kelly Behrend

Tara Crisafulli

Prof. Harden

Bonner organization

            Four years; 1,460 days, this is a large amount of time in which one person can change. The opportunity is open to change not just themselves, but to change their surroundings. Four years is enough time to write a book, make life long friends, get a degree, and many other things. When Kelly Behrend began her freshman year she knew she wanted to make a difference. She did not know that with in four years she would travel the world, create her own major, and help dozens of people. All of which she was able to do because of service-learning projects.

            Kelly Behrend joined the Bonner Society as a freshman in college, not really knowing how this would affect her. This society requires 8-10 hours of community service a week, and in return these students are rewarded with scholarships. The reward of earning this scholarship is not the sole purpose of this society. The sole purpose is to show that you can gain more than a scholarship from helping others. Behrend described her first service project with such passion that you would think it happened yesterday. Her first project consisted of teaching English for a second language course at a church not to far from her school. This seems as if it would be a simple task, but it is not. It takes a large amount of patience and energy to accomplish this task. Through doing this Behrend found herself not just teaching a class, but translating doctors' notes, bills, and eviction notices. When she took on this job she soon realized she was not just teaching, she was slowly becoming a part of these peoples' families. Behrend became the voice that these people did not have.

            Kelly Behrend gained a large amount of experience from her teaching, and even more from her trips around the world. The service-learning projects taught her that you must understand every side of the story. People don't realize that immigrants and refugees are just thrown into this country, without any prior knowledge of our language. Through projects like Behrend's English class, one realizes that these people do really want to learn, and understand what is going on around them. Sometimes it the fact that they don't receive the benefit of the doubt, which holds them back.