First impression of the Carnegie Center

                The service organization that I am going to be dedicating my time to this semester is the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning. I have not yet been able to visit the Carnegie Center, but I look forward to attending my orientation on Thursday, September 17. From what I have gathered online, my volunteer work will consist mainly of organizing bookshelves, helping with crafts, and assisting with an event that will be held at the Carnegie center on November 7^th called “Carnegie Classics: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” inspired by the classic novel written by Hunter S. Thompson in 1971. The event features a band called “The Other Brothers” who will be playing psychedelic rock from the 70’s, a drag show, and other activities inspired by the novel.

The goal of the Carnegie center is to help people grow and expand their knowledge of culture and literacy as well as express themselves through art.  They offer lessons in foreign languages, tutoring, and have numerous groups for writers, book lovers, poetry enthusiasts, artists, and much more. 

 I look forward to my volunteer work at the Carnegie Center because I think it will be a great opportunity to reach out to the Lexington community and get to know some people outside the university. I also think that it is a great way to learn skills that I can use later in my college career that I may not have the ability to learn in a classroom setting.

Initial Impression

The service site I will happily be investing my time into this semester is the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning. Although I have not yet gotten the chance to visit, I plan on attending an orientation this Thursday, September 17. Something that really caught my interest when deciding between service sites were the visionary goals of the Carnegie Center which include:

• Encourage active, critical, and creative learning
• Promote the components of literacy, including reading, writing, speaking, listening, viewing, & technology
• Provide educational opportunities for people of all ages and levels of learning
• Establish partnerships with artists, educators, and community groups
• Support and promote Kentucky writers and artists
• Engage the imagination through literary arts
• Preserve and enhance the historic Carnegie building for the benefit of the community

These goals reflect the Carnegie Center really well and truly expose the focus of this organization. 

 I have studied the website for a glimpse of what I might be helping with and have been pleasantly surprised. It appears that most of my volunteer work will deal with stocking book shelves, helping with arts and crafts, and offering assistance with the Carnegie Classics: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas event that is happening in November. This event offers a night filled with fun entertainment such as an exciting performance by The Other Brothers, a drag show, a Vegas-style buffet and art inspired by cult classic, Hunter S. Thompson. As a volunteer, I would be helping with registration, ushering, serving non-alcoholic drinks, and cleaning. 

I am looking forward to the orientation Thursday and getting a chance to help out the Lexington community in a unique way!

My Initial Impression of the Carnegie Center

     Though I have not yet visited the Carnegie Center, I can honestly say that I am excited to begin the process of service learning when I go for my orientation this Thursday. I think that this experience will be very worthwhile and help me learn in ways inaccessible through an ordinary classroom. Since I have not been able to visit yet, I have tried to familiarize myself with the organization by reading about it online. Using these means, I have discovered much about the Carnegie Center and this new information has made me very excited to volunteer there.

The Carnegie Center is an organization dedicated to helping people find new ways to express their true selves. I thought that I would be working in a library-like environment, but I was pleasantly surprised to learn that there is so much more to the Carnegie Center. The Carnegie Center will help you read and write better if that is all you desire. However, they are willing to help you in much more ways than that. Their true mission is to help you find the best way to express yourself, so they offer myriad opportunities to discover how best to express yourself. These opportunities include learning to be a better playwright, learning other languages and so much more (a more detailed list of opportunities can be seen here: http://carnegiecenterlex.org/workshops/special-interests/). Essentially, the Carnegie Center aims to help people learn more about themselves through the literary arts. This is a mission that I would love to assist. 

Book club meetings are just one of the many ways through which the Carnegie Center helps people connect and learn.

I am very excited to begin this service learning experience and try to relate my experiences there to the lessons I learn in the classroom. I also hope to be able to take lessons away from this experience and use those lessons on a day-to-day basis in my life as a whole and not simply leave those experiences in the classroom. To get a more in-depth look at the Carnegie Center and a better understanding of why I am so excited to volunteer there, you can access the organization's website or Twitter. I am looking forward to starting this Thursday.