Reflections

I was in ninth grade when I first heard of the Make A Difference project. To be honest, I thought it was pointless… and I was wrong. The Make A Difference project is more than just a “project,” it is a learning experience and an opportunity to improve the world in any little way that we can. Through our acts of kindness, we were able to help our community and gain different perspectives. Since completing Make A Difference, I’ve had time to reflect on all the work that was put into this project and its outcome.

The first task we were assigned was to locate places where we could volunteer. To find places where we would enjoy working, we also had to know our interests. I had to ask myself, “What do I enjoy? What would I be happy doing? What could I do to help people?” These questions narrowed the list of choices so I was left with places where I could tutor or work with children who needed help. The one place that stood out was Quest Therapeutic Services. Quest is a 501(c) (3) not-for-profit organization and is dedicated to helping children with special needs to grow and develop to their fullest potential by providing hippotherapy, which is treatment with the help of a horse. I have always been interested in horses but have never had an opportunity to work with them, so when Ally, Dahlia, Jen, and I formed a group (along with the guys, Mahjub, Mike, and Dan), I was pleased that we would be working at Quest.

While at Quest, we helped with the hippotherapy sessions and the Special Olympics program. After being taught about the care of horses and how to sidewalk with a patient, we were assigned to a horse and rider or given chores to do around the facility. I also had the opportunity to lead a horse, not an easy task when the horse is irritated and tired. Even though the horses nipped and the patients were not always cooperative, working at Quest has opened me up the interactions between people and the many different needs of the children. I think working Quest was a positive experience; it so positive that most of the time, I did not even feel like I was working. There was nothing that I would describe as “labor” because it was a joy to work with everyone.

Finally, the actual project part of Make A Difference was surprisingly fun. Our group worked together on everything except for the overheads, which the guys put together, and the blog, which I created. Our group met after school and either stayed in the library or went to someone’s house to work on the various aspects of our project that needed to be done. Aside from writing our journal entries, we worked together on almost everything. While we created the presentation, we went to see Mrs. Treadway who was a huge help in the technology component. When the day came, the presentation ran very smoothly and now, our scrapbook looks wonderful.

From beginning to end, the Make A Difference project has been marvelous. Our act of kindness was not only beneficial to Quest, but also a learning experience for us. We were able to help our community, gain different perspectives, and put together a terrific presentation. I have come a long way from thinking the Make A Difference project was just that, a “project.” I intend continue volunteering at Quest and I can truly say, this experience has made a difference in both our community and my life.

~Stephanie

Philosophy

Everything we do in life has a purpose, a raison d’être. There is always a philosophy behind the action. Our sophomore Make A Difference projects concentrated on helping our communities with acts of kindness in the form of service. Audrey Hepburn once said, “You will discover that you have two hands. One is for helping yourself and the other is for helping others.” This quote was the basis of my group’s philosophy while working at Quest Therapeutic Services. Quest is a 501(c) (3) not-for-profit organization dedicated to helping children with special needs to grow and develop through hippotherapy, treatment with the help of a horse.

While at Quest, our group of seven worked with the children and helped take care of the horses. We did anything that was asked of us and provided much-needed help to the understaffed facility. However, helping at Quest was not the only benefit of this project. We also benefited from the experience of Quest; we met new people and learned how to deal with horses and children with special needs. The positive environment of Quest contributed to our learning experience and our ability to help the patients who go there for treatment.

With our two hands and our philosophy, we were able to help others by working to make their lives easier and ourselves by opening up to new experiences and perspectives. Overall, the Make A Difference project changed our lives and possibly the lives of others by showing us that one small act of kindness goes a long way.

~Stephanie

Final Thoughts

It has been a week since I last wrote and much has happened. After testing our presentation and running through it, last Thursday, we finally presented our project to the class. Even though it went a little overtime, the presentation was still very nice. We ended up being the largest group to present because we were a “joint” group and we were the only ones who volunteered at Quest.

Thursday night, I left home to attend the Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership Seminar at Temple University and did not return until about 6 PM on Sunday night. Over the weekend, my group had gotten together to work on the scrapbook for our project and I must say, it looks very nice! On Monday and Tuesday, we finalized everything that still needed to be done. Today is the day the scrapbook was due in class but we will still be able to add items, such as our reflection and philosophy. I don’t know about anyone else, but I enjoyed my work at Quest. For me, this project has truly made a difference.

~Stephanie

Last Minute

Well, tomorrow is the presentation day. Today, we stayed after school to test our presentation and went to Ally’s house to finalize everything. Even thought the presentation is tomorrow, we sill still have to turn in a “scrapbook page” along with our critique sheets and an essay after the presentation. Unfortunately, I will be away all weekend so I will not have much time to complete the work. Hopefully things will still run smoothly.

~Stephanie

Quality Class Time

We decided to use this quote:

“You will discover that you have two hands. One is for helping yourself and the other is for helping others.”

~ Audrey Hepburn

Mrs. Kapp was not in class again today. Ally and Dahlia had managed to work on the philosophical aspects of our project yesterday, so today our group met to hammer out the details of the presentation. We viewed the PowerPoint and slideshow on the computer and finally have a good song for the slideshow. The presentation is on Thursday!

~Stephanie

Getting Philosophical

Mrs. Kapp was not in school today, but we were given time to work with our groups. We went down to talk to Mrs. Treadway about our presentation and to test the PowerPoint and slideshow, which look very nice. All we need is a good song for the slideshow. After school, Ally, Dahlia, and I had planned on staying to work on the philosophical aspects of our project. The problem? The library was closed due to AP testing. I also had the go to a Women’s Ensemble rehearsal that was just scheduled. We only have about two days left to finalize everything!

~Stephanie

The Second Time Around

Today was my second day working of at Quest. This time, we decided to arrive at Quest on our own (with our parent’s assistance, of course). Also, Dahlia and Mike could not come and Ally had to leave early. When we got there, we went to work on grooming and putting the halters and lead ropes on the horses. The horse trainer was already there exercising the horses while we prepared for the day.

The routine was pretty much the same as the last time. When we got our assignments for hippotherapy, we went to sidewalk with the patients in the morning shifts. After lunch, we helped with the Special Olympics program again. Since the Special Olympics are coming up soon, Quest was in a frenzy of preparation. When we were done, we let the horses out in the pasture where they could relax.

Working at Quest has taught me so much about horses and people. Admittedly, before Quest, I had no real experience with horses (but I’ve always had an interest). Working with the horses has taught me about their behaviors and habits and working with the children that come to Quest has opened me up to the many different needs of the children. I think Quest has been a positive experience for me and even though the service part of our project is over, I want to continue volunteering in this wonderful environment.

~Stephanie

Ally’s House

Because I arrived late to class today (not my fault! I had a doctor’s appointment), I missed the meeting that my group had with Mrs. Treadway about the presentation. My group caught me up on the current events during the remaining class time. After school, Ally’s mom picked us up to take us to her house so we could work in the PowerPoint as a group. We spent the whole afternoon working at her house and we are nearly done with the PowerPoint. Most of us will be working at Quest on Saturday and we will continue working in class.

~Stephanie

More Plans

So far, in class we have been discussing the presentation. Because there are two groups of us working at Quest, we will be doing a “joint presentation” but have yet to figure out what that entails. We will have to meet sometime to create a PowerPoint and slideshow for our presentation so we decided to will meet at Ally’s house this week to work on these things.

~Stephanie

Working at Quest

Today was our first day of working at Quest. Ally, Jen, and I met at school at 7:30 AM and my mom drove us to Quest (Dahlia and the guys met us there). We arrived a bit early so we had a look around before the others arrived. The lobby of the one-story building has couches, chairs, a TV, and a window where one can see the riding arena. A door leads to a dining room and the hallway doors open to offices, bathrooms, and the barn. The barn contains stalls for the horses and storage space for the tack and supplies. The facility is surrounded by a field and an open area for trail rides outside.

When we were all there, we were shown two videos on hippotherapy, safety, and information on Quest (the guys, who were there last time, had not seen the videos yet). Then it was time to work. After being introduced to the horses and grooming procedures, we were taught how to sidewalk with a horse and patient. We were also given chores to do such as sweeping and cleaning up after the horses.

After the morning hippotherapy sessions and lunch, Jen had to leave early but the rest of us helped with the Special Olympics program. This program prepares the riders for the Special Olympics competition which will take place in June. I had the opportunity to lead a horse and rider on a specific path around the arena in Dressage. We were done around 3:30, which means we completed about 7.5 hours of work.

~Stephanie