Service Learning Log Week 2

Shanay Cogdell

Professor Nina Perez

WST 3015

Febuary 20, 2010

           Activism Log 2

• 
  
  Activism

This week we met with the Brownie Troupe for the first time on Friday February 19, 2010 at the Bithlo Community Center. We started the first half of the Penny Project with the girls and it was a major success because the girls enjoyed learning about types of money and what can be done with money. With our community partner, Mariana, we informed her of materials that we would need to carry out the project successfully such as fake money, coins, crayons, etc. As a result, we were able to complete the first half of our project in it's entirety. There weren't any pitfalls because everyone was on the same page and we communicated our needs and wants very well. For next week, we will prepare for the second half of our project as well to ensure that we know what is going on.

• 
  
  Refelection

It is very evident that there is a social class division within this group of girl scouts compared to the rest of the community around them. The area of Bithlo has a lot of manufactured homes which saddened me a little because for most of the girls, there are limits to how far they will be able to go as far as their future. We were able to see some of their parents which explains why they are living the lives that they are living.

As stated in the book, Women’s Lives Multicultural Perspectives, "Economic security is also an important aspect of well. Low educational attainment, low wages, having children, and divorce all work against women’s economic security, as do macro-level economic trends” (Kirk, Okazawa-Rey p 315). Most of the families that these girls represent are products of their environment and unfortunately can do nothing about it. There were a lot of single parents as well who allow their children to be in programs such as these as a way out to pursue opportunities that they otherwise would have never been able to take advantage of.

• Reciprocity

At the meso level, we are teaching the girls the use of money and ways to save their money. Realizing how much of an impact that this can have in the present will also have an effect for them for their future. That in itself is a reward to me because as I have stated before, we are empowering these young girls to be better women when they become of age.

Feburary 19, 2010

Feburary 19, 2010

 

Work Cited

Kirk, Gwyn, and Margo Okazawa-Rey. Women's Lives Multicultural Perspectives. 5th ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2010. Print.