Artist Statement Final Presentation

When we started our service learning projects I was very nervous as I was encountering the children, especially since there was a cultural, social and language barrier between us. With my final presentation I was unsure as to which direction I wanted to take the audience without causing any sort of controversy. This presentation was different from the original; I wanted to show the community hardship children go through on day-to-day bases and the organizations keeping them off the streets.
Again, I chose PowerPoint knowing it would enable me to speak through my presentation like the previous one. I thought of converting into an I-movie, but I wanted to use picnik.com and really tell the story behind my findings and the most reasonable conclusion was PowerPoint. My first presentation was to encompass the experience I was going through at Escuela and how I grew through the experience. However, in this presentation I wanted to go a different direction and angle. I drove around National Avenue and its surrounding blocks looking for a reoccurring theme.
I wanted to show the major amount of heritage the community has by picturing Latin/Hispanic restaurants, community centers, and the pride they take in their community and how they are trying to rebuild themselves into a better whole. I began by show an artistic mural that represented the community and went into the heritage aspect. I went about it this way to build the audience up, before showing how crime ridden the community is. The proceeding slide was to familiarize the area and showing the crime and how unsafe the community is. After bringing the audience back down to reality I wanted to build them back up by showing run-down parks and buildings, then proceeding to go into depth of the organizations trying to better the next generations. I gave three organizations that for the last thirty-plus years are striving to make a better community and save the younger youth from following the crime ridden path. I concluded with the original conclusion that was in my first presentation, I found the same concept that I used and wanted to accomplish in my experience at the school was still relevant in this presentation.
I encountered some problems along the way the main problem was trying to get my point across in the presentation and get it down on paper. I knew what I wanted to do, just didn’t really know how to go about it, thus why I decided to drive around the area and wait for it to come to me. I took numerous pictures and certain I would be able to draw my conclusion and the theme I was going for through those photos I assembled.
Overall, I learned that it make take years or decades to change a neighborhood and community, but as long as one life can change another and have a positive effect on someone you’re one step closer to helping that community. Even though I spent a small amount of time in the neighborhoods I still feel like I’ve come out a better person and in some way had some effect on someone in that same neighborhood.

Rebuilding a Community - Final Project

http://www.scribd.com/full/31279306?access_key=key-1go92xxys37grtu6j47u

Hispanic Organizations

United Community Center -
http://www.unitedcc.org/display/router.asp?DocID=62

Hispanic Chamber of Commerce -
http://www.hccw.org/

Boys & Girls Club -
http://www.boysgirlsclub.org

Final Project Thoughts

Well....

That's how I started thinking about my final project. I couldn't decide what I was trying to get across and what I wanted to show the class. I wanted to expand the thought process further then just the school and enter the community and tell its story as well.

I began by driving around the community up and down National Avenue and its surrounding blocks to see if I couldn't find a reoccuring theme. Trying to navigate through anywhere in Milwaukee in the summer is a difficult task in itself, but doing so and trying to get a better understanding of an unfamiliar community was even more difficult.

So..

My project is this; I wanted to show the major amount of community heritage that the National Avenue community has by pictures of Latin/Hispanic restaurants and community centers, the community pride they take in their community and the way the community is trying to rebuild itself into a better community as a whole (updating buildings, community centers and after school programs). The entire project is basically trying to show how the community is trying to have its next generation(s) strive to be better adults.

Without taking 100 photos this project is going to have few slides and having me speak through the project instead of showing a movie. I feel that the powerpoint presentation will work better, because it wont distract the audience from the glitz and glamour of a high powered movie and will better focus the audience on the presentation and what I'm saying.

I hope it works, because the more time I spent in the community the more I've realized how great of a community it really is.

Artist Statement

As we started our service learning projects I was very nervous as I was encountering the children, especially since there was a cultural, social and language barrier between us. I growing up in a small town of six-thousand and the only Hispanic people I encountered worked on the local farms in our community making this a whole new experience.
When putting together my PowerPoint presentation I wanted to encompass everything I was experiencing in the project, from where I was spending my time to what we were doing. Initially, we were told not to have pictures with children in them making this harder than initially anticipated. I started by collecting an array of pictures that showed the diversity and multiculturalism that was taking place in Escuela from the multicultural flag to the dual language welcome signs. Since I was spending my time in the gym and the game room I wanted to show a slice of what these looked like. Then there was the Easter Party picture, which I chose because it showed the diversity of the school and if other students didn’t get the chance to attend that night, they could still see a bit of what it looked like.
The text was more difficult; because I was doing a PowerPoint presentation and talking throw the entire thing. The text I decided to write was more or less a reminder for myself and brief descriptions as to what was being presented in the photo. Moreover, the last slide I came to the decision to write a conclusion that stated what I learned and what I wanted to achieve in my experience. Also, the background I chose their “motto” since it was all over the school, I wanted to bring that to life and remind everyone that it was there.
By learning the different ways of using the camera as an instrument to explore and explain what I was looking at and trying to get across was rather hard, when you were starting with no idea as to which direction you wanted to go. My decision was to show what I was experiencing throughout my time at the school from what I was looking at to what I was doing from day to day.
In my short time experience, I’ve learned a lot and come to enjoy going and putting in my hours. I’ve built relationships with some of the others through Boys & Girls Club and mainly a few children, who I’ve been with each and every time. The community is a very loving, friendly, personable and close-netted community. Everyone was very helpful and eager to make friends with you, get to know you and making sure you got what you needed out of the experience. I would definitely be open to an experience similar to this in the future and go into it as I did this experience with an open mind and open heart.

Service Learning Powerpoint

http://www.scribd.com/full/29613432?access_key=key-wj1cu6674t58zjf3y08

Easter Party

(Picture taking with the Easter Bunny)

I was very excited for the Easter Party this week and interacting with the children and get a chance to speak with the parents. As I signed in I started to get nervous, because I was going to be face painting and even though I have drawing abilities face painting is somewhat a bit more challenging.

We arrived a few hours before the parents to set up and go over the game plan and activities for the night. Once, in our stations “we” at face painting began to practice on each other and on blank paper. After painting on numerous people and on the table, I found that my talents would be utilized better in egg dying. I found it to be less stressful and more enjoyable, because we were able to interact with more children and at a faster pace. I was able to create small talk with many parents and enjoyed the fact that only a few have dyed eggs before.

(All the eggs in the kitchen that were ready to be dyed)

The event was winding down and less and less people were coming up to the egg dying; so we started to clean up and dye our own eggs. I found this to be rather fun, since I can’t remember the last time I dyed an egg.

Overall, the event went very well and the children were happy with the results of the night. From face painting to dying eggs to getting a picture with the Easter bunny the children and their parents had fun with the end result being a major success.

(Photo of me at the face painting station)

2nd Night of Service Learning

Well, the first night went very well and I was excited to get back to the school this week and see what was on my agenda. I again came and signed in, found out what I was going to be doing for the night. I was going to tutor a little boy by the name of Daniel, who was in Kindergarden. He was the smallest, funniest and unique (in a smart way) little boy. The last couple of minutes of the first night I was there I spend with him playing Playstation. So, I was excited to get to hangout with him some more. Well, we went into the teachers lounge and started working on his math, which didn't take that long. So, he read a Stock Car book to me.

After we finished we went into the gym and took attendance with the rest of his class. It was still a little nice out and a few minutes of daylight, so the other teacher and myself took the kids to the playground for a little exercise. After about 15 minutes some kids began to be naughty causing us to come back inside. Inside we split the gym into two halves one being soccer and the scooters. I went with Daniel and since he is really short we sat and played basketball in the corner, where I lowered the hoop as much as possible; being a kindergardener that lasted briefly. So, we decided to throw the football around and turned it into a game called bomb. One person would go "tick, tick, etc." then once the ticking stopped the bomb went off and if you had the ball you lost an arm. Whoever had no arms at the end of the game lost and was out. Again, another fun week! Can't wait to go back again...

Picture of the Gym!!!

First night of Service Learning

My first night of service learning and actually going to the elementary school, I was rather nervous and really didn't know what to expect. I met with Yesima and she told me I would be tutoring two students at the beginning of the night. They were both in third grade and I was really excited to help them. Brian was an easily unfocused child, who would rather talk to people and if he wasn't he would rather be by himself. Then there was Masika, who was very smart hated doing homework and just seemed to be a grumby, but adorable and funny little boy.

I initially helped them with there science and math homework, because they were in the same class. Brian had a little difficulty doing his homework, but Masika knew the information, he just didn't want to do any of it. Once we were done with homework I was told to go into the gym for gym class with the Kindergarden class. The class was split into two sides of the gym one being soccer and the other scooters. I stayed with the boys and soccer. We only had one boy cry and it was, because he was hit in the face with the soccer ball. Lesson learned from that day is to use a soft soccer ball and not an offical one. Overall the first night was a very exciting and eventful night.

Orientation

Big Brothers & Big Sisters Logo outside of school

Orientation for Service Learning is my first journal entry this semester. At first when we walked into the school I didn’t know what to expect and what I was getting myself into. I was thinking this is going to be a lot of work that I really don’t want to get into. After I thought about it and they said that we could be teaching Hispanic adults how to speak English and got the opportunities to help tutor small elementary children, I was excited at the opportunity. Not only is it a good deed, it will also look good on a resume stating that we did volunteer work within an inner city school. Moreover, 20 hours wasn’t that many hours to accumulate over the course of 15 weeks; making the project seems relatively easy and fun.
In our first night they gave us pizza, which was great if I hadn’t eaten prior to coming to the school. Although, I ate before that didn’t stop me from eating again. We got the chance to meet other volunteers that are full-time and are there most every day, trying to help keep these kids out of trouble. Then, came the numerous pieces of paper work we needed to fill out (i.e. background check, volunteer availability, Big Brothers, Big Sisters application) I mean there are some weird people out there and you can never be too careful when working with today’s youth. Overall, the first experience and first night went very well and I can wait to start working with these kids!

School Logo, First thing I noticed as I came up to the School!