Journal (3)

My last involvement with the Service Learning site was overwhelming. The students and staff were sociable like always, but by knowing I was submitting my last hours I came to the site overturned. Upon having these feelings of discontent, I still came to the site prepared to take pictures and say my last goodbyes to the staff and students I worked with. After taking pictures and before saying my last goodbyes, I decided to focus most of my effort in tutoring the students I was given. I did this by showing them multiple methods to accomplish their assignments sufficiently. I felt that if I was going to leave Escuela Vieau, I should at least leave it with the students knowing something that I had taught them.

Because of my focus on tutoring the students and assisting the staff at Escuela Vieau I decided to make it the focus of my presentation as well. In my final critical creative project presentation I plan to illustrate my involvement with Escuela Vieau by taking pictures of me and the students working on their homework assignments. I will also show my involvement by taking pictures of me and the students engage in recreation. After taking all of these pictures I will organize them in a story, incorporate text, and illustrate what I think the school of Escuela Vieau is trying to accomplish by occupying a Boys and Girls Club.

Escuela Vieau (1)

Artists Statement (1)

My initial intention when I became involved in this assignment was to construct a strict documentation piece about the Boys and Girls Club. This piece was going to provide the audience with a clear-cut view of the Boys and Girls Club and it’s services-ranging from its mentoring programs, to its extracurricular activities. While utilizing this strategy, it suddenly seemed too plain to me, therefore I encouraged myself to be more creative. That is when I came across the idea of constructing my essay in a poetic form. This, I figured, will not only give the audience a clear-cut view of the Boys and Girls Club, but will also provide meaning for the Club’s services more effectively. Having this “poetic form” approach in mind, I then began to go on a photo “tour” within the Club. I’ve learned while using the camera as an investigation tool that one can either take pictures subjectively or objectively. Since I was more focused on being nonbiased towards the Club, I took the majority of my pictures at random.

While on this photo “tour” through Escuela Vieau, my experience was profound. Aside from learning how to work the camera, I learned a great deal of information about the program and its intention. The program’s intention was to prepare its students for future years through mentoring programs and extracurricular activities. Acknowledging this inclined me towards the phrase “Success Starts Here”. This is what also encouraged me to create an essay about “success” in general, and use other aspects that constitutes to “success” such as work, play, and listening. While having these 4 aspects embedded in my mind, I began to take pictures of everything that represented them.

After gathering a series of portraits that represented my 4 aspects, and organizing them in a poetic form, I decided that the best way to provide more meaning to my piece was to incorporate a series of scholars’ quotes. This is what persuaded me into finding different scholars’ quotes that, in a sense, described my 4 aspects. Upon my research for quotes, I ran across Albert Einstein’s quotation that placed these 4 aspects in a formula. Because how relevant it was to my essay and how creative, I decided to use his quote as the focus of my piece and expand off of it.

Having this “poetic formula” in mind, with a series of portraits and scholars’ quotes, I began to organize my essay in the most effective way. I sought to give the audience a “clear-cut view” of the Boys and Girls Club and “provide meaning” to the programs’ intention. Utilizing Movie Maker to convey this message, with sounds from Freeplay Music incorporated within, I must admit, my Multimedia essay did just that.

Journal (2)

My involvement with the Service Learning site was yet again intriguing. The students this time seemed very sociable and active. My initial expectation when I arrived was that the students were going to be conservative towards change. To my surprise, the students were more prepared to converse than I was. Because of their willingness to communicate and receptiveness, I became more involved in the program. This involvement removed the stress I had in conducting a multimedia essay about Escuela Vieau.

The multimedia essay I had to conduct about Escuela Vieau was a complex assignment. This was my first time creating an essay based off photos alone with text incorporated within to convey a story. This was also my first time going on a photo tour and using Movie Maker to illustrate the experience I had with the Boys and Girls Club. Using the camera as a tool of investigation, while on this tour, I learned that one can either take pictures subjectively or objectively. Since I wanted to be less biased and focus more on the Club, I took the majority of my pictures at random.

Escuela Vieau up to this point gave me an amazing experience I would’ve never endured through a handbook. My plans next week with Escuela Vieau are (1) to become more involved in the Clubs recreational activities and (2) perfect my mentoring skills.