​You're never alone

           Taking an English class based on community service was entirely interesting to me when signing up for a special topic. I have had previous experience volunteering for community service organizations at home and was thrilled to get involved again in the Tallahassee community. I expected this class to provide us with an organization to get involved with and then individually we would have to write and create projects based on our experiences, which is exactly what we did.  There are many different special topics, on book series, or movie series, but I thought this class was the most unique. It provided me with a way to feel good about myself, and to find out more about the community I would be living in for the next four years.
            In this community service class, I was given the opportunity to volunteer with the Refuge House while other students volunteered for different organizations. The Refuge House is an organization that helps people deal and cope with domestic violence and sexual assault. Based off of what other students shared with the class, I learned that some organizations really got the students involved and they were able to get insight into how the organization really worked. My experience was different; the only time I learned from the organization was through research that I did myself. The lady at the Refuge House provided me with files to put away into cabinets, and brochures to stack. During my time there, I did not learn much or see how the organization truly worked, but I was glad that I was able to give my time to help her out. Any and every organization could use more help. Organizations thrive off of volunteers and everyone can make a difference, even if it is just for an hour of their time.
            Over the course of the semester, I think my reading and writing has improved. Writing comes with practice, and the fact that we had numerous papers and projects really helped me become a better writer. Receiving grades and feedback from our instructor, gave us details as to why we received the grades we did, and what we could do to improve them. If you are good at taking criticism, we also did peer evaluations often, which I believe also helped me in editing my papers.
            The project that I believe taught me the most was our research paper. When writing my research paper, I researched and learned a large amount about the Refuge House, and domestic violence and sexual assault itself. I honestly was unaware of how prevalent these issues were and the facts were terrible to read and understand. Not only did I learn an incredible amount about my organization, but I also learned about my peers’ organizations as well. This English class really taught me that there are many organizations in need of volunteers. I now have an understanding of how many issues there are in every community and that anyone could really help these organizations. You may look at a community and think it is beautiful and nothing wrong goes on inside, but behind the scenes, there are serious issues that happen in every community. After taking this English class, and learning about all of these outstanding organizations, I now know that I will definitely take advantage of volunteering at an organization while I live in Tallahassee.