At the end of each semester, I send out a survey to the community organizations my students have worked with, asking for feedback about the partnership. While the response rate has been lower than I would like, their comments are always reaffirming:
"We love our UNCA service learning volunteers- they bring high levels of
engagement and enthusiasm, connect with the kids, and truly add value to
our programming."
"The kids really enjoyed having some young, energetic people in the
classrooms. It also was a huge help to teachers-- breaking the classes
into smaller groups so they could concentrate energy on students with
the highest need."
"[One student] was a great volunteer with In Real Life- he was reliable, flexible, and most of all worked extremely well with the kids."
"[The students were able to] build relationships with our folks and to begin to understand
the way homelessness hurts our entire community. Also helped with
specific needs in the community."
"[One student] was fantastic. She helped with office tasks, though her most
valuable contribution was in translating documents for us into Spanish
and she wrote an article for the Spanish newspaper in West Asheville to
promote GS to that community."
"We gained a dedicated volunteer for one of our EC classes, and the
students greatly benefited from the extra adult support, as well as
interacting with an 'outside' adult."
"[One student] was very helpful in any task assigned to her. LEAF gained a
competent and dedicated volunteer and are excited she is coming back for
the Spring semester."
