Give and You Shall Receive

          In spirit of the Christmas season and the Good Giving Guide Challenge currently going on right now, I thought I would talk about what was given to me by my service learning organization. Tonight I wanted to talk a little bit more about the fact that by giving my time and energy to a wonderful service learning organization like Step By Step, I have actually ended up receiving some really great things in return. 

          If you have read any of my other blog posts, you know how much I love and appreciate the fact that I get to work with such an amazing organization like Step By Step. Step By Step provides such an essential service to the Lexington, KY community. In my opinion, I think programs like Step By Step should be implemented in every single city that has a need for them. I honestly do not see one negative effect of having a program like Step By Step in any type of community. However, this is another argument for another day!

          I am going to start out by saying that this week at school (I attend the University of Kentucky) I got the opportunity to attend a "thank-you breakfast" with a few classmates, my teacher, and a representative from every service learning organization that the CIS112 classes at UK work with this semester. I got the opportunity to speak about everything that Step By Step has given me, including new friendships and professional relationships, a bi-weekly break from the stress of school, lots of laughs, a few outfits that smell like baby formula, the experience of being a "part-time mother", and the opportunity to express my love for multiple individuals who can't even say "mama". As I admitted during the "thank-you breakfast", I actually had a really sour prejudice when I learned that we had to volunteer for credit in a class. I had never done anything like that in high school, and I know college is different, but I didn't think it would be this different ... I became just plain mad when I learned that we couldn't use the places we currently volunteered at for credit; it had to be an organization previously approved and set up by the department that oversees CIS. As a pre-med student trying to have a resume that weighs more than I do by my junior year of undergraduate school, I was completely overwhelmed. This was just one more thing I had to put on my plate. After attending orientation, my mindset had done a complete 180. I was so excited. Currently, I am overwhelmed with joy when I think about Step By Step and everything it has given me. I could not be more thankful that this organization found me. I think that from this experience overall, I have learned that no matter what, it is important to give everything a chance and go into a new situation with an open mind; you never know what will happen. 

Here is a picture of myself and a classmate speaking about the great experiences we have had at Step By Step at the "thank-you breakfast" earlier this week.