After a student completes a service project, he or she should be encouraged to write about the experience. The reflection doesn’t need to be lengthy; it just needs to be an honest reflection of the student’s feelings and evaluation of the experience.
The goal here is for the student to spend a couple of extra minutes thinking about what the service meant and what was learned from the experience. By doing this, students see the deeper value of service; they learn it is more than just something to check off the list and experience meaningful personal growth.
Whether students are tracking service, internships, or work-based learning hours, they should write a reflection about their experience. This step is crucial in gaining deeper understanding from their experiences and can be leveraged on college and scholarship applications.
Some common reflection prompts are:
What did you learn?
How did the service impact others?
If a WBL experience, what work skills did you gain from this experience?
How did it make a difference in your life, and how does it affect your value system?
Was there something new you discovered about yourself while serving?
Are there any new interests you discovered during this experience?
The information is helpful to the student for later inspiration when writing college application forms or writing letters of interest in scholarships or other financial assistance programs. Service records carefully entered and maintained have a shelf life long after the service is completed.
Students using x2VOL are prompted to enter reflections for each activity they record. Schools can customize reflection prompts and view student reflections during the hour approval process.
If you are interested in hearing more about x2VOL, please contact us today! We would love to hear about your service program and how x2VOL can help you go digital with managing and tracking student service hours!
