Last Day Reflection

On my last day at Kopper Top, it didn’t seem like anything too exciting was going to happen. We just spent the first two hours or so cleaning out a shed and reorganizing the summer camp arts and crafts drawers (which is still unfinished) and then we fed the animals and let the baby rabbits get some outside play time in a pen. Everything was really mellow and more or less productive. The day before, Deborah had picked up her new summer intern who I believe is from Venezuela then spent a significant time living in Israel and now attends Florida University and has somehow found her way to Kopper Top. She was a really sweet girl and definitely eager to help out around the farm which should be good for Deborah this summer. Overall the last day was pretty surreal in a sense considering it just sort of signaled to me that my freshmen year has really come to an end. Around the last hour we were there, a young girl named Abby showed up for her four o’clock lesson and she was absolutely adorable and just the sweetest child I’ve ever met. I had found out earlier that despite her physical disabilities and the struggles they’ve presented her throughout her life, her mother killed her father when she was younger. So, now her mother is prison and she lives with her grandparents who can hardly afford to support her and her needs. Abby is a prime example of Deborah’s generosity and willingness to do anything necessary to care for the kids who come to her doorstep because she pays out of her own pocket for Abby’s therapy at Kopper Top. We rode with her for about an hour or so and had a little scare when she thought she wanted to run and quickly realized that that was a bit scarier than expected and started sobbing and hugging me. It was so SAD! Finally when we finished up, I realized that Abby and I had a true connection when she asked if she could play with the ferrets. I instantly volunteered and pulled Boomer, the more social one, out of his cage and brought him outside for a little field trip with Abby. Overall, it was definitely a good last day at Kopper Top. Looking back, I can definitely say that Kopper Top was one of the best things that could have happened to me. It got me involved in a better thing and really put my life into perspective, and reminded me not to take anything for granted. I’ll definitely miss them all this summer but can not wait to get back next fall when I’ll be assisting with the redesign project and hopefully improving the facility significantly. On top of that, I’ve decided to apply for our LINCS program here at Elon University, which requires that I complete 300 hours between the start of school next fall and the end next spring. I’m really excited and proud of what this service learning class has helped me to accomplish. I’m just anxious to continue our work next fall and to come back and see what good changes have happened this summer!

May 1, 2007

Before coming to Elon, the majority of my service consisted of volunteering at retirement homes and my sister and I specialized in doing arts and crafts activities that we would plan ahead of time and lead for the residents. I always found it to be a rewarding experience as well as obviously a difficult one emotionally at times. When I started working at Kopper Top, I had never done anything like it before, although I had definitely considered similar programs in the past, I had always doubted my abilities with being able to assist the clients because I had no training or knowledge of how to care for them and the responsibility overwhelmed me immensely. Looking back, taking the leap to try Kopper Top could not have had better outcomes. I love the animals, I adore the stuff, and the kids are the reason I go basically. It’s an incredibly engaging experience and you can see the effects your work has giving it a very gratifying sensation. Lucky for me, on May 1 I was able to bring together my two favorite forms of service when we visited a retirement home nearby. We brought with us four cats, four dogs, and two rabbits. The residents were enjoying themselves greatly and so were the animals, with all that love and attention they got for the afternoon. It was really amazing to see these individuals who wouldn’t even blink in the direction of another person, but they’d fall in love with a cat or a dog, or even a rabbit. What I also found amazing was there was always a person in the group who didn’t really want to be there and basically ignored the animals and the people and stayed in their own world, however the animals would have none of this. It was as if they knew how dissatisfied they were and believed it there job to fix everything and make it all better. We’ve all experienced it before, you’re in a bad mood and your dog or cat starts nudging you and begging for love, and at first you’re thinking, Just leave me alone I can’t bother wish this right now, etc. and then they do something precious and warming that just melts the anger straight away. Well all the bad or sad feelings these residents felt definitely melted away when these guests arrived, even for just an hour to see their faces light up was incredible. This was my first time going to a home with Kopper Top and I next fall I plan on making those trips regularly.

Gibsonville Elementary

On April 14, 2007 I accompanied Kopper Top to Gibsonville Elementary School along with Amelia, Kaitlin, Sara, and Kelsey and even though it was absolutely torturous to stand out in that cold wind for so many hours, it was most definitely worth it to interact with these kids (and parents)! The school was having a fundraiser with little carnival games and bounce houses and best of all, horse rides. We got there a little early to set up and then about ten minutes after we were settled and just waiting for the fair to start, a young girl with braces on her legs, eagerly ran towards the helmet table ready to ride. It turned out that she was a past client of Kopper Top’s but unfortunately had to stop going because of a severe allergy to horses that arose when she spent a prolonged amount of time with them or got their hair on her face or in her eyes. So she rode twice and her dad told her that was it for the day, but believe me it was enough to brighten her for hours, it was as if she had a permanent ear-to-ear grin stamped on her face and the world could do her no wrong, and it was awesome feeling to know that we were all partially responsible for that. Throughout the morning and afternoon, loads of kids came, most came more than once and they were all absolutely precious in the way that they interacted with us whether they were in line of talking to the volunteer leading their horse, they were just so full of life and excited to be there. One family that stood out in particular was a family with three young boys and an infant boy and these boys were adorable and completely friendly and willing to engage with us instantly. All of a sudden, they’re father who was a very tall thick, overall large man, decided he wanted to ride a horse because he never had and if there was ever a time it was now. While it was a very entertaining site to see this full grown man on this horse among children who were mostly under the age of ten, it was also incredibly inspiring because it really made me aware that while I knew it affected the disabled children who made up our cliental and it affected this school children who were just fascinated by the animals, I was taken a back by this man’s commitment to something he wanted to do. He wanted to try something new and to do it with his children and that was truly awe-inspiring to see our work connect a family in such a way. Finally the day came to an end and it was a joy to see the abundance of fair tickets that we had earned throughout the day.

April 13, 2007

On Friday the 13th, I probably had one of my most productive visits to Kopper Top as of yet. Kaitin and I drove out there around two in the afternoon expecting to find very little to do since, because of our schedules, we had missed a morning lesson for a group of adults suffering from autism. Just as we arrived they were winding up with the lesson and the riders were leaving and the other volunteers were sitting on a log bench relaxing after their long morning. We sat down near them and personally, I started to regret even coming out because I thought that the most we could do is practice Parelli methods, and while that is interesting, I really wanted to help out in a more affective way. After about half an hour I asked Sara what we could do to help out and she let us know that it was about time to feed a few of the horses that were a bit too thin. So we proceeded to fill ten bowls with a specific mixture, and get ready to feed the ten selected horses and the whole process took about an hour or so. Then I helped Sara feed the chickens, roosters, and the peacock as well as collect any eggs we found. This was the first time I actually got up close and personal with the birds of Kopper Top and to say the least, it’s something I’m not eager to do again. Next, we went into the shack to feed the ferrets and the rabbits and we delayed a bit in there, and spent about 30 minutes giving personal attention to the soft and furry animals and unlike the birds, I am most eager to play with them as soon as possible, and ferrets are possibly one of the cutest, most overlooked animals ever! Finally, we finished up our day by helping out with Ryan’s lesson and it was seriously one of the most rewarding experiences since this was my first time assisting with a lesson and seeing the smile on his face finally showed me what an incredible impact Kopper Top has on the kids who go to visit. This was definitely, hands down my favorite visit to the Kopper Top farm.

Alternatives

After finishing project two, I thought back and realized there were definitely alternatives I could have chosen as opposed to The Oprah Winfrey Show. I could have had my pick from The Tyra Banks Show, The Ellen Degeneres Show, The Rachel Ray Show, etc. but I feel that I chose Oprah mostly because of her reputation as an international philanthropist. If any of these hosts could do the greatest amount of good for the Kopper Top organization. When I really thought about why I didn’t choose one of the other organizations, however, another thought donned on me: I probably have a much higher chance of being selected by one of the other talk shows for the same reason I chose Oprah, her international recognition. Because the other shows are less renowned, there’s in a minimally greater chance of being selected to appear by them than by The Oprah Winfrey Show. I could have seriously taken this into consideration before proceeding to select Oprah but at the same time, while our chances are slimmer, the perks of being chosen by Oprah are much greater than being chosen by the others.

Goals

1. I am making some progress on my goals, but not nearly as much as I had hoped due to difficulty attending Kopper Top regularly enough to practice the skills I had hoped to obtain. While I feel that I have mastered such skills as leadership, I don’t feel like I have been able to use them much and this really disappointed me. The lesson I can take from not making it out to Kopper Top much, is either I should have had a car on campus or chosen a site more easily accessible without a ride.
2. I don’t feel like my goals have changed much since the beginning of the term, but I do feel that I could rearrange their priority because now my biggest goal is to finish the minimum hours of service for this class, which really disappoints me because I genuinely love working at Kopper Top and it’s given me an opportunity to really step out of my element and excel, but unfortunately my schedule in addition to the lack of rides has crippled my chances to go work. 

3. Obviously, as mentioned in the two previous questions I am nowhere near where I would like to be with my service. Ideally, I would like to be well over halfway towards the end goal of hours, that way I might have been able to squeeze in some extra hours. One thing I am pleased about is the dedication I feel towards the organization, because I know that when I do have a car out here next fall, I will be going out there as much as possible and working with the staff and kids.

4. It’s my most important goal to fulfill the hour requirement and I feel partially confident that I’ll be able to complete it but another part of me feels like there’s a strong chance that homework and exams will get the best of me and I’ll have difficulty balancing my time and if this is the case I hope there’s a way for me to still maintain a satisfactory grade in the class considering it wasn’t in my entire control to change this considering I have to respect class hours which conveniently overlap with the ideal afternoon hours to go work at Kopper Top.
5. For the rest of the semester, I plan to control as much as possible with our College Writing class, which means putting forth a much greater effort with my writing assignments in hope of counterbalancing the lack of service I’ve managed.

If I Ever Needed A Car...

Before I came to college, I was bummed by the fact that I’d be another carless freshmen on campus but I knew I would manage till my sophomore year bumming rides from friends. Only now, that I have a mandatory off campus arrangement am I truly beginning to feel the frustration attached to not having my own car here with me. Not only do I have to rely constantly on a friend to get to Kopper Top, but also if I am unable to find a ride that matches up with times then my grade suffers due to scheduling. What’s most frustrating though, is that I really WANT to go to Kopper Top. It may have started off as another assignment but now it’s something I want to be involved in on top of the grade issue. It’s something I’m going to have to work around but it’s something I felt it necessary to vent about through blogging because of it’s relevant connection to our class.

Project Two

I felt that project two was a bit more difficult than project one because it seems like it was sort of an awkward in between stage while project one and three were for a specific reason. Project one was to really think out the problems of our service site and to get a strong sense of the site overall and project three seems to actually focus on researching assistance for our sites and to really feel like we’re going to make a difference. As I mentioned towards the beginning of the semester, I’m more of a doer than a planner so the idea of planning for project three with project two feels a bit unnecessary for me, despite the fact that I can understand that it really is important to slow down and take my time to do this things. When I wrote project one, it was really simple to map the entire thing out in my mind and just sit down and write, even if I didn’t go in order, it was simple to answer all the questions. Whereas when I wrote project two, I felt it was extremely necessary to take it one step at a time and I didn’t have that sense that it all fit together, but rather I felt that I had to really take the time to understand each topic throughout the paper, and it didn’t seem to flow as one the way project one did and the way that I imagine project three will work. Overall, I know that project two was an important step in the whole process of benefiting our sites through letter-writing, I just felt a bit awkward with it personally due to preferable writing styles.

Citizenship

cit·i·zen·ship noun
the state of being vested with the rights, privileges, and duties of a citizen.

To be a citizen literally means the definition above, but it also means that you're apart of a greater community and something intricate. Specifically to be a citizen in a democracy such as the United States means to have a voice and an opinion of your quality of life and it is something that should never be taken for granted. While I do attend Elon University within the city of Burlington, I do not personally consider myself to be a citizen of Burlington only because I have not become involved outside of the Elon community beyond Kopper Top. I do, however, consider myself to be a citizen of San Diego, California, and the United States. I consider our civic responsibility to be to appreciate our priveleges and to exercise them by voting and expressing one's personal voice because if a citizen doesn't exercise their rights, then why do they have them? In the past year, I have registered to vote and voted on a notion passed in California.

Shitty First Drafts

In the article “Shitty First Drafts,” author Anne Lamott discusses the importance of first drafts and how their initial quality is not crucial, but rather what does matter is getting one’s thoughts out on the page so that with future drafts it because easier to trim the edges and get them better and better. To be honest, I feel like one of my favorite parts of the essay was the opening paragraph in which Lamott described a clear image of a writer sitting down carefree to write a novel with none of the everyday worries that boggle the rest of the writers who are less privileged. I just found this portion really entertaining because I could instantly recall at least five movies I’ve seen that provided the exact same image, the “ideal writer” if you will. To be honest I feel like this almost discourages realistic writers from pursuing the dream because they may feel as if they’re doing something wrong if they are unable to sit down and instantly pump out a Pulitzer Prize worthy piece of literature. Actually, now that I’ve continued to think about it, I can recall one scene from a movie that shows a more realistic approach to the writing process. It’s from the movie “Something’s Gotta Give” in which Diane Keaton’s character, a playwright, has a scene in which she leaves and returns to her computer repeatedly over the course of days, in a frustrated angst of writer’s block. Another part of the essay I found interesting was when Lamott wrote, “We do not think that she has a rich inner life, or that God likes her or can even stand her, (Although when I mentioned this to my priest friend Tom, he said you can safely assume you’ve created God in your image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.)” I don’t have a whole lot to say about this except that I just found the entire statement very interesting and partially true as well as partially false. Personally, I believe that even if I hate a person, God will always love them even if he doesn’t approve of some of their actions. However, I do know people who would believe that God is capable of hate and that another person (who they also happen to dislike) had committed something worthy of such hatred. I really just found it to be a interesting concept.

Life Lessons

When Deborah, the director of Kopper Top, handed me a halter to get onto a horse named “Image,” I instantly begin to worry because I felt like any comfort I once felt around horses had slipped away. The way she spoke to me about the entire situation seemed to make me feel like she expected me to know far more than I actually did and it made my heart start racing. As soon as I led Image away from the stall and up onto the driveway with about four other horses, I begin to feel a bit more in my element. Diane, another woman who worked at Kopper Top, stayed with the five of us volunteers and proceeded to teach us various “porcupine” techniques, which were various ways to control the horse and its movements and successfully direct it to where it should move at that moment. I feel like although the skill will assist us with our work at Kopper Top, it will also provide us with personal abilities. One of the key points made was not to make eye contact with the horse while directing because it put to much pressure of the horse to perform perfectly, and also not to look back at the horse when leading because it said you didn’t trust him to follow. I feel like those are two lessons to take into account whether they involve a horse or not, I mean it’s very important to remember that we shouldn’t expect others to perform perfectly in any respect or chances are they’re more likely to crack under pressure and fail. In addition, we should always remember to trust those around us before we feel the need to not trust them. In society, it is more common not to trust those around us and then to grow to trust them, however a personal rule of thumb for myself is to trust until I’m given reason to not trust. Perhaps this is a more naïve outlook but according to the teachings I absorbed from Kopper Top, my personal beliefs go hand-in-hand. I’m excited to continue taking lessons from this experience and to hopefully assist in changing another individual’s life by the end of this term.

First Impressions

When I pulled up to Kopper Top for the first time, my anticipations were not as high as I had hoped for multiple reasons. First of all, I had heard less than enthusiastic responses from a few of my peers who had gone previously, and also the overall appearance of the facility was less than uplifting. It became clear rather quickly how desperate the need for service was at this site, not so much for the actual purpose of the clinic, but more because the owners were clearly having difficulty both running a program and maintaining a facility. Kopper Top is primarily a program that allows mentally and physically handicapped as well as otherwise ill children to work on basic skills through communication with animals, primarily through horseback riding. Before arriving to the site, I had anticipated assisting with a lesson, and to be honest I was terrified by this notion. Personally, I rode casually for about four years when I was an adolescent and have not continued to do so for the past four or five years. At no point did I ever consider myself an expert and the thought of being given the responsibility to watch over another life, while having to work a skill I do not feel confident about, was horrifying. However, I feel it’s important to conquer such fears, and in response I planned to perfect any previous knowledge I had of horses and continue to build on it so I could become a beneficial asset to the facility. Upon arrival, I quickly realized that I was not expected to assume such a great responsibility and I also realized that the program was not solely for the clients who rode the horses and interacted with the cats, dogs, and ferrets, but in actuality it was greatly for the volunteers to learn life lessons beyond simply helping others.

Understanding the Writing Process - Blog 1

1. I absolutely love writing, whether it's in my own personal journal or an essay for an English assignment. However, I would consider myself a "Heavy Reviser," meaning that I'm not crazy about taking my time and carefully planning my every decision. Having a positive outlook at writing really allows me to write more easily because it's something I enjoy to do rather than something I dread.
2. I am definitely a Heavy Reviser, with one exception which is that when I know I have an assignment coming up, I have a tendency to think about the topic every now and then, maybe while I'm doing some other tedious work, but I never jot down notes, or prepare outlines the way a Heavy Planner might.
3. I have to be in a proper mindset and really understand what I'm writing about because if I sit down without understanding the material, I tend to get distracted a great deal more easily than if I know what the assignments asking of me and how I should be responding. If I'm comprehending the assignment then I just have to turn on my ipod and sit down and write for a few hours.
4. I usually write in one sitting but if I don't, then I usually write the bulk majority of an essay and leave one or two paragraphs to be completed.
5. No I wouldn't say that technology has influenced my writing process whatsoever, because I write in the exact same way when it's in a personal journal or for any hand written assignments.
6. Like I said previously, as long as I comprehend the material and the assignment, I am good to go because then I just write as it comes and I generally try to use good grammar and sentence structure so, grammatically revising isn't always necessary in my essays. As for revising material outside of grammar, unless a point feels really awkwardly worded, or a paragraph doesn't transition well, I'll usually read an essay once through and feel finished.
7. If I get a chance to discuss essay material with another student it usually helps me in understanding the overall assignment and really getting my thoughts straight, as well as hearing opposing views helps me to better support my own stance on a subject.
8. Honestly, I truly believe that I write better under pressure because unless it's a 10+ paper, I am very capable of pumping out a successful 5-7 page essay in less than a day, in fact I'd say it would usually take me less than 3 hours. Usually what I do is, if I have waited until the last day or the two days before it's due, I'll make sure to get the rest of my work finished and out of the way so that in one night all I need to worry about is the essay.
9. I don't generally have any sort of rituals that I've recognized to date.