Intercultural Communication

Service Learning Paper

Submitted by:
Alexa Norton

December 5th, 2017

Submitted to:
Sarah Billington
COMM 2150- 351
Department of Communication
Salt Lake Community College

Service Organization
 For my service learning project I participated in the STAR reading program at the

Elementary Guadalupe School located past downtown near the West side. The information for

my project as been listed below:

Caitlin Almond
STAR Reading Program Coordinator
Guadalupe Elementary School
Phone: (801) 531-6100
Email: caitie.almond@guadschool.org

Project

What the Guadalupe School strives to incorporate and what their mission is, focused on

parent involvement, college preparation, and healthy families ,to all who enroll in our programs,

we provide a sense of connection, a welcoming place to learn, and a chance to pursue better

opportunities.(http://www.guadschool.org) The Guadalupe School is a nonprofit organization

that is committed to transforming lives through education. They also strongly believe in

helping anyone get to school even if they don't have the money to do so, they firmly believe that

each child needs and deserves an education. I participated in the STAR reading program at the

school which is offered Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, during and after school. I was given

four kids to read with in two hours each week, and we would read from the book they had been

reading from, or pick out a new book. Along with other activities to fill the full half hour. Such

as, seeing how many words you can read in a minute, writing, and vocabulary words(words that

they have been struggling with). Isabel- one of the girls that I would read with each week started

off very shy, and quiet. It was really hard to get anything out of her other than have her read with

me. Eventually, each week as I came she would get a little less shy and start to open up with me
more and more. It was so fun to get to see the real side of this little girl and to form that

relationship with her.

Culture Group

I would say the main cultures that are at the school and participate at the Guadalupe

school are kids that are latino, black/african american, and a few white kids. The faculty of the

school is very diverse, there is a wide mix of different cultures, and race. It ranges from the staff

being latino, and white to black/african american, and even a teacher who appears to be half

asian. If they are white, most of them can and will speak spanish to the parents who might not

speak english. Then I began to notice that there were more men teachers at this school than the

elementary school that I grew up with. I think it is an uncommon thing to find male teachers at

elementary schools and they have about four of them on the top level where I do the STAR

reading program.

Challenges

Most of the challenges that I found myself facing was having deep connections with

some of the kids that I would be read with. I like to consider myself a very outgoing person and

loud. Even when I am working with kids, I like to have fun with them and get them to laugh

back with me. So at times it was very challenging and hard to get some of the kids to open up

and not be so quiet when I would read with them. At times it felt like pulling teeth having to get

them to tell me what they had just read, and what they were struggling with and how I could help

them improve. I didnt ever want to correct them in a rude way to make them feel embarrassed or

not smart, so at times it was hard to be stopping them in their reading and help them pronounce a

certain word.
Theory

The Theory that I have chosen to apply to my serving learning is Systems Theory, I

think that this theory can be applied to almost any type of situation. The more I researched and

read about each theory, the more I continued to come back to systems theory and knew that if it

wasn't for the organization of the school, the faculty, staff, parents, and volunteers there would

be no Guadalupe School. This is why applying systems theory was the best option for me.

Systems Theory can be defined as something that views human behavior as the result of a series

of factors that mutually influence one another. The Guadalupe School was first started by a

woman by the name of Suzanne Weiss and her business partner Father Jerald Merrill of the

Catholic church. Back in 1966, immigrants were coming to Salt Lake City and weren't receiving

the proper education and help they needed in order for them to achieve success in America. Her

dream and goal of helping these immigrants started a long time ago, and her legacy still lives on.

She did all that she could to help these immigrants learn english and help them integrate into our

society. She then quickly realized that not only did these adults need help, but so did their

children. In 1992 the Guadalupe center turned into a place for children and adults to go and

learn. As early from birth to kindergarten, and eventually it was able to expand up to the sixth

grade. Finally, in 2014 the Guadalupe School opened their new location in Rose Parks which put

all of their 5 programs into practice and mostly under the same roof. 1.In-home visits for infants

up to 3 years, where parent educators go visit the homes and help the parents understand how

they are their first child's teacher. 2. Toddler Beginnings-1-2 years where toddlers go to an

enriched daycare with exposure to the school environment. 3. Preschool-3-4 years where the kids

are able to explore education based upon play curriculum. 4. Charter School- K-6 Grade. These

children are placed in small classes that are set upon basic learning skills. 5. Adult Education 18+
years. This give the adults and opportunity to participate in an English as a Second Language

class to further employment, and citizenship classes. I really feel like Systems Theory works

perfectly with my service project and the process of how the school came to be and how many

people were able to have and influence on this program. If Suzanne had not sought after her

dreams and goals and put all her efforts into something their might not be the Guadalupe School.

Each step and or action that she took was a result of how she was able to influence others around

her. Especially those that attended the Guadalupe Center. Her human behavior will be the result

of influences many now and for many generations to come. Each act that each person did in the

beginning phases of this school has now been able to make it what it is today. Each person had

some type of influence on someone or something, just as systems theory states.

Analysis

Something that would catch my eye each time I walked into the School was the two

women at the front office/desk area. One women was latino and spoke beautiful spanish, and the

other woman was white. It caught me off guard one morning when she began to speak (what it

seemed to be to me) perfect spanish to one of the parents who was with her child. She called her

and her child by their names and acted like they were good friends and she really wanted to help

them. This continued to happen each time I walked in, both of the ladies knew exactly who they

would be talking too and would always know where to direct them or how to help them. Another

example is how each time I would be with a student walking them to the resource center to read

someone would say hi to them and know them by their name. It could have been a parent,

volunteer, teacher, or tutor. Everyone strives to create an atmosphere of love and a place where

everyone can feel welcomed and important. I would say that everyone there is family because of
the culture of the school and the community that has been created there. These both go back to

systems theory because they both show how this culture of the school has been learned and has

come from influences of others before and how they have wanted to maintain the same culture

from a long time ago.

Reflection

At the beginning of the semester I felt a little overwhelmed about this project and finding

the right place for me to volunteer at and a place that I would enjoy. I had more trouble finding a

place to volunteer at and a place that would be flexible with my schedule than I thought I would.

None the less I was excited to be given this assignment and to be given the opportunity to go out

and try to understand a different culture and community. Once I was able to find a place to

volunteer at and nail down a schedule of when I would come it made the whole project a lot

easier and I knew it wouldn't be as bad as I had previously thought. I loved going to the

Guadalupe School and learning about the strong community that is there. I could really tell that

everyone that was working their or was a student there really cared about each other. They want

the students to achieve greatness through education. It was interesting to apply the Systems

Theory and see how that could be applied to a lot of the service project, but especially mine. I

was really able to see how one person's human behavior had such an impact on so many people. I

really feel like I was able to get to know a lot of the kids I worked with and even some of the

staff members. I enjoyed helping the kids in their reading and being immersed in a different

Elementary School than I had ever been to before. I have benefitted from my volunteer

experience, by simply understanding how they are so many places throughout the state of Utah

that need many volunteers. It also became clear to be that 1-2 hours out of your week is hardly

any time at all, and yet it can go a long way. The way that I plan to incorporate my project into
my future is being there for people and listening to them and finding out how you can help them

in their circumstances.

References

Guadalupe School Website (2014) Retrieved December 5th, 2017 from

http://www.guadschool.org

Paul Watzlawick, Intercultural Communication Course Packet