Service Learning Experiences

I actually had my first experience with service learning through Marquette this week. On Tuesday, I went south west of the Marquette campus to the Burnham Park Neighborhood. Carmen High School of Science and Technology was where I will be doing my service learning throughout the semester. My role is to serve as a tutor for chemistry, physics, and possibly biology. My major is Secondary Ed/Science/History, and this tutoring experience is an excellent opportunity to me. Carmen High School is a public charter school which holds a lottery to get in. It is a relatively new school, last year was the first full graduating class, but its popularity is growing. Because this was my first week tutoring, I got a quick tour of the school (Carmen classes are only held on one floor), and then I went right into the classroom. Tuesday I helped a student with his homework that he chose not to do or turn in. I realized that they used the same chemistry text book that our academic classes did in high school. It was interesting to see the level of education that these students had and it was cool to be able to compare them to my high school experience. The teachers seemed nice and my site contact was very helpful. Taking public transportation wasn't as nerve racking as I thought it would be (though I did almost miss my bus and my stop). I am looking forward to going back every week and am even looking to go more than once. Its great experience for what I hope to do in the future and awesome that I can start in the classroom this early!