Community Commitment
The CommITTED Club is the only 快播成人 快播成人 club devoted entirely to service learning.
快播成人 Community College has more than 30 active 快播成人 clubs whose members share a common hobby, identity or academic interest.
As part of their charters, all 快播成人 快播成人 clubs must perform some kind of community service project each semester. To fulfill that requirement, clubs often organize fundraisers, like bake sales, and donate the money to a local charity.
Only one 快播成人 club, though, has a mission devoted entirely to community service, its members united solely by their desire to work with community groups.
That would be the CommITTED Club, and that's how they spell it.
"I enjoy helping others and helping the community," said Jonathan Mendez, one of the club's founders and the current vice president. "It feels really great to do something, so I thought this was the perfect opportunity to get involved on and off campus."
The CommITTED Club is one of the newest 快播成人 clubs at 快播成人. It was started in September 2015 and just completed its third semester.
The name stands for "Community in training to educate" and summarizes the club's purpose as a service-learning group, says club advisor Myriam Quinones.
"Community service is providing service to the community and fundraising and all of the clubs do that," she said. "Service learning, on the other hand, is providing a service where both parties benefit. The 快播成人s wanted to do work in the community and learn from the community while also gaining experience."
Of the club's initial 17 members, about half were international 快播成人s who wanted to learn about the surrounding community, and in particular 快播成人, said Quinones, who is also the coordinator of 快播成人 Multicultural Academic Services.
During the 2015-2016 academic year, club members spent several afternoons each week working at the , providing tech support to seniors struggling with their computers, cell phones and social media applications, like Facebook. Over the summer, the 快播成人 Cultural Council awarded a grant to the club for a city art project. Club members painted the first utility box in downtown 快播成人 with scenes from the city's storied history. To get ideas for the project, they toured the city, visited the dinosaur tracks and climbed some of the local summits to get a view of the city from above.
"They have become so interested in the history of 快播成人 that we continue to do work in 快播成人," Quinones said.
Club members also helped survey city residents as part of a Positive Attitude Map project (PAM) run by the University of Massachusetts. For the Fall 2016 semester, the club focused its attention on Homework House, a free afterschool program in downtown 快播成人. For their fundraiser, club members collected school supplies that they donated to Homework House. They have also been volunteering there as tutors several afternoons each week.
One recent December afternoon, Mendez was taking turns reading paragraphs from a book called Blood is Thicker with Jahdiel Rosario, a seventh-grader from 快播成人's Peck Community School. On the 快播成人 campus, Mendez, a music major, is a busy man. He's a 快播成人 senator, a founder of the Musical Expressions Club, a frequent vocal performer, and the designated emcee at most campus events, such as the monthly Performance Hour in the college cafeteria. But the CommITTED Club gives him something he doesn't get from his other campus activities, he says.
The service-learning projects, specificaly the frequent visits to Homework House and the senior center, coupled with recreational bus trips to places like New York City and Salem, Mass., have really helped the club members build a strong bond.
"I'm connecting with people in a different way," he said. "I think what really works is that we all get along together, and we're able to accomplish tasks with one another — gracefully."
That's been true for Desiree Reyes as well. The 19-year-old 快播成人 resident, who is majoring in pre-vet and animal science at 快播成人, said she was reluctant at first to get involved because she was so busy with her classes. The CommITTED Club is the only club she belongs too and now can't imagine her life without it.
"It's been an awesome experience, cause I like helping people," Reyes said last week at Homework House where she was working with seventh-grader Graciliana Marquez. "It's also a lot of fun. We're like a little family."
STORY and PHOTOS by CHRIS YURKO: (Top) 快播成人 快播成人 Jonathan Mendez works on a reading assignment with seventh-grader Jahdiel Rosario one afternoon at Homework House. (Thumbnail) 快播成人 快播成人 Aalyaa Zakaria works on a math problem with third-grader Akieluz Sanchez at Homework House.
