Super Original Service Learning Blog

Super Original Service Learning Blog

Although I was annoyed -just like everyone, else really- to realize I still would have to do service learning hours in my classes after working at Amelia Park for my SLS class, the actual work was definitely better than what I expected, introducing my favorite song in a musical I just got introduced by a friend before and working along really nice people overall.

Hamilton

As I said earlier, I was introduced to Hamilton a few days before the semester, and when I heard that one of the assignments would be specifically on Hamilton I was getting convinced that there is a God up there taking care of me. 

This revelation was confirmed when we got to pick our part of the musical to introduce and not only my favorite song and the one I was looking forward to introducing the entire day was available but at the moment I got to pick mine the mouse was already on the space below the song, so I literally only had to write my name on it and that was it, I'll have to introduce You'll be back to dozens of people in a dark room...But hey, at least I'm not the one singing there, that's something...

In the beginning, I forgot to type up my script for the play the day it was due, but right after that I truly followed Hamilton's example and wrote day and night like it's tomorrow won't arrive. I watched the entire musical, reviews about it, and used almost all of my knowledge of the Revolutionary War to deliver an at least decent script to present such a masterpiece...And...It got corrected...Mostly a shorter, more compact version of the original draft which was at least 5 paragraphs long and occupied an entire word page. Even though my pride was still hurt, I was able to acknowledge that Dr. K's corrections really helped to make the introduction more palatable for the audience in general than the darn five paragraphs I wrote, and even though my performance in the rehearsals was by no means the best, my oratory skills exponentially improved and managed to deliver a proficient introduction and even make it more dynamic than what was planned by first introducing it referring to King George III, who in the musical was making the transitions between songs and happened to sit next to us, as "his majesty". I would say I was satisfied with the end result and if I had the chance I would gladly collaborate to bring this wonderful musical to more people again.

Urban Paradise Guild

Another reason to believe in God was that I suddenly recalled that we had to do hours at Urban Paradise Guild by the end of March, which was fairly easy and much better than what I expected, to be honest. The supervisor, Daniel, was really kind and helped us with whatever we needed. we mostly replanted local plants from the nursery into pots so they could grow and be put back into their main habitat. It was really nice not only for Daniel's attitude but also because people from my class were there and that made the experience more enjoyable as I was able to talk to them while and after the service hours.

Gorgeous shot of some of the plants we replanted at the nursery

Something that was really interesting about Urban Paradise was that Daniel explained to us why this was so important for our community, where local species are going near extinction as they get replaced by invasive species that in one way or another will disturb the ecosystem and contribute to the ongoing climate change that is already messing with our coastline...And I don't know about you, but I personally like to live above the sea level, so I really appreciate what they are doing here.

Conclusion

All in all, the concept of doing service hours at first made me roll my eyes since I thought I was done with it after taking my SLS course, but once I gave it a try, I did not regret a single second of it. At most I would regret not taking it more seriously, which would have saved me a few moments of anxiety and some bad grades, but I'm aware that it was the way I decided to handle this and if I don't get the grades I wanted I'm the only one to blame for it.

Roberto Vera