Ellie Lieberman: Blog After Six Visits

After a few days working at Spark, I did notice an emotional reaction within myself. I felt so strongly that all the girls were deserving of more than a week of structure in the summer. I did not feel that a week was enough and after Wednesday, I decided that had to work to continue working with the girls throughout the school year. Not sure yet on what that will be, but I still want to work on it.

Music Video/Presentations of Role Model: Much of the second half of the camp related back to either the all camp music video to 'Shake it Off' by Taylor Swift or the poster making and presentation of each girl's female role model. For the music video, it was really awesome watching each girl come alive when it came to acting and singing. None of them had been exposed to the filming and production of a video, so even though this activity may not have been so academic, I think they learned a lot and specifically about persistance. The video did not succeed immediately but with patience and cooperation from everybody it did. In reflection, this particular activity made me realize how important it is for all schools including Taft to emphasize the arts because they open a window of opportunity many students don't have in the classroom. Similarly, each girl had the chance to research and then present in a video form about their role model. Public speaking in particular was also very frightening for many of the girls.

In conclusion, and through all these activities, I do believe I had an impact through my service. On the basic level, I was able to provide a week of structured activities for 20 low-income girls who would otherwise be sitting at home. But, deeper than that, I think I taught them that girls have just as much potential as boys career-wise and in the future. Whether they were interested in woodworking, science, cooking or basketball, the goal was to show the girls to chase their dreams. I think that by giving them a safe space to talk about their interests with like-minded girls, they were given a good chance.