Learning is an integral part of our growth as an individual. But many constraints act as an obstacle in our way to acquiring knowledge and reaching our true potential. One of them being our economic status. Quality education is not something everybody has access to which is why I chose to volunteer in the community service program.

As a part of the 3-weekend community service program, I worked with other students and teachers to help younger, underprivileged students from local government schools comprehend various scientific concepts through fun experiments that included elephant toothpaste, an anemometer, carbon snakes, chemical equilibrium, sundials, and more. Each day we did engaging activities that helped them with conceptual understanding and provided them with hands-on experience.

The CAS experience incorporated both creativity and service. In terms of creativity, I was able to partake in various contrivances and teach scientific notions in an engaging way. We created sundials, anemometers, and paint using food coloring and glue as mentioned above.

Service was also a part of the experience as we all dedicated significant time and effort to the planning, procedure, and execution of the events. The smiles on the children’s faces were proof of our success. Considering how these kids don’t usually get such opportunities, our collaborative effort helped indulge their interest in the subject and also provided them with an eventful learning experience.

The program fulfilled a number of learning outcomes that included:

• LO5: Demonstrate the skills and benefits of working collaboratively

Working collegialitively was a vital part of the service as it takes perseverance and patience to teach. We all shared our knowledge and divided tasks based on our strengths to make the experience fruitful and unforgettable for the children. Considering that the environment was completely strange to the students we worked together to make them comfortable so it did not affect their learning.

• LO6: Engagement with issues of global significance.

Quality education isn’t available to everyone. Most students in local government schools do not have adequate resources or experienced teachers to provide them with quality education. The community service program is also a step toward reducing inequalities in terms of quality education caused by economic status. Teaching the kids science experiments with the required resources helped us provide them with a qualitative experience.

• LO7: Recognise and consider the ethics of choices and actions. 

During this experience, I had to consider the ethical impacts of my actions. With the motto of doing what’s best for the kids, I was compelled to step out of my comfort zone like conversing in Gujarati because the students were most comfortable using the language.

The experience was extremely valuable to me as I deeply believe in the collective growth of society and giving back to my community. My skills as a communicator helped make the experience run finely. One thing I was reminded of from this experience was that dedication, curiosity, and interest alone are enough to make us good learners and help us achieve success.

community service certificate evidence