ACC Project Reflection

ACC Project Reflection

            For my part of the “Working with Refugees” class project, I worked with Faith and Raza to format and compile the class documents into one cohesive piece for the ACC.  To do this, we created a template and a cover page, and then copied and pieces written by the other groups.  We also had to compile a sources list and insert profiles relating to the interviews we did earlier in the year.  Personally, I made the cover page, compiled the source list, and created the “spotlight” sections that included a few of the interviews that were conducted.  I also made the final edits of the document once my group members had formatted their specific parts (Faith formatted the introduction and backgrounders, while Raza formatted the volunteers section).

            Although I didn’t work on writing the content that went into the project, I still feel that I learned a great deal. I initially felt like I wouldn’t be contributing much to the project because I was simply assigned to compile what everyone else had completed. However, I soon discovered that every detail of the writing process, and the group process, is important.  Without the final editing and formatting, the project wouldn’t have looked nearly as professional or aesthetically appealing.  The visual aspect was especially important in this project because it is a professional document that the ACC might use to inform volunteers and refugee employers.  If it were sloppy and difficult to read, the ACC might not use it or the volunteers and employers might not want to spend the time reading it. So I learned that with professional and business writing the presentation of the writing is just as important as the writing itself.

            I also think that the project as a whole really illustrated what we learned as a class about service learning.  Too often, people talk about volunteering in terms of the benefit it has to the volunteer and not to the organization or cause that the person is volunteering for.  Through our class, we talked a little bit about how service should not be fully a self-centered act.  A person shouldn’t base his or her volunteer experience on the benefit it had to him or her individually.  Instead, there should be an effort to make the experience mutually beneficial.  I learned this through my personal time volunteering at the ACC, as I wasn’t able to work personally with refugees as much as I would have liked.  I also think this project reflected that idea because it was really a way to give something tangible to the ACC.  Hopefully, the ACC will find the document useful in the future.