Community Building Day Reflection

On Track Academy was an alternative school dedicated to providing a personalized education for students who struggled with excelling in a traditional school due to various reasons. Through Community Building Day all of us volunteers were able to serve the academy by interacting with the students and giving them insight into the truth about finishing high school and attending a university, as well as giving them advice about the college life and answering any other questions. However, as a volunteer for only one morning, I found it was challenging to build a good connection with any of the students and that hindered my ability to provide quality service to the academy. Therefore, if a more reasonable group of three or four volunteers were to join the academy for a few hours a week, then it would be much more likely that the students would be able to develop a more sustainable relationship with those volunteers. If a small group of volunteers were to go to the academy continuously then they could provide a mentorship program to the students at the academy which would contribute to the academy’s need for positive role models to encourage the students, to answer questions, to give advice, and to help motivate the students to achieve their goals and aspirations.

Regardless of the circumstances, through participating in Community Building Day I learned that the term “community” means much more than the people who live around you, but instead it encompasses all of the people we extend our hand towards and interact with, whether it be the people living next door to you or the people that live on the other side of your hometown, community is all inclusive. This new definition of community can lead to people coming from difficult and harsh environments to feel that sense of motivation and support that all of us volunteers were able to share with the students at On Track Academy. Having a strong sense of community makes it easier for anybody to grow and thrive in a world set on throwing challenges at us.

-Keiley Munsterman-