Day of Service - Reflection Board by Cortney Wilson

What did we learn from Day of Service?

wilson_cortney — 2025-09-02 16:49:28 UTC

So What?

wilson_cortney — 2025-09-02 16:49:37 UTC

What are the implications of what happened? How did this make you feel? What can you learn from this experience? How does this relate to your project's goals?

Now What?

wilson_cortney — 2025-09-02 16:49:46 UTC

What should we do differently based on what you have learned? What are the actionable next steps?

Kennedy L. - What did we learn from Day of Service?

2025-09-02 17:20:12 UTC

I learned that impact is impact, no matter how big or small. Every act of service matters, and even the smallest effort can make a difference in someone’s life or community.

Kennedy Larkin - Implications & Reflections

2025-09-02 17:29:38 UTC

During our Day of Service, we read to kids as part of our project. At first, I felt like we struggled because we weren’t really getting much participation. This made me feel a little discouraged in the moment, but as time went on, I realized that even small interactions mattered. The children may not have been overly expressive, but they were still listening, absorbing, and benefiting from the experience. From this, I learned that impact doesn’t always look the way we expect it to. Sometimes, the effect of our efforts is quieter or slower to show, but it’s still meaningful. This connects directly to our project goals which is promoting literacy because it reminded me that consistency and exposure matter. Even if just one child felt inspired to pick up a book afterward, that aligns with the larger purpose of what we’re trying to accomplish.

Kennedy L. - Now What

2025-09-02 17:32:30 UTC

From this experience, I realized the importance of preparation and marketing to audiences. Next time, we could focus on doing more prep before the event, including creating clear signs and marketing materials so kids and families know what to expect and get excited about participating.

What I learned

2025-09-03 09:12:23 UTC

What i learned from day of service is that not everybody wants you to read to them and that’s okay.

So what?

2025-09-03 09:15:59 UTC

Basically what happened is a couple of kids came up to me and I was like, “do you want me to read to you?” And they said no. Them telling me they didn’t want me to read to them made me feel kinda sad I can’t lie. It helps with senior project because not everyone is going to want your help or things aren’t always going to go as planned.

Now what?

2025-09-03 09:16:41 UTC

I think we just need to always be prepared for something like that to happen, when someone doesn’t want our help or if something goes wrong.

What did I learn - Undrell

2025-09-03 12:36:26 UTC

Through Day of Service I learned how underutilized the library’s are, Although it was a Saturday, the general library traffic was minimal.

What I learned

2025-09-03 12:53:15 UTC

I learned that some areas have a much higher percentage of people who utilize the library in comparison to others. Majority of the kids that visit the library frequently to semi—frequently already have a high or decent literacy rate for their age group so they are not entirely who are target is.

So what?

2025-09-03 13:03:30 UTC

The area where my group was placed didn’t receive any kids (until we left of course) and the lady working there told us that most people only show up on select days. The people that do show up are regulars, so they already have a somewhat high literacy rate. . I felt a bit sad since I felt we had no impact overall but I know we still have time to much more. Overall, I hope sharing this experience helps us in some kind of fashion.

Now what?

2025-09-03 13:10:30 UTC

I think having some way to strongly influence or incentivize certain areas to go to their local less popular libraries, especially since a lot of the less popular ones are closer to them, offering a lot of helpful and fun information for both parents and children.

What I learned

2025-09-03 14:24:39 UTC

I learned that the community is receptive to events like this, and probably would be even more so if they had more heads up.

So what?

2025-09-03 14:26:22 UTC

I loved seeing kids who were interested and engaged in reading. They also loved the activity which made me think that having interactive components could be beneficial in getting them in the door and excited to read. Was also encouraged to see parents engaged

Now what?

2025-09-03 14:27:42 UTC

The lady at our library (Main) said that they usually get more traction for events when it’s on a weekday. She seemed to think if we were to go on some weekdays as well as advertising more ahead of time, we’d have more people show up.

What did I learn

2025-09-03 18:03:56 UTC

I learned that parents are looking for things to do with their kids so if we are able to implement education/literacy based activities for students, the parents get an activity to do with their kids and the kids benefit from it too. I think it’s important that we try to find what makes things appealing to kids and parents to keep them engaged in our project

So what?

2025-09-03 18:06:31 UTC

I think that it’s important for our project to acknowledge our effect in each kids. Though we did not impact a TON of kids, the kids who came maybe got to talk about their favorite books with some college students. Maybe those kids went home and read a book or maybe thought about a new book to read. We may have had significant impact on a few kids and that still can be a big impact

Now what?

2025-09-03 18:09:50 UTC

Maybe next time we try to promote earlier/more to people. Around 11 lots of people were not interested in coming over because they were leaving for lunch or nap time. I was downtown so maybe having something where people are specifically coming to our event vs a greater event (like market days). I think it went well. Maybe we inform parents about the effects of literacy for their children/our community. This could engage not just the kids but their parents who may be the ones that will help in our efforts

What did I learn

2025-09-03 20:51:31 UTC

During the Day of Service, I learned that there is a mixture of youth who enjoy reading and those who do not. In addition to realizing that there are creative strategies to invite others to read that allow reading to be seen as engaging and active.

What I learned— Day of Service

2025-09-03 21:03:40 UTC

What I’ve learned is that kids often need an extra push to engage in activities beyond just playing Roblox. Once we capture their attention and present things in an interesting, engaging way, their potential is limitless—the sky truly is the limit.