Rebecca Nonnenmann

Dr. Parks

SOC-330-01

6 December 2019

St. Mark Journal 4

My experiences with St. Mark has taught me so much. It has taught me about diversity

and inclusion to the newest Fortnite dance moves and everything in between. Sometimes it is

hard to remember why I am taking time out of my busy days to volunteer, but as soon as the kids

run at full speed in the gym to give me a hug, I am reminded just why I do this. From these kids,

I learn many lessons, but the most important has to be about compassion and resilience. No

matter their situation at home, they come to school everyday and then program with a smile on

their faces, ready to learn and talk with me. They make me laugh every day I am with them and

they bring me so much joy! They have also taught me about how to create meaningful

relationships with students, which is so important as a teacher. Their faces light up when I take

an interest in their lives and it is the best feeling to make a connection with the students.

These lessons will be so beneficial for me not only as a future teacher, but also as a

person. Their experiences in school are totally different from what I went through and I know I

will have a lot of students who had different experiences than I did. Something I have especially

noticed through my volunteering is that the children do not always have the same social and

cultural experience as I did growing up. This is most notable in their parental involvement. Even

after being there for a year and a half, there are parents I still have never seen or who have not

introduced themselves to me. However, when I was in school, my parents knew my teachers and

they were very involved in my education. However, something they have in their school that I
lacked was diversity. My classes were overwhelmingly white and had no students with

disabilities. Through my volunteering at St. Mark, I am able to prepare myself for these

experiences in my own classroom and get the benefit of being in a diverse educational setting.

Because St. Mark has enrichment programs in all Title I schools in the Dubuqe and

surrounding areas, it gives the students the opportunity to have equality with students from

schools with more resources. These programs provide so much more than after-school child care.

They provide students with good role models as well as academic, social, and emotional

enrichment, all things they would not otherwise get at home or maybe even at school. I have seen

the students grow in my time there in their social skills, gain new and diverse experiences in the

community, and learn how to be mindful and self-regulate their emotions. This is taking great

strides towards educational reform as it is attempting to even the playing field among all

students, no matter their socioeconomic status, where they live, their race, their abilities, or who

they are. Making changes that are supplemental to and separate from the regular school day is

not necessarily ideal but it is a step in the right direction. If programs such as St. Mark Youth

Enrichment were widened, allowing more students to attend, and were implemented in Title I

schools across the nation, I believe significant achievement towards equality would be made.