Final reflection

I volunteered on November 21, with Ignite for two hours, and I volunteered for three hour with Special Olympics Virginia for their soccer tournament on November second. At Ignite I went to a local Elementary school and helped kids with homework, and then when they were finished they were able to do crafts with us. For Special Olympics Virginia I helped the kids stay active by volunteering at this event by helping with the check in process for athletes and coaches. Ignite relates to helping community health because we help the kids with their homework and foster creativity when doing crafts with them. At the Special Olympics event I helped the community by working with active kids who play soccer which in turn keeps their body and mental health in good shape. 

The purpose of Ignite is to help kids on campus get access to food when they cannot afford it, and they also work with local schools to keep kids interested and engaged in their learning environment. Special Olympics Virginia’s mission is to provide Olympic type sports for people with intellectual disabilities and harness their energy and power in doing these sports. Ignite provides free food for college students in need, mentoring to local schools, and church. Special Olympics Virginia provides resources the intellectually challenged people need in order to succeed in the sport of their choice. Ignite addresses the need for food and a safe community place, while Special Olympics Virginia makes sports accessible to people with disabilities. 

After volunteering and speaking with an Ignite employee I discovered just how many people are in need of basic needs like food. I never thought so many college students couldn’t afford to eat some days. I also learned the benefits of mentoring children and the effects it has on their learning and cognitive development. Just something as small as helping a child with homework can go a long way to helping them pave the road for success. These two volunteer experiences really led me to appreciate the things I have in life, and also made me want to give back to the people who have very little or none. 

Before this semester I had health field experience in the dental assisting field in particular. I already have my Radiation certification and I have worked countless hours chairside assisting the dentist through the program I was in junior and senior year. While volunteering with the children through Ignite, I met his one second grader. I noticed that she already had a countless amount of silver fillings, and this makes me want to pursue the field of dental hygiene because not only do we clean teeth, we educate kids and their parents on cavity prevention and overall upkeeping of your teeth. 

The volunteer opportunities I participated in relate to my career of dental hygiene due to the fact that I worked with kids and I want to end up going into pediatrics and working on kids teeth because having healthy teeth as a kid can really help prevent tooth problems in the future that could lead to further health problems. The mentoring I did could relate to the teaching and education career field, and volunteering at the soccer tournament could relate to the field of occupational therapy, exercise science, or even physical therapy. I would not choose any of these fields as my parallel major because I really enjoy teeth and don’t see myself doing anything except working in the dental field. 

At the beginning of the semester I honestly did not study too much at all, but now I finally learned that studying is very important especially if I want good grades. I study the most for chemistry as of now since I am struggling with that class the most. I study about two hours a day combined on all my classes. My study habits have improved quite a bit since now I make sure I study the online resources my teachers give me, my notes, make flashcards, and go online and find more study resources. For chemistry the technique that works best for me is going online and finding practice problems to do, for the math part of chem. In all the rest of my classes I make notes and then turn those notes into quizlet flashcards. 

When I first went into college I expected it to be challenging but not nearly as challenging as it turned out to be. I did not expect as many exams as I’ve taken and I expected more in class work and less homework. A resource I found very helpful this semester is the tutoring center in the oceanography building. Every time I am stuck on a question or concept of chem I visit tutoring and they always help me understand it. So far up to this point in my college career I haven’t come across an unhelpful resource. Something I wish I knew before the semester started is how much studying I should have done right from the start so that I was not studying extra hard now to play the catch up game in some classes. This is also something that I now for next semester in order to keep up with all my assignments and not fall behind in any classes.