Writing This Post and Listening to Red Hot Chili Peppers

           When I first found out that there was a service learning component to University 101, my initial thoughts were pretty calm. I thought it was cool that we get to do it, because I usually enjoy doing service projects, especially with my friends.

My last two years in high school, I participated in service projects with my church youth group. During my junior year, I went with the youth group on their HomeWorks trip. HomeWorks is basically a house repair project that the youth group takes on every year, splitting up into four to five groups to repair one local house each. My group was assigned a house fairly close to the high school I went to, so I was really familiar with the neighborhood, unlike the rest of my friends. They were nervous because the house was located on what was a considered a “gang active” street. While that was true, I had to assure them it did not pose us as a group any potential danger, because we were working in broad daylight and had no reason to draw attention from the gangs. After we got into the work of putting on a fresh coat of paint on the house, putting in new shingles, fixing the rails on the porch, and building a wheelchair ramp for one of the residents, we were no longer focused on our fears, but on the family we were helping and the feelings we got from doing it. My senior year, I decided to do a different service project with my youth group. Last year, I helped out, along with many others, with the annual food drive that the youth group hosts, and then later donates the collected items to the local Soup Kitchen.

My academic goals for this year are to keep my GPA above a 3.0. To achieve this, I have to really manage my time and make sure I do not procrastinate on doing my assignments. I did that a lot in high school and that proved to be a little stressful at times, so I decided I did not want to do the same thing now that I am in college. I want to feel more in control and less rushed for time, which I can make possible if I really step up my game and strive to meet my goals.