Our reflection for the week comes from Emma
Kosicek, a junior majoring in Communication with a Concentration in Advocacy!
Which community partner will you be writing about? Briefly describe their mission and the population they serve.
Lake Erie INK at East Tech High School. Lake Erie INK's mission is to provide an outlet of creative expression through writing and academic support for students in Greater Cleveland.
What values, opinions, beliefs have changed as a result of your service-learning experience?
As a result of completing a semester of service with Lake Erie INK, I now look at how education can impact one's life in a completely different way. I consider myself to be very social justice oriented, and have always been passionate about education reform. Lake Erie INK serves as the type of education that I think should serve as the robust model for education everywhere. They provide students with the opportunity to think creatively and push the limitations that traditional education tends to place on them. Through the Lake Erie INK program, students have the opportunity to express themselves in nontraditional ways such as creating raps or poems that engage the interest of the students more than traditional essays. Traditional education can be discouraging for many students who need more of a creative approach toward education tailored uniquely to their individual needs, and I believe that Lake Erie Ink takes that approach and in turn gets students excited about learning!
What new questions do you have that might help you keep learning and growing this semester?
Since this experience has ended and I am incredibly interested in social justice reforms that can be made, I will continue to question how the education system can be changed for the better. Lake Erie INK's model of creative learning has impacted me as a volunteer, so I can only imagine how much it has impacted the students that go through the program. I truly believe that Lake Erie INK's creative learning approach could reform the education system and get our youth excited about learning again, and this is something I will continue to think about how it could be implemented for many years to come.