Introduction
I was lucky to be a part of the weekend “Community Outreach Program” organized by St. Thomas University between January 15 and 30, 2024, in and around the City One of the main goals of the program was to provide educational and assistance solutions in order to minimize the level of poverty in disadvantaged regions (Caulfield, 2023). This endeavour was precisely in tune with my values of civic leadership and learning about community engagement and spread. I took part in the making of educational workshops running community surveys and organizing zoom meetings to discuss health wellness. These kinds of activities were a great opportunity for me to see at the face and feel importance of grassroot activists struggling for communities who have not ability to get any help from the government.
Essential Career Skills Developed
Problem Solving
Along the way of this outreach, I met some obstacles, for example, I had to fix the schedule of the workshops and approach the people who are not native in English. Some of the ways I tried to address these problems were through innovations that included multilingual instructional materials and collaboration with community advisers to ensure seamless communication platforms (Hulaikah et al., 2020). For example, in order to overcome shortage of supplies for our workshops, I have organized intra-university community student’s donation drive, thus demonstrating my capacity to think insanely and easily come up with the practical solutions for the complex problems. Being in this situation I learned what another feature means, an ability to adapt and be resilient to the problems. These are competencies, which are highly required for both personal and professional life.
Interpersonal Skills
These experiences had a massive impact on improving my social skills because they had a great effect on my self-confidence, they highly sharpened my time management skills, and they focused on the importance of developing relationships and working with others. Connecting with people coming from different backgrounds was very important and it was one of the key things that shaped my idea of the world (Agustina & Setiawan, 2020). Furthermore, as a St. Thomas University ambassador, I championed ethical leadership practices through maintaining a conversational tone and being transparent and accountable in all our dealings so as to not misinform the community and to uphold the school’s mission of fostering social justice and integrity. I overcame my fears of the unknown by challenging myself to step outside of my comfort zone. As a result, I have not only gained an appreciation for people in our community exemplified by their diversified culture, but also, I have enhanced my ability to relate better with others by communicating and collaboration with individuals with different backgrounds.
Technical Skills
My leaders in the program helped me to avail my attention in community engagement schemes and to educate the populace about disabilities. I learnt general software packages in the area of project management, workshops facilitation, data analysis which are directly relevant to my Social Work major. Moreover, I completed a training in Cultural Competency and added a layer to my professional skills by being able to do an efficient job with people of different cultural background (Morris, 2020). These technical skills that I have come to acquire in this course are the no-fewer valuable tools that will not only benefit me in the classroom but also help me meet the requirements of the fast-paced and developing business area of social work. Furthermore, I have leveraged the chance of tactile experience by virtue of being in this program which has deepened my understanding of the practical utility of theory in practice.
Reflection
The experience of Community Outreach Program gave me a priceless knowledge that my studies, especially those closely related to career, are not for only for academic but for real life problem solving. Initially, my objectives were primarily to get plenty of hands-on training as regards to grassroots development work. However, I also had a bigger purpose to build my understanding of social injustice and consider potential careers in the social work area. It is amazing that my expectations were so far bypassed, since my love to advocacy and social justice has been reinforced not only as a desirable passion but also as an instance of community-centered actions which are meant to bring positive change.
One of the main professional capabilities that I acquired over from the course is what I will be using in my major and future career in social work. A good critical thinking, effective communication as well as ethical leadership are foundational competencies that should be owned by social workers. This is because these practitioners operate in a complex society where they are charged with solving wicked problems and taking the side of the voiceless. Elsewise, one of the things that happened to me, it provided me with the determination to have a profession that supports equality and gives the power to the poorer communities.
Experience accumulated during the course will be of great help in doing different assignments within career field and even beyond academia. Such as my abilities of planning and teamwork, I can take the position of leading collaborative projects in my workplace, and oversee a transformation in the organization. Moreover, interpersonal skills I have become better at and these skills have increased my ability to navigate complex work situations and build all-encompassing and inclusive workplaces that are geared toward productivity and innovation. In a sense, this process continued to bring another education moments to me that will be for further development process related to skill-building of conflict solving and addressing changing environments rapidly. In summary, I could confidently argue that the combination of education and community care is the dynamic force in equity and equity in social change.
Conclusion
Summarily, the Community Outreach Program has evolved into a life-changing, skills-developing and impact-incorporated experience for me, with career skills and the commitment of bringing about social change reaffirmed. I now look ahead with a sense of confidence that the knowledge and lessons I have learned will help me steer my academic dreams as well as my professional career progression. My heart is filled with pride for being able to take part in a community-wide effort; moreover, I get much access to more comprehensive understanding of social inequity and the positive impact of a team can do. Not just widen my vision but also train me how to keep wanting to discover other possibilities for myself develop as I keep my aim in social work.
References
Agustina, L., & Setiawan, R. (2020). FOSTERING A NATURAL ATMOSPHERE; IMPROVING STUDENTS’ COMMUNICATION SKILL IN A BUSINESS MEETING. Journal of Languages and Language Teaching, 8(3), 307. https://doi.org/10.33394/jollt.v8i3.2746
Caulfield, J. (2023). How to Design and Teach a Hybrid Course: Achieving Student-Centered Learning through Blended Classroom, Online and Experiential Activities. In Google Books. Taylor & Francis. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=UBDJEAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT6&dq=Experiential+Learning&ots=5SXWcTTX3H&sig=ILlAgfF08ZaRn9m3if8J1th4qV
Hulaikah, M., Degeng, I. N. S., Sulton, & Murwani, F. D. (2020). The Effect of Experiential Learning and Adversity Quotient on Problem Solving Ability. International Journal of Instruction, 13(1), 869–884. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1239203
Morris, T. H. (2020). Experiential Learning – a Systematic Review and Revision of Kolb’s Model. Interactive Learning Environments, 28(8), 1–14. Tandfonline. https://doi.org/10.1080/10494820.2019.1570279
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