By Kallee Hooley, IU Peer Coach and Community Health major, Cox Exploratory Scholar
As a first semester student, I had no idea what I wanted to major in. I was confident in setting myself up for a pre-med track, but considering this wasn’t a major in itself, I was going to have to find something to get an actual degree in. Being an educator sounded interesting, so I decided to take EDUC-G 203: Communication for Youth-Serving Professionals. Since I was still on the fence about the idea of being a teacher, I was hopeful that this service learning course would give me an idea of what it would be like to work with children.
On my first official day of service learning at a local childcare center, I had no idea what to expect. With this being said, the children definitely made me feel welcomed as they rushed into my arms and greeted me with joy. By the end of my first shift, I felt so appreciated by all the children at the daycare and loved being there so much that I didn’t want to leave. Following my first day and continuing throughout the semester, I began to make better connections with each of the children. I started to get to know each of them individually and began to learn what they each liked and disliked. I really feel that I developed my communication skills towards younger children through my service learning. I never would’ve known how to approach certain behaviors from youth before this experience. While it was really difficult at times, I found this job beyond rewarding by just seeing how happy I was able to make the kids.
Although I’m not interested in becoming an educator, I found that I really enjoy working with children. After completing my service learning, I’ve realized that I have a passion for kids and pediatrics would be something I would be beyond happy with going into. This experience has taught me a lot about not only youth communication, but it also helped me discover a passion for something I never knew I had.
I now have happily declared a major in Community Health and am in my first degree class this semester: SPH-H 150 Children’s Health Up to Age 5.
Interested in Service Learning?
Each semester the Office of the Registrar posts
the Semester’s list of Service Learning Courses.