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Today was our final day in Iowa. We started our day with a good breakfast, then we set up the carnival for the child care center and people of all abilities. After that we ate lunch. For our final day we provided a DJ for everyone at the Community Center. We had a dance party and photo both for everyone at Hills and Dales. We had lots of fun and took lots of pictures! Next we went to the mall as a group, we bought Iowa clothes, face masks, and food. Hills and Dales provided us with a meal out for dinner, we went to the best pizza place in town. After dinner we spent our last night at the YMCA swimming, playing basketball, and having fun. This trip provided us with a new perspective on the world and how people look at others. This is a trip we think everyone should really consider going on.
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Today we were involved in a bucketload of activities that took patience and willingness to take. We started of the day by splitting into two groups; one which would start off at Hills and Dales Community Center working with the kids in the autism department, and the other group started at Hills and Dales Residence Center workin with the adult and children who would permanently stay at the At the Hills and Dales Community Center we:
At the Hills and Dales Residence Center we;
At Eagle Point (an edge overlooking the Mississippi River) we:
To finish off the day we did a scavenger hunt around Dubuque! Mr. Berendes' team won and didn't have to do dishes tonight! Our scavenger hunt ended with ice cream, thanks to Mrs. Zahn's grandparents for the donation! :)
 Scavenger Hunt- Downtown Dubuque!We started off the day working in the childcare center. Here are some of the activities we did:
Next we went to the Field of Dreams with the day hab clients (a daily group at Hills and Dales that assists clients ages 18 and up with many skills) and:
After that, we went and explored the Crystal Lake Caves and:
The first night at Hills and Dales went well, the boys woke up early this morning to set up breakfast for everyone. After breakfast we went on a tour of Hills and Dales to find out more about their program. For a portion of time this morning we made dog treats with people with disabilities for a couple hours. The Bogey program is for people with different disabilities. This allows them to work and make dog treats everyday and sell them to make money for different programs at Hills and Dales, most of the money they make goes back to Hills and Dales some way. Today we also went on a field trip to Swiss Valley with the Hills and Dales childcare students. We went on a hike and learned about what plants you can eat, what plants to stay away from, and we tried to catch bugs, and crayfish in the river. After the nature center, we went to the aquarium and saw a shark pup, alligator, cool fish, and toured some old ships. We ended the night with a movie to correspond with a field trip we will be going on tomorrow.
 
 Day 5- Carnival, Groceries and Bonding (June 20, 2019) This morning started out by going to Life Wise STL (Kingdom House) to have breakfast with the kids. We got to hang out with them and do Harambee as usual and featured the read aloud done by Haley, Madeline, Macy, Jenna, and Ally reading the book titled Press Here. After Harambee the children headed off to their classrooms and we started setting up our stations for the early childs carnival. This went amazingly! All of the kids liked the stations that we set up. After this event finished we donated the rest of the supplies that were left from the carnival to Life Wise STL(Kingdom House) for their summer school classrooms. Then we headed back to the house for some lunch. Subsequently, we had a lesson about what people have to do in order to submit a form for SNAP’s, also known as food stamps. After knowing how much money a person would get from food stamps per meal we split into two groups and made a list of what our “family” would have for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks for the week. When we finished writing the lists we read many quotes from people stating how or why they got the SNAPs and how it affected them. After reading this we reflected for a bit about what we noticed while reading the quotes and how people were expressing themselves in the quotes. After the discussion, our groups went into two different stores. One store had more fresh, organic foods, and the other had mostly processed foods that were off brand. We wrote down unit prices for all of our meals and added up totals. We learned that if buying a weeks amount of food the organic store was about $200.00 more that the off-brand store. Unfortunately for many of the families we’ve been servicing, the more expensive store is considerably closer to where they live. Right after this we headed off to the famous Saint Louis Gateway Arch National Park. When we got to the arch there was an entrance but it went underground because there was no opening in the arch itself. We then went up a tram that takes 4 minutes to go up and 3 minutes to come down. We went to the gift shop and then took the best pictures in front of the arch. They all turned out snazzy. We also played in Running Pictionary after we were done cleaning the house. This was a really fun game for us to end the trip playing together. Mrs. Verhagen and Mr. Knights team were the winners! Overall, St. Louis was a real fun experience for all of us and we enjoyed interacting with the kids. We will miss them! This is Jordan and Ally signing off.
 Day 4- Bridging the Gap (June 19, 2019) Similar to the previous two days, we started off our day by going to LifeWise STL (Kingdom House). We enjoyed breakfast with the kids and talked with them about the presidential campaign that they were participating in. After this, our readers Grant, Alex, and Chris, read a book to the kids called Say Something. We then continued to serve around the community by putting bags with food and other items on the doors in a senior living center. We also put signs and flyers up around the neighborhood to inform people about a cookout that is happening on Saturday at LifeWise STL. Afterwards we went to Bridge Bread, a bakery created to help people transition out of homelessness. While there, we were able to spend time with some of the bakers who have personal experiences related to the hardships of homelessness. They taught us a lot about how people find themselves in such positions and they ways we can enact real change. We cooked lunch for them and then enjoyed pastries and bread from the bakery. In the evening we hosted a Family Fun Night at LifeWise STL. Families in the community could join us for dinner. We provided a barbeque dinner for all community members that came and we prepared games for the children. In the end, we served over 125 meals and had a blast interacting with the area families. Overall, today was a great day of learning and serving. We can’t believe tomorrow is already our last full day in Saint Louis. Over the span of the week we’ve built relationships and memories together. This was highlighted in a fun group game we played this evening called Salad Bowl. The game is a combination of Taboo, Buzzword, and Charades. Many inside jokes and memories were brought out in this game.
Day 3- Public Transit and Further Learning (June 18, 2019) Today we had a busy day, which included breakfast at Life Wise STL (Kingdom House). We talked and interacted with the kids while eating breakfast and afterwards we enjoyed Harambee, which included many cheers and dances and a read aloud starring Jordan and Lauren. After finishing our morning at Life Wise STL (Kingdom House) we headed off to Walmart to gather our supplies for the family fun night and the early childhood carnival, both of which are taking place later in the week. After we were done shopping, we used the public transportation on our way back to see how it feels to have to rely on public transportation. We started by going onto the metro bus, which took us to a stop at the Amtrak station. After this we went onto the train all the way to another station where we got off and took one more bus to get us by the apartment. We had to walk from the bus stop back. Because of all of the switches and walking to separate places, it took way longer than when we drove to Walmart. In fact it took almost an hour longer on public transit. After reflecting on our experience and eating lunch, we then took off to the St. Louis Zoo. While there we saw animals while enjoying ICEES with friends. The zoo included a lot of activities including a train system, stingray petting area, and a normal petting zoo. After the zoo we headed back to the house and ate dinner prepared by Jordan and Lauren. Later we created an assembly line to create kits for families with babies, including baby wipes and three different sizes of diapers. Later we did a simulation that gave us choices about whether or not to make certain financial decisions that raises or lessens our financial status. In the long run we learned more about how certain people's lives are affected by every single decision they choose to make, bad or good. All in all, it was another great day in Saint Louis. We’re looking forward to another day of service tomorrow.
Day 2- Service and Exploration (June 17, 2019) |
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Ten students and four teachers took off to St. Louis for a week of service learning. Here is hoping they learn a lot, make some new friends, and create awesome memories! Make us proud!
*Also - parents in case your child didn't text you... they have arrived safely and are getting situated : ).
*Also - parents in case your child didn't text you... they have arrived safely and are getting situated : ).
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The trip participants will be writing updates here.
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