Youth Abuse (Honors Experience #5)
I initially signed up for this class because I was interested in this topic as I am going to be teaching young children and I wanted to know more about the experiences of survivors of abuse. Before I began taking this class, however, the topic of the abuse of young children became a personal one when my parents took in three foster children (at least one of whom was abused before going into foster care). During the class, I was intrigued to hear my classmates opinions about different types of abuse, the subject of spanking, and how they viewed the foster care system. We watched a few documentaries that were really jarring for us as we learned more about specific abuse cases, the foster care system, and sex trafficking around the world.
This class also had a connected, though not required, service learning trip to Buckhorn Children & Family Services in Kentucky. At Buckhorn, we painted the rooms of the teenagers (referred to as clients) who are currently housed there (though they were on a field trip while we painted their rooms). Painting the rooms proved to be quite the bonding experience for our class as people played different music from their phones, had lunch together, and got to know each other more outside of the classroom! Later, we had the chance to meet some of the clients of Buckhorn as we sat with them for dinner. The girls were friendly and even performed in a talent show for us. They were really interested in our different majors and out future goals. They were also especially happy to see young (mostly female) visitors and wrote us thank you notes for painting their rooms. After dinner, it was time to head back to UC and bond some more on the trip through the mountains on a charter bus!
After returning from Buckhorn, our class began working on a poster presentation for the Undergraduate Research Conference. We assembled a tri-fold that discussed what we learning in class, our experience with Buckhorn, and the different resources we found during class. We also had the many reflections we had written available for people to read and blue ribbons to support April as the National Child Abuse Prevention month. I was one of the students who attended the conference and stood next to our poster ready to answer anyone's questions about the class, the trip, or our experiences. The conference was a nice way to tie together everything we had done in class and share it with those outside of the University Honors Program!
This class also had a connected, though not required, service learning trip to Buckhorn Children & Family Services in Kentucky. At Buckhorn, we painted the rooms of the teenagers (referred to as clients) who are currently housed there (though they were on a field trip while we painted their rooms). Painting the rooms proved to be quite the bonding experience for our class as people played different music from their phones, had lunch together, and got to know each other more outside of the classroom! Later, we had the chance to meet some of the clients of Buckhorn as we sat with them for dinner. The girls were friendly and even performed in a talent show for us. They were really interested in our different majors and out future goals. They were also especially happy to see young (mostly female) visitors and wrote us thank you notes for painting their rooms. After dinner, it was time to head back to UC and bond some more on the trip through the mountains on a charter bus!
After returning from Buckhorn, our class began working on a poster presentation for the Undergraduate Research Conference. We assembled a tri-fold that discussed what we learning in class, our experience with Buckhorn, and the different resources we found during class. We also had the many reflections we had written available for people to read and blue ribbons to support April as the National Child Abuse Prevention month. I was one of the students who attended the conference and stood next to our poster ready to answer anyone's questions about the class, the trip, or our experiences. The conference was a nice way to tie together everything we had done in class and share it with those outside of the University Honors Program!