed! We went to a showing of a film that basically addressed the issues of global warming and what natural disasters have done to certain places. Some of the countries that were mentioned were places I have never even heard of prior to the film, especially small islands that are greatly affected by natural disasters involving water. Another service project we participated in, that was my favorite, was the Archie carnival. After working on our Archie projects it was fun to see them go into play, especially with the elementary school students. The reason I enjoyed the carnival so much was because it reminded me of how I was at that age. I am glad that were we able to teach these students about Archie but also let them have fun with it. I believe activities like this are what help kids learn the most

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Here my classmates and I were helping the local elementary school kids with games in the Archie Carnival. 

For my own service learning hours this semester I was given the opportunity to do some peer tutoring. We were able to work one on one to finish up some assignments. For the outcome of these service hours, a peer of mine was able to complete some work with some of my assistance if needed.

Some service learning that I would enjoy in the future is working with kids, like we did in the Archie carnival. My mom is a teacher, which helps with my love for kids, but after the amount of times she has come home and talked about the Hispanic students that need help with speaking as well as reading and writing English, it is something I've always wanted to do. As I further my Spanish speaking abilities, I hope to spend some time this summer volunteering and helping out at my mom's school with the Hispanic kids after school. (The school is a year round school, so yes they are in school during the summer).

Something that I learned during my service hours is that sometimes people need a helping hand! Helping students and peers with work, when I am capable of it, is something I enjoy doing because it is also beneficial to me as a student. Having someone there with me while I do my work that is able to help me is something I appreciate a lot, and realized that sometimes other students could benefit from the same. A little help can go a long way.

When it comes to scientist contributing to the community, I believe that the media is what can benefit our generation the best as well as the generations after us. The internet is at the tip of our fingers. For generations below me, I think that videos are the best for communicating science. Kids love videos, so why not make them educational? As for older people, twitter and all other parts of the internet are looked at every single day, so media is a great way to provide the public with scientific information, as long as it is true. Media is huge today, and if you really want someones attention, you have to target them!

I had a great experience with the service hours and glad that I get to say I participated in them!

Here is my classmates after stetting up in the Watagua public library for Earth Day!