My first experience with the organization was tedious and did not have anything to do with the actual service learning organization. That being said, I understand that the organization is in the process of moving to a new location, therefore all the boring office work has to be taken care of in order for them to have a successful transition to a new place. Ms. Monica Mundy asked everyone in our group to scan piles upon piles of papers. I was sitting in a chair, scanning papers for two hours, and constantly having to get up because the printer would get jammed every two seconds (it felt like). There was a lot of repetitiveness, and I did get aggravated because of the amount of papers that had to be scanned, but mostly because scanning papers has nothing to do with the smoke free topic that this organization focuses on. Overall, my first experience with the organization seemed pointless to me because it did not feel like I was doing anything of value to help society and the community as a whole. In summary, I picked up piles of paper, sorted through them, removed staples to make sure they didn't go through the printer, and then scanned them to Monica's email so she could peruse through what was necessary to keep versus what should be trashed.
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| A printer room that depicts where I was sitting to scan papers to Monica's email |
Even though my first experience did not specifically relate to a smoke-free campus, it had to get done in order for the organization to launch campaigns, and move to a better space to be better inform students about the harms involved with smoking. Monica informed the group that the bulk of the campaigning and volunteering would be done in November; November is Lung Cancer Awareness month, which is one of the main effects of smoking. As with any growth of an association, they all have to go through the laborious process in order to do more fun and interesting activities. Some of the upcoming activities that were brought to my attention were tabling to students so they have the opportunity to receive extra information regarding smoking, and participating in social media campaigns. Both of these actions can reach out to thousands of people, and hopefully persuade people to think twice before sticking a cigarette in their mouths.
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| Just an example of a campaign that can speak to people |
Do you think that the tedious work you were asked to do on your first visit has made you more excited to do actual hands on work in November?
ReplyDeleteI definitely think that doing the tedious work made me want to do hands on work. It was just boring sitting there copying papers, and I want to be more engaged in actual activity.
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