Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Blog 1

For my summer of service this year I am staying in DeLand and working on a few things for Bonner. I just completed the planning of the First Year Trip which I have to say I am a little jealous of how cool their trip is going to be :) For next year the students are going to be going to the Florida Everglades for Fall Break and working in wildlife conservation, green sustainablity, reclycing, and fun! During my time working at the CSL to enhance our Bonner program as well as to strenth the connection with our community partners, I have really found my "sweet spot". I love planning and I love the administrative side to service. Sometimes I miss doing direct service because working behind the scense does not give you the connection you get when working to servce and help people face to face. But I am begining to see that my talents and strenghts are best utilized by putting the pieces in place for other students to go out and do that direct service. I never realized how much planning and organizing it takes to keep up with communication with everyone and find new ways and oppourtnities for students to serve.

My next project is Bonner101 Training for our community partners. We are going to be focusing on what bonner is, how bonner students can help communitity partners, what bonner webbers are and how to navagate the site, as well as helping the community partners see were they could use bonner students in there orgainzations. Along with this I am also going to be talking with them about this next year's Freshman Exploration Program ;)

I am really excited to get going and will check back in after the workshops :)

Sunday, May 29, 2011

T-Minus two days

T-Minus two days till summer of service officially starts with the Deltona Tennis Association (DTA) summer day camp program. DTA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to severing the youth population of the West Volusia region. Throughout the year DTA provides low cost/ free tennis instruction for those interested. During the summer it offers the lowest priced camp program in Volusia County, helping those who can’t afford the cost find and apply for scholarships. As a result about one third of the campers are attending at a discounted rate or totally free.

Located at Wes Crile Park in Deltona Florida, campers will have the opportunity to experience and engage in many exciting activities. The park is composed sporting fields, tennis courts, a large playground, a splash pad, and an indoor reaction center with a gymnasium. On Mondays campers will be able to use the splash pad with Wednesdays and Fridays reserved for field trips. As a camp counselor it is my job to insure the safety of all campers at all times, develop and implement activities, build mentoring relationships and most import act as a team member with the other dedicated staff of the camp.

I look forward to starting on Tuesday May 31, 2011; I will be blogging each weekend after reflecting on the numerous events and feeling for the week.