Running head: SERVICE LEARNING PROPOSAL

Service Learning Proposal Samantha Poma NURS 250 Ferris State University

SERVICE LEARNING PROPOSAL Abstract At Ferris State University, it is required for the nursing student to complete a service learning project. This entails a community based learning experience. I have chosen to work with SEEDS, a program within my community that works with school aged children (Who). Within the following I will explain what it is that I will be doing in my service learning

opportunity. This includes support of service learning, a description of the SEEDS program, my role in the project, objectives that I will be meeting, the activities that will allow me to meet these objectives, and an evaluation proposal to show how I will evaluate what I learned from the service learning project.

SERVICE LEARNING PROPOSAL Why service learning? Why service learning? Well, service learning leads to many learning experiences within the community that we live in. It is a great opportunity for all nursing students (and other programs that it can be applied to). According to Katherine Riedford, author of an article about service learning, it is a way for students to get involved with the community (Riedford). She states that, [Service learning] is a well-established method that provides structured learning experiences in which specific goals are designed to provide collaborative experiences between nursing students in academic settings and leaders in community organizations (Riedford, p.338). This coordinates well with the Ferris State University objectives (that can be found in the nursing handbook on page 10). Riedford also believes that service learning is a way for students to become

knowledgeable about the environments in which services are provided (Riedford, p.338). By completing a service learning project, I will have the opportunity to work with an organization focused on helping my community. Being aware of the community in which we live is a big part of being a nurse. Agency Description The Agency I will be working with is called SEEDS. It is a nonprofit organization aimed at the children within the community (Who). It is based out of Traverse City, Michigan and has many branches throughout the state (Who). SEEDS has three categories in which they base their organization on. These categories include, building [the] community locally, energy and environmental analysis, and the ecological engineering and design (Who p.1). They offer leaders from their organization or the opportunity to create a SEEDS program that fits with each

SERVICE LEARNING PROPOSAL individual community. The community in which I am working with focuses more on building the community locally by supporting the youth.

Pertaining to Manistee Public schools, there are many different programs that SEEDS has to offer. Their program is intertwined into the school district (see Appendix B for contact information). During the school year the main focus of the program is to give kids something to do after school hours. There are many different activities they provide. Of these activities one is a mind-craft club. In the summer time, they provide a camp for the children (Who). The camp gives an experience to learn. They also engage the children by taking them on field trips and various activities such as kayaking. How will SEEDS help me? Having the opportunity to work with the SEEDS program will allow me to expand what their program does for the children of the community and to provide myself with many learning opportunities. My main focus is promoting the health of the children within the Manistee County SEEDS program. This will allow me a better understanding of what it takes to promote health. For nurses this is a daily occurrence. Form this experience, I hope to learn to be a good leader, how to promote heath to children, to get a broader understanding on the objectives related to Ferris State University, and to expand my experience with children. Volunteer Role Description During my time with SEEDS, I will take on many different roles. One of the biggest roles I will be taking on is an educator. I will also be a leader and a role model. Taking on these many roles is a part of a nurses daily life. In being able to experience them hands on within my community through the service learning project is a great way to apply my skills to understand what it takes to promote health.

SERVICE LEARNING PROPOSAL Educator: I will be educating children on the importance of eating healthy and being physically active. I will also teach them about many different healthy foods and activities to engage in physical activity. Not only is my focus on the children themselves, but also their care takers. Involving parents in the promotion and education of healthy lifestyles will give the children an even better, well rounded learning experience. Leader: Each week, I am providing activities for the children. With each activity, I will be the leader. Having leadership skills is very important when it comes to being a nurse. By outlining a structured agenda, (see Appendix A) I will be able to meet this role. I will also be leading group discussions. Role Model:

By engaging in the activities with the children and promoting a healthy lifestyle, I hope to be a good role model for the children. With getting to know each individual child and being involved in their daily experiences at camp will allow me to be a great role model. Setting good examples such as eating healthy and being active will be a great way to do so. OBJECTIVES OF NURSING PROGRAM/MEETING EXPECTATIONS Ferris State University has outlined objectives related to the nursing service learning program. These objectives can be found on page 10 of the nursing handbook. The objectives include collaboration, diversity, ethical community, learning, and opportunity (Handbook). Collaboration: In order to create an effective health promotion service learning project, I will need to collaborate with the leader of the SEEDS program. Doing so will give me great experience in

SERVICE LEARNING PROPOSAL learning how to work with others and the community. I also plan on collaborating with professionals that have worked with children before in a health care setting to get a better understanding about what it takes to promote health to children. Diversity: I will get to work with a diverse group of kids. Not necessarily ethnically diverse, but diverse in a way that these kids come from different types of home settings. Each and every person is different. These differences can be depicted by their home lives. Understanding the different backgrounds each child comes from will help me maximize health promotion that is specifically beneficial to each individual child. Ethical Community: According to the handbook, meeting the ethical community objective is to follow the Nursing Code of Ethics (Handbook p.10). In order to do so I need to be focused on a nursing

practice guided by the values of altruism, autonomy, human dignity, integrity and social justice (Handbook p.10). With promoting health to the children, I need to be aware of each individuals rights, thoughts, values, and individuality. Excellence: In striving towards a service learning program aimed at promoting health of children in my community is a great way to reach excellence. Nursing is all about promoting health within the nurses community. Also reaching out to our youth is a great way to start the change of later life problems such as the growing numbers of chronic disease. Learning: Teaching the youth of my community will allow me to learn more about ways to promote health to an optimal level. I see this opportunity as a trial for me to learn how to promote health

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amongst our youth. I believe that our youth is a very important part of our community. They are the future of our being. Not only do I hope to learn what works best in promoting health, but to learn something from the kids. In doing all of this, I will be using evidence based practices in the promotion of health. Opportunity: Service learning is a great opportunity to build on my skills as a nurse. Not only will it enhance my understanding as a student, but as preparation to becoming a professional nurse. Having the opportunity to promote health to children within my community is a great way to gain experience. Planed Activities The overall goal of the project is to promote healthy eating and active lifestyles of the youth in my community. Each day will be structured towards learning and engagement in activities towards the promotion of exercise and a healthy diet (see Appendix A). On the first day, I will be introducing myself and what I am there for. The children will be presented with questions to answer. Some questions are, what is your favorite activity to do outside? What is your favorite food? What is your favorite fruit? They will also be given an activity sheet with many different games. They will have the opportunity to choose which ones they like best and add in ones that are not listed. Their answers will be the choice of our activities to come in the later weeks. Each week will have a slightly different agenda (see Appendix A). Weekly, we will have one day devoted to exercise promotion and one day devoted to healthy diet promotion. The children will be engaged in hands on activates, such as making a healthy snack, and in games, such as playing freeze tag. There will also be time for educating them on these two topics.

SERVICE LEARNING PROPOSAL I also plan on engaging the parents to participate in the promotion of health in their children and families. I will be providing a pamphlet the first week for the kids to bring home. This will include my plans for each week and what I am trying to promote. I will ask them for their encouragement throughout the program. I will also include a weekly note telling parents

about what we did each day, the exercises we learned for the week, and the foods that we learned about. Support for Planned Activities There is a great deal of supporting information aimed at how to promote nutrition and activity in children. Multiple studies have been done on different ways to encourage children in living healthier lifestyles. There are many benefits of teaching the significance of both at a young age. As a nurse, it is a key concept to understand how to accomplish these tasks. Promoting healthy eating habits among children is a very important part of health. Many healthcare providers see the rising rates of childhood obesity as a concern (Greenhalg). They believe that habit of poor nutrition is equally bad to that of living a sedentary lifestyle (Greenhalg). Promoting healthy eating in young children has gained importance over the years (Greenhalg). According to a study done in Italy, the UK, and Spain about the effects of promoting healthy eating in children, influencing the diets of the very young could have real long-term health benefits (Greenhalg p.20). With the changing eating habits among children, including, making more of their own food choices, it is making it even more important to establish good eating habits early in life (Greenhalg p.22). Not only is it important to promote the change among children, but encouraging care takers to partake too. Children are more likely to follow a

SERVICE LEARNING PROPOSAL healthy eating pattern if the messages given by health care providers correspond with those that occur at home (Greenhalg).

Physical activity is just as important as eating healthy. There are a lot of studies done on how to get children to participate in physical activity. One study in particular done in Arizona on fourth grade students revealed that, Someinterventions can increase the physical activity level of children (Pangrazi, p. 317). This study used PLAY to promote physical activity (Pangrazi). PLAY stands for, promote lifestyle activity for youth (Pangrazi). It promotes vigorous physical activity (Pangrazi, p. 318). Instead of focusing on actual fitness they encourage daily participation of thirty to sixty minutes of physical activity daily (Pangrazi). They also promote self-awareness of activity by having the students fill out self-evaluation forms (Pangrazi). By using these techniques they increased the participation of physical activity in children participating in the study. Evaluation of Project There are a few ways in which I plan to evaluate myself in the service learning project. I also plan to evaluate the childrens understanding to see what they are learning. There is the initial questionnaire I am giving to them to learn a little more about them and to build an agenda. I also plan on having a weekly reflection log for them. Nothing long, just asking them what they learned for the week and how often they were engaged in physical activity for that week and that activity was. This will either be through a group discussion or a written reflection. At the end of the program I will be re-asking them about their favorite foods and activities to see if there are any changes. To evaluate myself, I will use the childrens answers and weekly reflections to see what I have taught them and if my teaching was effective. I will also be writing a weekly journal

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on what we did as a group and what things I observed. All of this will be later collaborated and presented in a poster project.

SERVICE LEARNING PROPOSAL REFERENCES

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Greenhalgh, A. (2003, July 11). Encouraginig children to eat a healthy diet [Electronic version]. PRACT NURSE, 26(1), 18-22. Handbook for undergraduate student nurses. (2012). Ferris State University College of Health Professions School of Nursing. http://www.ferris.edu/HTMLS/colleges/alliedhe/Nursing/RN-to-BSN/Handbook-forUndergrad-Nursng-Students-2012.pdf. Pangrazi, R., Beighle, A., Vehige, T., & Vack, C. (2003, October). Promotion lifestyle activity for youth (PLAY) on children's physical activity. J SCH HEALTH, 73(8), 21-317. Retrieved April 20, 2013 Riedford, K. (2011, June 1). Bridging the gap between clinical experience and client access: Community engagment. Journal of Nursing Education, 50(6), 337-339. Retrieved April 22, 2013, from CINAHL. Who we are. (2013). In SEEDS. Retrieved April 22, 2013. http://www.ecoseeds.org/manistee_hs/summer_camp_at_mhs/

SERVICE LEARNING PROPOSAL Appendix A AGENDA:

Week 1 o Day 1: o Day 2: Week 2 o Day 1: o Day 2: Week 3 o Day 1: o Day 2: Week 4 o Day 1: o Day 2: Week 5 o Day 1: o Day 2: Introduction of self and what my plans are Kids fill out questionnaires and vote on activities I will provide a healthy snack and teach about it We will engage in a fun activity

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Bring in healthy snack with recipe Teaching about the snack and healthy eating 30 min. of activity of choice Game of choice (play for 60 min with breaks) Teaching about healthy activity

Group activity: making a healthy snack together Teach about the snack and healthy choices Game of choice Exercise promotion

Bring healthy snack Healthy food promotion Free day of 60 minutes of play Exercise promotion

Bring healthy snack for kids and nutrition facts Free day Game of choice/activity of choice Reflection of food and exercise choices

*schedule is subject to change

SERVICE LEARNING PROPOSAL Appendix B CONTACT INFORMATION: Contact name: Kevin Summers Contact Title: SEEDS After School Program Coordinator Contact Phone #: N/A Contact e-mail: [email protected] School Contact Information: Phone: (712) - 723-2547 E-mail: N/A Address: Manistee Middle/High School 550 Maple St Manistee MI, 49660

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