Alumni Update: Kendra Woodglass
I graduated in 2014 with a BA in Humanities concentration philosophy and a BA in Psychology. It was really nice to write that. I’m living alone this year so I’ve been doing a lot of reflection lately. Dominican really opened the world to me. I can honestly say that everything I’ve done since I left Dominican has to do with my service- learning experience! Service-learning opened up the doors of the world for me, gave the courage to follow my heart and pursue the life I envisioned. Service-Learning let me know that world is messy and there is a lot of work to be done, but not to give in to feeling overwhelmed because there are countless people fighting for good and positive change.
I partnered with Dominican Service-Learning program after I left Dominican with Youth on the Move, my first experience being a community partner. This was filled with wonderful growth and inspiration. From this position, I was offered the job at Short School, where I stayed for 3 years, advancing my perspective on the values of play and the lives of children growing up in our community. The inequality in our educational system is extreme. However, by spending time with the children, and day after day working to find balance is a greater gift than I can imagine. These students taught me countless lessons, and I am forever grateful to them and Short School.
I’m now on my second school year working at a Nursery School in Sabadell, Spain. Last year was a dream. Nervous at first, “What can you teach babies?” “How do they even learn?” I found myself singing and creating every single day. They soak up the world around them as joyful little sponges! Every game, lunch, or song is an opportunity to learn! Quite literally every second is a new adventure. In service-learning we worked with many avenues of art and expression. In my life in Spain, I’ve pulled from many Service-Learning lessons. I have a board in the front of the school to create murals. My own mural wall! I drew on the ideas of: What do I want to create and represent? What do I want the children to see as they enter school to begin their education? How is a mural for infants different than one for adults? So what? Why do children need these colors and vivid avenues of expression? What does it matter that they feel comfortable and loved in a learning environment? Now what? How do I get them involved in the decoration of the school? What can we do together to advance their growth? They are brilliant little souls and so obviously the future. My students are actively learning 3 languages, Spanish, Catalan, and English, and they do not even have 3 years of life yet! It is incredible!! They are open to the idea that different people speak in multiple tongues and this is the norm! What would the world be like if every child grew up knowing that the world is filled with countless perspectives and languages? How would this affect our systems of education and care? I don’t have the answers to all these questions, but I have ideas. And from those ideas I have forever more questions! But this is the beauty of service learning. We are always asking more questions and stretching the norm, pushing the limits. Through every baby step taken, we make the world a better place. You never know when what you say or what you do is going to be the thing that changes the world.
— Kendra Woodglass, kendra.woodglass@alumni.dominican.edu
