SYA 4930 - Sociology of Youth & Emerging Adulthood
Community Service Projects
Instructions:
Here are a number of community organizations that are related to youth, adolescents, and emerging adults. This list is not exhaustive nor complete; others will be permitted with approval, email me.
•If you are already involved with one of these organization as part of your service for a student group (such as a sorority or fraternity) or for another class, you may not count those hours towards this assignment. However, you may choose to do your work at the same location, just put in additional hours.•When you first contact the organization make sure to:
1. Ask for the "volunteer coordinator" or whomever helps people who are interested in volunteering
2. Identify yourself as a UF student who is doing volunteer work for course credit through the Center for Leadership & Service... if they question you, explain that you are in SYA 4930 with Kristin Joos & give them my email and phone number.
3. Make sure that you understand any requirements the organization has for volunteers- for example, some ask you to sign a confidentiality statement or liability release; others ask you to attend an orientation that may last as short as 10 minutes or as long as 2-3 hours (which you can include on your log of hours).
4. They will usually ASK you what you'd like to do or what you are most interested in, etc. I strongly recommend that you pick something other than answering the phones or filing papers, etc. Not that there is anything wrong with those tasks, and they are essential to the day-to-day operation of organizations such as these, however, I would prefer for you to have more "hands on" experience with the clients or with the issues in which you are interested... the needs of each organization is different.
5. If they assign you to something that you dont like or something that you find boring or not at all what you had in mind, don't be shy to speak up. Contact the person who assigned you to your task and ask to do something else. Make sure that youre ready with some suggestions because they are often happy to reassign you but they are not mind-readers and don't intuitively know what you personally are passionate about.
Once you have selected an Agency and have agreed to work there, you must sign this Ethics & Commitments for Service Learning form (5 pts) and turn it in, no later than Wed. 2/14.
•While spending time engaged in your volunteer activities, make sure to pay attention to topics we discuss in this class:
Biological & Cultural Foundations, Cultural Contexts, Media, Gender, The Self, Family Relationships, Friends and Peers, Dating, Love, and Sexuality, School & Work, Problems, Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood in the 21st Century. When volunterring, continually ask yourself-- "how does this situation relate to what we talked about in class or the readings?" Also notice patterns in the identities of the people involved and consider-- "how might this situation be different if the people involved were adults or children or if they were of a different gender, race/ethnicity, socio-economic class, sexual orientation, age, or ability?"
What will you be graded on?
Turn in your responses to the following 5 items, typed, double spaced, 1" margins, 10-12pt. arial or times new roman font, stapled. Start each number on a new page or bold your headings to that they're clearly delineated.
1. Introduction: (5 points possible)
Discuss the following: why did you select your issue and volunteer organization of choice? how does this issue or the objectives of this organization relate to your life, personally? tell me a little bit about yourself and your expectations & assumptions when beginning this project.
2. Issue in the News (10 points possible)
You must include (at least) 2 news articles mentioning the sociological issue related to your volunteer work. These news articles must be current (they must be dated September - November, 2006) and must appear in a major news source (for example, The Gainesville Sun, The Miami Herald, The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Wall Street Journal, National Pubic Radio (online), CNN, the BBC, etc. well as any alternative media sources (Commondreams.org, Truthout.com, Indymedia.org, Alternet.org, etc.) if you are unsure if your source is ok, just ask. For each article, you must cite the source (name & date of publication, title & author of article) and give a 2-3 paragraph review-- the first 1-2 paragraphs should summarize the news article, in the next paragraph you should talk about how this news article relates to your volunteer work/issue.
3. Community Service Experience (5 points possible)
Agency Info: Briefly describe the mission/goals of the community organization or agency that you have chosen.
What services do they provide?
How do they currently receive funding and financial support?
(It is highly recommended that you interview with a staff member at your organization/agency to answer these questions.)
4. Log of Hours: (20 points possible)
5. Summary: (10 points possible)
You must spend 20 hours total engaged in your action project. You must log your hours by using the document attached here. Your hours must be verified by the volunteer coordinator or superviser at the organization you choose (see the corresponding parts of the form with blanks for their signature).
I prefer that you do not wait until the end of the term and do all 20 hours at once. Ideally, spend 2 hours per week for 10 weeks or so.
The summary should be 3-4 pages in length. The point of the summary is to "triangulate" (relate, integrate, combine) information from:
1. Material & Information from class (readings, lectures, discussions, videos, etc.)
2. Your experiences as a volunteer (i.e. things you noticed while volunteering that related to things covered this semester)
3. Your analysis/reflections/thoughts about what was "going on" in the situations you experienced while volunteering-- any patterns or themes that might have emerged, how they relate to what we talked about in class & other larger social issues, etc. What did you learn about your social issue? Does the community organization or agency address the social issue well? Do you think that there may be a different/better way to address the social issue? if so, what/how?
Need Help? Confused?
You are welcome to contact me during my office hours in person, by email, or via AIM. I am happy to discuss this assignment with you-- you can bounce your ideas off of me and I can clarify any questions you may have. I am also willing to look over work to confirm that you are on the right track.