Ancillary 6
Chloe Rankin
2/7/23
This class has changed my perception of service work, and thus has changed what I believe to be my first experience with service work. I originally believed that service work had to be something more formal, where time is logged and permission slips are signed. However, after exploring this term more in class, I recognize that even smaller acts, such as taking care of my grandparents, were acts of service. Out of my own volition and care, I would help my grandparents with small tasks that, at my young age, seemed insignificant to me. Fixing them a plate from the buffet. Helping them walk from the door to the car. As I’ve gotten older, I realize that those tasks were extremely helpful for me to complete, because they would simply not be able to. These acts of love were my first experiences with service work.
As I grew older, I then expanded my service work more into more formal mentor positions or counseling for younger people. In 2016, I joined Reel Grrls, a non-profit organization that supports young people to explore, critique, and create media through a feminist lens. Coming into this community, I had very little exposure to all of the inequities in the film industry, and this service opportunity really opened my eyes to the ways that the film industry excludes and marginalizes people who identify as female. I was young, maybe 12, when I started at Reel Grrls. I brought my curiosity and my desire to learn to that project. The older teens were more experienced than I was, so I tried to be supportive and focus on observing and learning. The challenging part of that project was that, since the other teens were older and more experienced, I remember feeling cowed or more reserved sometimes. I mostly went with the flow and did what the older members suggested that I do. As a result, I felt like I might have been less engaged or had less of a sense of purpose or importance in the process. On the flip side, though, I think a benefit was that I learned how to listen and observe, as well as how important it is to facilitate real connections with and among people in a community, no matter their age or position. I became more cognizant of how important it is for community service to be inclusive and collaborative so everyone feels a sense of purpose. I stayed involved as a volunteer with Reel Grrls for three years.
Then, I took my passion for supporting women and girls by serving as a math tutor at Girls Rock Math, a summer program to boost girls’ confidence and enthusiasm for math, which is an art all its own. The main challenge for me in this position was trying to support other girls when I lacked confidence in my own math skills. I felt self conscious even though I was tutoring girls several years below me in school. Even when the girls acted up or did not concentrate on the lesson, I saw the difference it made when I just spent time with them, even if we lost track of the lesson. I learned that often, the most important thing to other people is showing up and spending time with them. I also learned to be less self-conscious because service is not about me, it is about the people you are spending time with and the community you share with them.
Most recently, I served as a Programming Intern for the National Film Festival for Talented Youth (NFFTY). NFFTY aims to elevate the voices and talents of youth who are female-identifying, BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, or from other marginalized groups. This experience bridged my interests in film and working with diverse people. Again, I confronted feelings like worrying whether I was qualified to volunteer in the process of reviewing films for the festival; however, I drew from my prior experiences and decided that my energy was best spent honoring the space, energy, and voices of the people I was volunteering with and volunteering for.
Perhaps the most significant personal quality I bring to my service is to honor the space, stories, and experiences of those I’m with. I am a storyteller, which motivates much of my community service interests because great stories resist simple reductions. They honor intricacies in the world and within ourselves, pushing us to embrace nuance, diversity, and intersectionality. We are all multifaceted and multidimensional. Each of us is more than what others might see. Sharing our stories — especially asking, engaging, and listening to each other — is what binds us together. My motivation as a storyteller is to encourage these connections. As a storyteller, I first have to listen and be in community with others so I can learn their stories and appreciate their multi-dimensionality. This process is key to humanizing others, so I don’t think I could do service work without listening and being in community with others. Community service, to me, is about honoring others’ stories and experiences.
The past experiences I’ve had in service work have shaped and strengthened the different expectations I have for the future service work I will do. Reiterating the very prominent and apparent concept that service should be completed and motivated by no gain, or any expected reward at the end. That, even wanting to be recognized for the service you just completed is a form of desire or gain, which then defeats the purpose of the service. I also have the expectation that I will not know anything and everything about the community I am doing service for. Because of this, I must be open to learn and adapt to the rules and background of the community I am aiding.
