At the Dumb Friends League, I worked in the enrichment programs. I worked with the rabbits and the dogs and my job was to give them human interaction by playing with them and giving them exercise. The purpose of this job was to keep the animals healthy, happy and more acceptable in the attempt to get them adopted. I believe my actions were successful because I wanted to improve the lives of the animals in the shelter and I did so by giving them my love, warmth, attention, and care. However, I was not able to play an important role in the process of spreading education to the public on responsible pet care and other welfare issues. The Dumb Friends League does however have a community relations program and a humane education program that I can get involved with.
The most important lesson I learned throughout my CAS experience was to become more open minded. Once you learn to accept and interpret the possibilities of other’s ideas, many opportunities open up. When I was a volunteer as a leader for the Vacation Bible School, I listened to what the kids had to say and due to that, the kids taught me more than I taught them. There was one little girl in particular that changed my perspective on life greatly. We were playing with play-dough and throughout my entire life, I was taught to keep the colors separated. I had the understanding that if the colors were mixed together, the play-dough would not be pretty anymore and it would be ruined. However, when Sabrina and I were doing arts and crafts, the first thing she did was mix the colors of the play-dough and to my surprise, the outcome of this was so intriguing, the mixed colors gave the objects that were crafted out of the play-dough a whole new look. I learned that it is okay to mix the colors and I realized that this experience relates to life and IB. First of all, you can’t be afraid or against the idea of trying new things, in order to experience all that you can, you need to be able to get out of your comfort zone. Furthermore, that the some of the best knowledge comes from the ones we least expect it to come from. It also relates to IB because this program has helped me try new things and take my knowledge from one class and use it in another so that I increase my learning.
Habitat for Humanity had a great impact on my life by giving me a deeper understanding of working together. A few of my friends and I began this creative activity by forming a Habitat Club at our school to fundraise money for the Youth United program to build the houses. We learned that in order to get students to listen to our cause, we had to think like them. The most successful fundraiser was at the end of the year “Spring Fling” we set up several TVs with the game Guitar Hero and charged them money to play a set of songs. Then, over the summer I worked that the building site numerous times. I think the most powerful part of this project was meeting the family of the house we were building. After working for seven hours a day, in the blazing sun or in the flooded work site during a rain storm, lifting objects ten times the size of myself, hammering and sawing a countless number of wooden boards, and challenging the laws of gravity while working on the roof, I realized the necessity of teamwork. The family that was going to move into the house was completely appreciative. Both the spouses were working two jobs and had a baby on the way; they had had a tough life and struggled to get by prior to getting their application accepted by Habitat for Humanity. I felt a simple CAS project would not have a significant impact. I was wrong. To me, I was working on my IB volunteer project to get enough hours to receive my diploma. However, to the family, I helped put a roof over their heads and built them a house to raise their family. Once I realized how the volunteers had an impact on these families, I understood the importance of a society coming together to help each other. If we want to eliminate homelessness and reduce poverty and suffering of families in our community, we cannot wait for someone else to take the leadership role. We need to selflessly join together and make time to graciously lend a helping hand to others.