Going into this class I had no idea what to expect; I knew I would have to take this class as an Honors College requirement and I would do a certain amount of community service hours but the reviews I had heard from other students didn’t really tell me anything. I came in with a blank canvas but soon it was filled with topics I would have never thought about otherwise. For instance, our first in class discussion was based around what the idea of a citizen is, and there was an array of different answers. Along with other topics, we’ve also started to look into doing oral histories as a means of community service, which I’m looking forward to; I’m a sucker for a good story. Overall, so far this semester I have felt like I have been exposed to different perspectives about citizenship and community service but generally speaking, my ideas about these topics have not changed.

              On the first day of class, we were asked to write down what our idea of a citizen was. I watched as my classmates wrote vigorously but I simply wrote: “A citizen is someone who has documentation of where they are residing, whether that be a country, or something such as a house.” I am very blunt and straight forward, and as someone who has seen people deported after contributing to the society they lived in for years, citizenship is nothing but a label to me. However, my classmates had a different idea of what citizenship is, they all had different variations but the concept was the same: a citizen has certain responsibilities and rights. We even looked at legal documentation of the rights and responsibilities of a citizen of the United States. These included: the right to privacy, the responsibility to give back and the right to express yourself. This list still did not sway my idea of a citizen because there are plenty of citizens from the beginning of the makings of this country, to now, who don’t have these rights or fulfill those responsibilities. The ideology of a citizen having rights and responsibilities is subjective and varies depending on the society that is being referenced. For that reason, I still believe the definition of being a citizen needs to only acknowledge the lowest requirement: documentation.

              We also read about and discussed the idea that servanthood is bad; going into class, I already believed that there was a certain type of community service that was more beneficial to the recipient than others. In reading about servanthood being bad, it was clear to me that McKnight understood exactly what I meant. Sometimes, the servants don’t even realize that they’re doing more damage than good; people go into servanthood for a grade or a feeling of selflessness and instead of servanthood being a sort of mutualism, it is more detrimental to the community it serves. I think McKnight did a good job of stressing the concept that instead of being involved in “servanthood,” community service should focus on teaching the community how to better itself on its own and how to be independent. It is for this reason that I can appreciate the work I do at crisis assistance through Honors College, not only do they provide clothing to those in need, they also have programs that help people get back on their feet financially. It’s also for this reason that I appreciate companies that help grow gardens in certain communities, or a lawyer who offers legal advice to communities undergoing gentrification, these methods of community service give the community the boost they need without making them dependent on strangers outside of their community. McKnight enforced my idea of what community service should be in order to maximize the difference made towards the community served and I had hope that this type of community service would be implemented in this course.

              When I found out what we were doing for our community service this semester, I was really puzzled. I didn’t understand how we were contributing to the community by conducting oral histories for people in Optimist Park. Over time we learned about why oral histories were important through discussions and readings such as Catching Stories: it gives people a voice who wouldn’t otherwise have one. Our society bases “important” history on written documents, and records; it’s based on the history that a certain majority classifies as significant and a lot of history is lost throughout time. Oral histories give those histories an opportunity to be heard from the person who experienced it themselves. While I had a better understanding of what we were doing, and I am excited to conduct these histories, I still wish we were doing more to tackle the bigger issue at hand: the gentrification that will happen over a course of years that will possibly raise the cost of living or force Optimist Park residents out of their homes. I understand that there is only so much we can do with a limited amount of time and resources, but this has encouraged me to research how I can make a bigger impact on areas facing gentrification outside of this course; it’s something to consider in the long run.  Handing out flyers and recording their histories is only going to help out so much, and I believe that is why I am halfway through the semester still wondering why we’re doing this type of service for the residence of Optimist Park.

              So far, I think our citizenship course has further enforced my ideas of what community service should be, but hasn’t advanced my ability to do those types of community services. I believe there are certain types of community services I should do, but it has more to do with making my world a better place not about me being a citizen. For example, I would volunteer to pick up the trash around a community because it’s affecting our earth, not because I am a citizen. Community service should be more of a choice, not a requirement, so that the people doing it are doing it properly (emphasizing independence and increasing education) and are genuine about the service they choose to participate in. One of the worries that I have about this course is that we won’t be doing enough, that we will leave with our required hours and in a couple of years hear about Optimist Park being completely gentrified and thinking, “wow, I could’ve attempted to do more to slow down or stop that process.” In conclusion, I think this course is an excellent stepping stool that will motivate me to find a community service I will be passionate about that will meet my personal requirements of what I think community service should be.