Reflection on ONG

Meeting at Our Next Generation really opened my eyes to a lot of things. We all know that things like some of their situations at home are going on and we can normally shrug them off and go about our day. However, when you work with these kids it's hard to just turn and pretend like this stuff doesn't happen. I know that I cannot change what happens to these kids at home, nor can I change where they are going to be in the next 5 years, but with that time I spend with the kids they remind me of, well me! Despite all these hardships they will face they are just kids. At Our Next Generation they have the opportunity to just be kids and have fun, while increasing skills necessary for them to excel academically and reach higher levels of education than possibly anyone ever has in their families. For that two hours I'm there to help these children. They always seem to warm up to all the volunteers really quickly. They are a lot of fun to be around and seem to have enough energy to run an ultra-marathon! These kids have given me something special, no matter how difficult things get for me these kids will have a much more difficult time. So if they can get through what they are dealing with and graduate from high school and college, well that just has to give hope to everybody. I'm sure many of the people working with them will see the same thing that I have seen. They are a special group of children and with the help of Our Next Generation they may finally have a future denied to them by outside factors such as family income and moving from place to place. With all the factors working against these children it's nice to see that there are people out there willing to put in their time to help them succeed. Especially when most people are having enough problems on the home front. To go out of your way to help children is really something.

Research on ONG

The research I did on ONG was about the community they are in and their direct impact on that community. The impact I'm looking for particularly is on the children and their families. I started my research looking around the internet for certain information. Some facts I found about the community is that it's the lowest per capita income community in Milwaukee, and the second lowest in the entire state of Wisconsin. Also there is a 50% mobility rate of students. Which is a measure of how many students are transferring in and out of school. There is actually a statistics that correlates a higher mobility rate with a lower achievement rate. So when there are students being enrolled and removed from your school they have less chance to get comfortable and preform successfully academically. Another very surprising statistic is that without intervention about 40% of these students will not graduate high school. So its clear that without some kind of help these students will most likely fall into the category that about 55% of citizens without high school diplomas don't even report a yearly salary. So what ONG tries to do is develop these students reading, writing, and mathematics skills in order to give them a push in the right direction. With that they can go onto graduate high school and then college. With many of these students going that far they can then return to push their old communities to new heights. After working with the children a few times it's clear to see these kids enjoy learning. However, kids will be kids and there is always a bit of arguing and what not. With all they do for the community its no wonder the community feels the need to help this program succeed. In the spring of 2008 the graduating class of Radiologic Technologists donated $500 to keep the program up and running. The money was immediately put towards the development of a new literacy and educational program. So as Our Next Generation continues to give to the community the community will irrevocably give back and help this program to succeed. Another way its clear that the community gives back is this program. University of Wisconsin Milwaukee wants this program to succeed to give put more kids through college. The more that go to college the brighter tomorrow looks for not only for this particular community but everywhere in Wisconsin.

Artist review

I feel that the most interesting point of my visits was the first interview I had with Codi. Some questions I had were directed towards the organization and some towards the types of people working and the people attending. First I asked about the neighborhood and inquired as to why they had chosen that particular one. First she informed me that this was one of two ONG facilities and after that came the really interesting stuff. She told me that this was one of the two poorest areas in Milwaukee, and that the graduation rate of high school seniors was only at 60%. However, despite both of those I found out that the community had a great sense of pride in things it did. This was most evident in the kid’s decision to try and get ahead in school by going to ONG and seeking home work help. From there I wondered what amount of help they received came from college students who need it for class and actual concerned community members. After posing this question to her she replied that about 80% of the help they have per semester is from students who need the hours for a class. I figured that this number would be high, just not that high. From there my focus moved from the volunteers to the actual students themselves. I inquired about the students and their situations. I learned that they had a wide variety of backgrounds among their students. Some come from nowhere, in and out of friends houses because a drug dependent mother can’t take care of them, much less herself. While they had some at the very bottom they also had some at the top, with an almost picture perfect family life, and everyone else was found somewhere along that line. When we concluded our interview I got to meet with the kids and get their opinions on the volunteers and ONG. It was nice to see such a lively bunch, especially since I felt very awkward just taking pictures. Although, they made it a lot easier on me by being so easy to deal with! I asked them what they had learned which was most useful. The most decisive answer came from Devon who said that filling out applications was the best thing he had learned. I also asked what volunteers could do to help them, there answer was unanimous and simple; inquire more about the students as a person and not as a student. I look forward to spending more time with the kids from ONG. I know I can teach them something and I think they have something to teach me as well.

My ONG experience

When I first got to Our Next Generations facility I met with Codi. She was very nice and in between dealing with her high school students she answered my questions and had me fill out the volunteer application. I still had many questions to ask, some dealing with the interview and some just out of curiosity. With that I was very hungry so she invited me to have dinner with them. She introduced me to a lot of people and they were anything but camera shy. We had pizza and it was delicious. Especially since I didn't have to cook it!