Creator: Parker Audette
This is a brief glimpse into my time with the Clubhouse (my service partner) where I share the objectives of the location and provide further analytical comparisons between our course readings and class assignments.
Weeks of volunteering at the Clubhouse have manifested apparent objectives, one of which is to create an environment that nurtures creativity. Once in the Clubhouse kids are encouraged to put away their personal devices and engage in projects with the tools that they offer. As a volunteer, I have observed how the full time service workers interact with the kids in order to promote an individualistic and personal sense of creativity and good work ethic. Reflecting on instances from the clubhouse I am able to draw a comparison between the ideals and situations garnered by the Clubhouse with the workings of Freire and Pratt. Freire’s concept of education is more closely considered a conversation that incorporates give and take between students and the teachers than the cycle of lecture and regurgitation. At the Clubhouse the volunteers incorporate a similar strategy that uses conversation to engage the kids. Instead of saying, “you shouldn’t do that” or “you can’t do that,” they say, “have you tried doing this instead.” These ideals that the workers have tried so hard to establish are etched into the foundation of the Clubhouse.
Another unique goal of the Clubhouse is to break down the barriers between the Clubhouse volunteer and Clubhouse attendee through their unspoken methods of assimilation. The environment fosters a relationship building trait. The primary differences between the myself and the attendees vary between age, domestic location, birth place, native language, ethnicity, and etc. Pratt talks of a “contact zone” between different people. I believe that the Clubhouse acts as a contact zone where people of different backgrounds, socio economic statuses, opinions (etc…) come together to bills relationships. I was in stark contrast with many of the kids who attended. Myself, being a college student and being raised in a suburban area, where as the kids at the clubhouse who are in middle and high school and being raised in an urban setting. However, as time progresses with each session, the walls between myself and the attendees metaphorically established by the differences between us, dissipate as time progresses and we engage together in different projects, like exploring the grand canyon in virtual reality and building things with legos.