1 - Service Learning

 The first step of my pursuit into higher education and to dip my toes into the life of a teacher, is to complete some service learning hours in a local school. Service learning is aimed at helping me get experience in the field, to determine if I really want to be a teacher, and provide support to the local teaching community. I accomplish these goals by going into a classroom and assisting basically wherever I can. The support role is super important right now as many teachers are facing unprecedented amounts of stress as they navigate teaching in the covid-focused world. Alleviating even just a smidge of that stress will be extremely beneficial in helping the teachers provide higher quality education to their students.

I knew of no better place to start my search for a school than facebook. I posted asking if any of my friends were teachers or if anyone knew of someone that would be willing to take me under their wing and allow me to come into their classroom. Almost immediately an acquaintance reached out to me and invited me to her class at Lakeridge Junior High. I had to reach out to my professor to get permission to serve in a Junior High rather than an elementary school; and after securing that permission, I sought out to learn all I could about the school that I would soon be serving in.

Credit: Orem.Us

My first step was plugging the address of the school into google maps. I was pleasantly surprised to find out it was so close to UVU! After class one day I took the opportunity to drive around. The school is located on a fairly busy street that I immediately imagined would lead to some noise issues. Across the street is the huge UVU student housing project that is still being built. The school is only a block away from the even busier University Parkway and a couple stores and restaurants. As I was driving around the time that school got out, I noticed three separate groups of students walking back toward the school carrying Krispy Kreme donut boxes.

The residential area surrounded three sides of the schools seemed surprisingly old. Most of the houses were single family, one level, brick homes. I was surprised to find that not many houses showed signs of housing children either. Most of the houses had really nice lawns and landscaping, but only TWO houses in a four block radius of the school had signs of kids. One had a few child-sized bikes in the driveway, and another had a kiddie pool in a side yard. This leads me to believe that while the school is fairly large, most of the students must live a fair distance away.

The demographics and statistics of the school were quite impressive. I learned the school is the top performer in the Alpine School District in academics and Junior High level athletics. However, digging a little deeper I learned that the school falls below the state average in mathematics performance. This is particularly an interesting fact considering that the math department is the one I've been invited to. The students are predominantly Caucasian, but the school is listed as one of the most diverse schools in Utah. The Junior high also has a slightly higher percentage of students in financial distress or from low income households than the state average.

I am super excited to serve in this school. Despite a lot of challenges I think the school must face given it's demographics and geographical area, ever single person I stopped to ask had nothing but praise for the school. I hope that I can enter this wonderful community and hopefully make a tiny bit of difference.