Final Thoughts

Sadly, my time working with the Carnegie Center has come to an end. It was a great semester working some really interesting events there. To conclude my Service Learning experience, I have given some of my final thoughts in the video below.

My Final Events

Early in November, we worked to set up the Carnegie Center's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas event. This was a very exciting project, as we played a part in turning the building from its normal library appearance to an atmosphere resembling the 1970's, when the book was set. To add elements from the book, we hung bats and other decorations that were mentioned in the book. We set up prize wheels, hung banners and set up tables in order to give the building into a completely look and feel for the night. Unfortunately, I was unable to work the event. However, I helped put the finishing touches on the preparation work, and the results were magnificent. Complete with a kindly-donated car resembling the one in the book, the building was truly transformed and the excitement was palpable as the event drew nearer. I was told it was a great success, which really vindicated all our efforts. 

The re-decoration of the front desk and the hanging banner were just a few of the new spins we put on the Carnegie Center to help them throw their annual book-themed party.

For my final hours, I worked an event which closely resembled our first one. The first event was dedicated to peace, while this final one was dedicated to Thanksgiving. I noted in September how inspiring it was to see children give their definitions of peace. Similarly, it was humbling to see what these children were thankful for. I saw children write that they were thankful for many things that I think most take for granted, such as warm beds and good food. We simply accept these things, given our relative privilege compared to the rest of the world. However, the children have not yet become cognizant of this privilege and see that these seemingly simply items are more than worthy of our appreciation. 
I truly am happy that I picked the Carnegie Center as my service learning organization. The effects of our contributions include providing children and families with wonderful nights of bonding and togetherness and transformed a library into a classic American novel set. I will always remember these experiences and wish the Carnegie Center the best of successes in their future events.

TED Talk Analysis

This TED Talk was given by Geoffrey Canada and focuses on how we can improve our education system. It was delivered in May 2013 at a TED Talk Conference and was delivered in order to inform the audience about the issues with the current education system and to persuade the audience that the design of the education system is currently flawed and that major changes are needed to correct the problem. One of the missions of the Carnegie Center is to help underprivileged children and adults improve their literacy and critical thinking abilities, so I thought that this TED Talk had a relevant link to my service learning organization. He was a very effective speaker.  He incorporated humor well in his talk and also immediately established the relevancy of his topic by appealing to the audience’s emotions. He appealed to their emotions by talking about how the system effectively guarantees children with poor financial background to fail. 

Geoffrey Canada has worked to improve the Harlem Education district for years and has seen firsthand the issues stemming from the current system. He urges the government to review its education system and see what it can do to serve the students more effectively.

He expected the audience to have a reasonable amount of knowledge about the current education system. He uses extended similes and metaphors for the education system (such as comparing the system to a farm that plants its crops at the wrong time) to help the audience understand the logic that he is using. He berates the government for employing the same basic school system as was in place nearly 50 years ago, saying, “If it did not work then, why would it work now?”. Using these similes helps members of the audience who may not know as much about the system understand the faults he sees in the system. 

He was also very animated in terms of nonverbal communication, displaying energy and urgency in his gesticulations and near-constant pacing to show the urgency of the matter. He says we have “run out of time” to delay changing the system and that we are approaching an “education cliff” due to the current system. He proposes that we change the calendar that schools tend to use (August-May) to a year-round schedule. To compensate, Winter and Thanksgiving breaks would be longer and there would be a small break in June that serves as a summer break. He says the three-month break currently used for summer break leads to dramatic regression in students’ abilities. He also encourages the government to actually use the results of their educational studies to improve the system as a whole. 

Overall, he was a very effective and persuasive speaker, appealing to the audience with emotion and logic while providing humorous anecdotes to maintain their attention level.

Video Reflection

Having worked one event thus far, my experience with the Carnegie Center is far from complete. However, we are also pretty far removed from our orientation and initial event, and this time has given me ample opportunity to reflect on my experience as a whole and prepare for my upcoming experiences with the Carnegie Center. In this video, I share some of my thoughts and opinions on the service learning project and the Carnegie Center specifically.

 Their annual book-themed party is occurring this weekend and preparations will be hectic. .

The novel for this year's event at the Carnegie Center is "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" by Hunter Thompson. The 70's settings in the novel should make for an interesting and exciting event Saturday night.

This event has been a huge success in years past and I am excited to help continue its success over the next few days.