Grace Starnes

For this service event, I spent my time setting up for an event that was hosted to raise money for fighting hunger. Through this service, a skill I developed was patience. It was a lot of going back and grabbing multiple things, making sure they got to the correct spots, and everything was going to run smoothly. One thing I learned from the community that showed up for the event was that they were willing to donate and give their time and money to something every important to Memphis, fighting hunger. I worked as a part of a team. I went to set with others, go and run and grab last minute things needed for the event, and guiding where things needed to be. I would help this organization again. I had a good time meeting people, and having others willing to help all for a common goal. Next time, I would change my efficiency and try to be more productivr with my time. What I mean by this is, trying to get it all done and not have to cram to make sure it is all done perfectly when we don't have a lot of time left.

My friend and I went to Immanuel Lutheran School and helped out the teachers with grading papers. This experience challenged my problem-solving by trying to figure out how many points I should give a student for each question. For example, if it is a fill-in-the-blank response and their answer is kind of similar, but not I had to try and think how I should grade that. My service helped my understanding of social issues by learning that not every child learns differently, and words their thoughts so differently from the next. It is hard to understand that younger students think very creatively instead of straightforward critical thinking. I made so many new connections with the students. My friend knows most of the kids by name, so I slowly learned who each one of them was, which I enjoyed! My service is a contribution to the teachers getting a little less stress off their backs, especially during this grading period. The work builds up so fast for them, and I know it's so nice to have a little bit of extra help! I think next time I go to help, I will change my approach in how I read the directions on each paper and try to think about how the student is trying to word a response. I will be back to serve here!