Reflections on Learn and Serve

Posted by sccadmin on Tuesday, September 14th, 2010.

To say the Arizona sun is relentless is putting it mildly.  Just under 70 Tucson youth participated in community service work this summer while taking part in the Learn and Serve (LSA) Summer of Service program hosted by the Sonoran Desert branch.  They learned how to use pick mattocks to loosen hard soil, dug holes for trees and shrubs, walked miles picking up litter, painted playgrounds and buildings, transplanted cacti – and that is just some of the hard work they did to make the Tucson community a better place to live!  All in 105+ degree weather! 

Many of the youth would wake up daily at 4:30AM just to make it to the Sun Tran bus stop to travel from far east Tucson to west Tucson at the closest bus stop – then they would walk another ½ mile to the drop off site.  Our day did not officially begin until 7:00AM and they would get there just in time.  They told me told me that they did not get home until 7PM after the long, hot day and bus ride.  For the entire four weeks they showed up with smiles on their faces ready to face a new challenge!   Wow!

Another youth was accompanied by her mom as she took each of her children to their separate volunteer service sites on the Sun Tran bus.  It took hours to get everyone where they needed to be.  And again, she did this for a full four weeks never missing a day! 

I am beyond impressed with these middle school youth!  Their resiliency is something to be admired. 

To give you a better idea of the gratefulness of the local community, please read these quotes I obtained from parents, community sponsors, and parents:

“The kids should be proud about the hard work they did – they earned the right to consider [their work] at Barrio Kroeger Lane Neighborhood to be their project.”   

“It is very warming to know my children were part of something so important to Tucson.  I appreciate the opportunity SCC provided for all my children.  They have grown up a lot in just the short four weeks.”

“From behalf of the residents, thank you all for your participation, cooperation, and caring.”

“This project has reached its objective in removing our storm water and greenscaping our streets.  It was really beautiful this morning.”

“It was good for my kids.  They learned how to work and be responsible.”

As part of the LSA program the youth also participated in education provided by local conservation experts and took the time to journal about what they learned each day.  Here are some of their thoughts -

“Five things Max taught us – 1.) Creosote smells like rain, 2.) Saguaros have to grow by another plant, 3.) Ants protect the trees they are on, 4.) Prickly pear cacti are used to make jam, 5.) The jojoba is used to make oils and shampoo.”

“I had a good time painting and re-planting the jumping cactus – and I had an awesome time with my new friends!”

“Yes, it was worth it.  I liked how I got to help the community and help other animals have a new home.”

“I really had fun at SCC!  It was really nice meeting new people.  This was a really big experience for me and it’s worth it to remember the good times we had together.  There was team work in all of us.  I think we put hard work into everything we did at SCC.”

“We build basins to harvest rainwater.  I can do the same at my house.”

“The desert tortoise survives living in the desert by storing water over 40% of its body weight in its bladder.”

“I would not waste water by playing with it – I would try to collect it when it rains and save it.”

“I really enjoyed the experience of doing [the LSA program through] SCC!  It was really fun and I got to meet many new people.  Doing this and helping the community felt good and I felt like I was really helping people.”

“I really enjoyed being at SCC!  One of the things I enjoyed was that I made friends, learned about animal habitats, learned that if you respect others they will respect you… and we need to help the environment if we don’t want to hurt it.  I also really liked that we helped communities.” 

“The work at [LSA with] SCC kept me out of trouble the whole summer – thank God.”

“Thank you for letting me work with you at SCC.  I am happy to come and work with you guys – you guys are really amazing!  I had so much fun being there and I learned a lot of stuff too.  I learned how to plant trees, how to work as a team, and to help others when they needed it.  I’m really happy about that you just do not know how happy I am.  I had a great summer. Thanks.”

“I liked the digging, shaping basins with rock, and watering the trees we planted.” 

“I got to meet people – it was cool!  I want to do the LSA program next year!”

“Pulling weeds was fun because there was shade – the heat was the worst.”

“This was fun, I never did this kind of work before – I made new friends and my favorite tool is the spade shovel.”

Most of our service was based at Barrio Kroeger Lane Neighborhood.  This is located in Ward 1.  The City Councilwoman, Regina Romero, was so pleased and thankful for the kids’ efforts she presented them with certificates of appreciation at the August Mayor and Council Meeting!!  

I can honestly say that these hearty kids have my full admiration.  I am glad to have met and worked alongside each and every one of them and I look forward to seeing many of their smiling faces again next year!  They have shown me that they WANT to learn, they WANT to grow, they WANT to be given an opportunity to see beyond themselves and provide help to the community.  What an amazing group!