Eyes glistening with gratitude.  Smiles spreading across eager faces.  Arms extended out towards you.  Words of thanks breaching through the air like the melody of a symphony.  Does this seem to be what you would desire as a normal part of your life?  Well, these reactions are what you may see or hear from recipients of service.  They are also my inspiration to do community service.

            During the last few years, I have come to find delight in performing service for others.  I have had many opportunities to serve, to enjoy those experiences, and to seek more of the same.  I have tried diligently to accept these opportunities with a smile, and I feel that as I have done this, I have been led to many successes where my actions brought forth a great change to my life and created a huge impact on my future; in addition, it has influenced the lives of those I serve.

            I have contributed to a variety of service projects in my life, but there is one that stands out to me.  I participated in a service activity that helped me interact with little children that directly impacted their lives.  Ever since I can recall, I have loved little children; I love to see a child smile – I can’t help but smile back.  Being around a child brings out my “child-like” behavior and generates an enthusiasm in me I don’t feel when doing anything else.  Because of this profound love that I feel towards children, the career I have chosen to complete is in elementary education.

            During the summer after my sophomore year in high school, I discovered the elementary school in my town was hosting a summer school for children who needed tutoring. This, I thought, was the perfect opportunity for me; not only would this help me gain skills and experience in the area of teaching, but it would also give me the opportunity to relax and enjoy the interaction with children. After talking with the teacher, I found myself in the position to help tutor these children during the summer school.

            When the program first began, I had problems interacting with the children.  Even though I am normally very outgoing and communicative when it comes to children, I found it more difficult to actually illustrate a lesson in a manner where the children could understand.  This, though, would change very fast – much faster than I could have ever imagined.

            On Mondays and Wednesdays, the teacher and I would assist children who needed skills in the subjects of mathematics, reading, and writing.  We would give them ample time to work with each other and to quiz each other.  With my expertise in these areas, I assumed it would be very easy to teach these children how to solve basic math problems, read fluently, and gain writing skills; however, I found my assumption to be dead wrong.  I knew how to do everything, especially since it was first and second grade material we were working with, but presenting it in ways the children could recognize was something new to me.  I found it easier to teach reading skills to the students because I had some experience in this area since I have enjoyed reading many books to my nephews and nieces.  It still wasn’t, however, as easy as I thought it would be.  I still had to learn and grow as an educator throughout the whole process.  I had to gain the skills of communicating on the students’ level and clearly stating instructions, questions and answers.

            As the summer progressed, I began to see what skills the students lacked.  Some of the students did not work well with numbers, some had trouble enunciating words and locating distinct sounds, and others just lacked the pure will to work hard and learn the material.  I began to finally apprehend and learn how I could teach these students in a way they could understand.  Once I began to discern how to tutor, this experience became so much easier and much more enjoyable.  I began to see each child improve individually in so many ways. For example, one student began the school with little or no skills with the times tables. As time passed, and after using flash cards, certain multiplicative strategies to solve problems, and interactive games, he began to understand the basics of multiplying.  By the end of the summer, he could solve all of the times tables up to 10 without much help.  This student felt success and I felt joy at his success.  Together we had accomplished our goal.

            On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the teacher and I traveled to students’ homes to tutor them.  I began by working with a three-year-old girl who was slightly deaf.  Since she could not hear everything when she was growing up, she could not decipher what all of the sounds were around her.  My goal was to help her recognize the sounds we hear every day.  This little girl wore hearing aids during the practices I did with her so she could hear the sounds played from a disc.  I would play the sound, and then she would tell me what animal or object it was.  Since she could not hear all the precise pronunciations of letters and words while she was very young, her speaking ability was limited.  I worked countless hours to teach her these different letter pronunciations and the various sounds.  By the end of the summer, she had improved a lot and had even taught me some sign language; she often used sign language to speak to me. 

            After working with the deaf girl, we would then drive about twenty miles to a home of a boy who had complications with his social and speaking skills.  He did not do well around people and could not speak all that well.  To work with his social skills, we would bring a train track for him to play with.  He loved to play with trains, and it was a joy to see the happiness he obtained when doing so.  This little boy loved Thomas the Train, and I used this to my advantage by having him recite the names of all the characters, which gave him the opportunity to work on his speaking skills. By the end of the summer, I had bonded very close with this little boy.  His skills improved immensely, and he was always very excited for us to come and work with him.

            We also traveled to another home where we tutored four-year-old quadruplets.  These children were the highlight of my summer.  The quadruplets, three boys and one girl, also needed help with their social skills.  These children lived about thirty miles from the nearest town, so they had little experience around other people.  One of the children, the one who I spent most of my time with, had Cerebral Palsy.  This condition is where a child has disabilities in the various areas of body movement.  A child with this disorder usually has problems with balance, abnormal muscle tone or reflexes, and has soft tissue in certain areas.  This child that I had the great privilege of working with had a very sensitive head, so I would arrange pillows all around him in case he was to fall.  I would normally do physical therapy on him where I would stretch his legs and arms.  I loved every minute I had with this child.  He seemed to bond to me the first minute he saw me.  My heart ached to see what he had to go through, but I also felt gratification to know I was there to help him.  We would also give the other children ample time to color and play some social games that helped improve their interactive nature.  Once the summer was over, they were more outgoing than they were at the beginning of the summer.

            As I look back on this volunteer experience, I remember all of the great experiences I had that touched my life, and also all the children’s’ lives I was able to touch.  The bonding I went through has made a huge impact on my life.  It was amazing to see the changes this summer school provided in the education for these students.  Their knowledge levels increased, their skills blossomed, and their behavior improved in a variety of ways.  I was very blessed to see these changes occur in the lives of these children, and I am even more grateful for the opportunity I had of interacting with and getting to know these children.

            I have always loved to serve in some capacity.  I view service as a way to build tolerance, acceptance, friendship, and character.  Each person you serve benefits, and so does the person who serves.  You are always paid more than you give.  I am grateful for my service opportunities, and I appreciate the happiness it brings me.