What I learned in AASL by Yanbing Liu

“Some volunteer jobs may be boring.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Maybe, you will feel uncomfortable during volunteering.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“So do you want to choose Academic Advancement Through Service Learning?”

“Absolutely.”

That’s the first time I saw Christina. And I told her I really want to join the AASL family.

I joined the AASL not only for improving my English skills and adding some experience to my resume, but also to enrich my life in the US and make connections with Americans.

Certainly, I learnt a lot from being a volunteer. When I told Michael (who is the leader of Home Start Thrift Boutique where I volunteered each week) that the next week would be our last week to volunteer, we all are so sad. It’s like I was losing a good friend.

No matter which community partner you work with, you will meet many kind people. Because bad people just don’t volunteer. I also chose to volunteer at ActivCare where we work with some older people who have memory loss. Even though they can’t remember me, every time I went there, they would get happy. I remember an old lady called Jesse, she is like my grandmother, but she is not easygoing, sometimes, she speaks loudly, sometimes she doesn’t allow others speak. But when we finished our volunteer work and were going to leaving, she pulled up my hand and kissed it. 

And I can’t forget a conversation between Jesse and me. During dinner time, I sat with her, she looked at me, reaching for my hair she said, “My son has the same hair like you, black and straight….but I can’t remember other things about him.”

Besides volunteer jobs, the knowledge and opinions which we learnt in class are fantastic. Those are not only related to English but also making me understand myself deeply. The knowledge are from history to leadership, from race to festivals, covering many different aspects.

At last, I am going to thank my teacher and friends in the same class, without you, I cannot feel such happiness.