In all honestly when I was choosing classes for fall ENC1145: Public Service and Community Action was my back up class for my back up class. When I enrolled into this class I figure, “Community service? Easy peasy!” I had done plenty of community service in high school, I thought it would be an easy topic to write about and I wouldn’t have to think twice about the class, but I was wrong.  This class has challenged me and we didn’t just learn about community service, we learned how to write. This class has better prepared me to write paper for all of my other classes. Even though I had taken ENC1101 over summer C, ENC1145 furthered my writing skills. Focusing on a set topic allowed me to explore different ways to express one topic and focus on improving my writing.

           I had always thought I knew what community service meant. Coming into Florida State I had over 100 service hours, but from this class I learned that its not about of hours you serve, it’s about connecting to the community. After this class I feel like I have now made Tallahassee my house because I have gotten involved in the community and given back to it as well. For me, this class really altered my outlook on what a community organization is. Before this class when someone would say ‘I’m going to serve my community’ I would have imagined volunteering at a homeless shelter or helping out at a soup kitchen. Now, I realize any community organization can be helped with volunteering. For example, in this course I worked with a museum in Tallahassee, The Museum of Florida History. At first I could see how a museum could give back to a community, but through this course my eyes have been opened and I now can see how museums give the gift of knowledge back to the community, and being an education major the gift of knowledge is something that I hold close to my heart.

          This class as a whole made me realize that all of the organizations that we worked with as a whole make up the community and together they make a better Tallahassee.

          I definitely gained the most from writing the research paper. I believe that research papers both challenge me the most and better prepare me for what lies ahead. Writing is the skill most needed to successfully get through college with an education. This course has given me the opportunity to improve my writing and better express myself through it. I have already found myself using skills that I have learned in this course for other class I have when it comes to papers.