Earth Day at Museum of Natural Science

On Saturday, April 28th, I volunteered for 4hours at the Museum of Natural Science for their annual Earth Day celebration. There were many booths set up for Earth Day, and they all had to do with the history of the Earth, recycling, and preserving Earth's resources. There was a really interesting booth about how water is naturally filtered through layers of dirt and rocks and eventually becomes safe to drink. There were also all sorts of booths about how to make art projects by using only recycled items. After seeing many interesting booths, I was a little disappointed when I got assigned the booth about Native American Pottery. Despite my initial disappointment, I did end up learning a lot of interesting facts about how the pots were made from clay, baked, and sanded with dried corn cobs. I learned alot about the pottery itself, but my favorite part of the day was when the museum opened and the kids came to the booth and I got to teach all the little kids about the pots and help them paint their own pots. The enthusiasm of all the kids was truly contagious and before I knew it, I was having just as much fun as they were! There was one little girl in particular, named Julianne, who took a liking to me and asked me all sorts of questions about the pots. I was amazed at how smart she was, for a 4 year-old, and how dedicated and creative she was with her pot. She must have spent 20min painting her pot while talking to me about her school and her friends. I was elated when she asked me if I could come over to her house when I was done teaching people about pots. :)  By the end of the day I had learned about Native American pottery, but most importantly, I learned that working with kids can be extremely gratifying if you just allow yourself to be susceptible to their enthusiasm.

CERT

Last Friday (April 20th), I volunteered for 3 hours with an organization called CERT: Community Emergency Response Teams. I worked with CERT to help train the students involved with HOSA, by pretending to be an injured victim of a simulated natural disaster. There were about 10-13 pretend victims, which the trainees in HOSA had to locate and rescue from the "ruble". I had a lot of fun pretending to have an open arm fracture. Being a victim really opened my eyes to what can make a patient feel calm in a crisis situation, and what really makes the patient feel neglected and frustrated. Some of the trainee's just yelled at me when I asked for help, and that really mad me feel angry despite the fact that I'm only pretending to be injured. If I was really injured, my fear and anxiety would only increase if someone was yelling at me. Luckily, there were some trainee's who spoke soothing words and assured me that I would be taken care of which made me feel safe and calm. In a way, I think that being the fake victim allowed me to learn more about how to respond to a victim of incrisis than the trainees, because I can now relate to how the patient feels. In the end, I had a great time, and I would recommend this project to all the students at UST as a great learning experience and a really fun time!

Japhet Creek

Last Saturday (April 14th), I volunteered for 4 hours at Japhet Creek. I am not from Houston so it was really nice to see more of the reserved aspect of Houston in contrast to downtown. At the creek, the other volunteers and I worked hard to pick up trash along the creek and pull the weeds that were inhibiting the natural sunflowers from growing. We must have pulled more than 50 lbs of weeds! However, my favorite part of the experience was exploring the creek while gathering trash along the way. We found the most surprising trash along the creek such as, a PSP gaming controller, an old record, and enough clothing to make 2 complete outfits! Apart from the dead possum that I almost stepped on, exploring the creek was a lot of fun! I felt like I was Bear Grylls, from the TV show, Man vs Wild! At the end of the day I was dirty, sweaty, smelly, but content with the amount of trash and weeds that we worked so hard to dispose of. Overall I really enjoyed the experience and I am glad I went on a new adventure.

CIS Meltdown

Due to miscommunication between CIS and Burrus, it appears that I will not be able to volunteer at Burrus after all the trouble I went through to sign up with CIS in the first place. This is really upsetting for me because I am now searching franticly to find new volunteer opportunities when I had already had my heart set on working with school children. I did, however, hear from a friend about volunteering with a group to help restore a local creek and, although I don’t consider myself to be an outdoors kind of person, I am excited to explore new areas of Houston. This new project might not be ideal, but I am willing to open myself to new experiences and adventures.

CIS

Last Friday I went to Burrus Elementary school for the first time. I didn't get to look around the school or meet any of the kids because I was only there to make sure the school office had my information on file. I hope that I will be able to meet with the kids and actually start volunteering when I go there again this Friday.

CIS

I just signed up to volunteer at Burrus Elementary School, and I'm not sure what to expect. I am not from Houston so I'm not sure what the Elementary Schools are like or what the area is like, and this makes me a bit nervous. I am, however, looking forward to working with younger kids. Elementary students seem to have a greater eagerness and excitement for learning than older high school students do. I'm hoping to fuel this excitement for knowledge by providing a different way for the students to understand the things that are being taught in the classrooms.  At this point in time, my anticipation to work with the students outweighs my nervousness of the unknown.