Hey hey hey my Summit friends! I hope you all enjoyed your snow days off of school! I definitely know I did. However, I am ready for this snow to be gone, so I can get my tiny car out of the Summit parking lot and get on with my life! The start of this semester has went much more smoothly than the beginning of fall semester as far as volunteer hours go. We were able to meet with Dolly the second week back at school to discuss volunteer times and tour the new center, so we actually started volunteering the week after that. Over the course of this semester, my group and I are really excited to volunteer in the new, better structured and organized center every week. Also, we spoke with Dolly about using the remainder of our Summit budget to have an Easter egg hunt for the kids at Lighthouse the week before Easter, and she thought that was a great idea. We're planning on putting candy and prizes in each eggs and providing baskets they can use to gather them and then take home. It will take place during their school day, so all of the children will be able to be involved, which is really exciting.
The best experience with Lighthouse this month has definitely been seeing their new center. They are now located in the First Baptist Church downtown, and everyone seems to really love it there. The facility is much newer than their previous one, and the classrooms are sooooooo much bigger; something they desperately needed. Also, Dolly said the First Baptist Church is much more accommodating to them and more willing to help them get things accomplished than the church at their other location. Lighthouse also experienced some staff changes over Christmas break, and the new staff seem to have brought a more positive and better organized atmosphere with them, which is much appreciated by us Summit volunteers.
The greatest challenge this month with our agency was the blizzard-like weather we've been having. Last week was pretty frustrating because none of us were able to go volunteer due to the inclement weather. Lighthouse closes whenever Springfield Public Schools are closed, so we weren't able to volunteer for a week. This put a brief halt to our forward progress, which we didn't particularly enjoy.
In Summit class this semester, I'm really looking forward to creating a budget and tracking my expenses. I want to learn how to better save my money, and I want to see where the majority of my money is going each month. As a poor, struggling college student, I feel like I need all the help I can get in learning how to budget better.
Last semester fostered my leadership skills by teaching me how to better interact with people in the community. Especially by hosting the fall festival, I learned how to interact with community leaders, how to plan a successful event, and how to problem solve when things didn't go as planned. The fall festival showed me how to take charge and how to solve conflicts. The main thing it stressed to me was the importance of communication. This semester, I will still be in charge of the budget and will be sharing the responsibility of planning the Easter egg hunt.
That's all for now, but I will post again soon! Hope everyone is staying warm!
Molly Brown
No comments:
Post a Comment