Slice of Life
Service learning is a requirement each student who comes to Morningside College has to complete before they can receive their degree. Only one service learning class is required, and I have now completed three.
I took the Public Relations class offered by the college this fall not knowing the weight of service learning on the class. Don’t get me wrong, I was aware there would be service learning requirements, but what I didn’t know was that half of the class was riding on it.
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Divided into groups of three, our class’s mission was to generate and present a public relations campaign to a local non-profit organization of our choosing. My group, which included two very attractive young women both recently wed –not to each other- and myself, decided to join forces with the up-and-coming Children’s Museum.
The purpose of the Children’s Museum of Siouxland is, according to their website, “to provide an interactive learning environment that will serve the needs of our children, families, schools and community.” Thousands of dollars have been donated to the museum, yet it is still not yet in operation. The mildly anticipated opening day for the museum is set for sometime in February of 2014.
“Our donors have been so generous to have gotten us this far. We’re hoping that around this time next year we will have a location built,” said the museum’s Human Resources Director, Kari Kellen.
“Plans for the museum have been in the works for a while, for a little over 10 years now.”
The Children’s Museum is a priority for the community of Sioux City but has been having problems with people being informed of its existence, most likely because it has yet to break ground and create one. That’s where my campaign group comes in. The importance of having a children’s museum as a part of the community is greater now that the population of Sioux City is projected to continually increase by hundreds each year.
“The Children’s Museum is a great place for parents to bring their young, even infant children for a wholesome day of family fun through hands-on activities and exhibits that kids just love,” said Kellen.
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Our group strategy was to have brochures or pamphlets for the museum available in 70% of local public schools and pre-schools. Our professor requested equivalent to one arm and one leg on the project rubric. My group worked well together and constructed a plan that should really help the Children’s Museum of Siouxland draw more donors and raise local awareness. I even created a recorded PSA-style advertisement that could be submitted to local radio stations as the date to open the museum’s doors approaches.
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Places like the Children’s Museum of Siouxland are underappreciated for the service that they provide a community. In a world dominated by technology and social media, do we want our children to grow up without the activities that sparked our imagination and creativity when we were kids? Imagine a childhood spent in front of a computer screen instead of finger-painting, petting zoos, and most of all physical contact with other children your age. Judging by what society has become today, places like the Children’s Museum of Siouxland will be few and far between.