Skip to main content
                Sweet Potato Festival has cemented itself as one of my favorite New Orleans events. The event, held at a local elementary school, allowed me to spend more time with the community relative to the other service events I attended. I got to work with the students as they made sweet potato smoothies using a bike blender, a bicycle flipped on its back and chained to a blender base. I honestly don’t know who was more excited about the bike blender; me or the youths.
                 Deshawn, an absurdly bright second grader, talked to me about the gardening program at the school and explained how they learn to grow vegetables and learn to cook healthy foods with their garden. I couldn’t help feeling a little jealous as I wished I had a garden at my elementary school. However, I was more impressed with the attendance at the festival, how well the community came together, the number of vendors and volunteers working for free, and the fact that Deshawn, a second grader, knew what a dicot was.
                In other news, the weather here in New Orleans is finally cooling down. It’s no Boston, but I’ll take the 50 degrees over the 95 we had earlier this year. Fortunately, Thanksgiving is coming up, so I’ll have my fair share of cold in a few weeks. But before then I still have 2 block exams, some MCAT material to work through and lab work to get done.  I don’t think the break could come any sooner.


 October Hours; 5
Total Hours; 13

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

It's looking like a Boston December so far. Well... kinda. It snowed today for about 10 minutes. I had the opportunity to work again this month with Habitat for Humanity. This time my classmates and I added the siding to a house. The process is slow and meticulous but I think we had the right squad for it. I plan on continuing my service hours with Habitat in the spring as well. December Hours: 8 Total Hours: 30
Post a Comment
Read more
I spent most of my weekends in the month of January volunteering. First, I volunteered at the Habitat for Humanity restore. The Restore is a second-hand goods shop that sells furnishings, amongst other things, at a marked down price. The money from the Restore helps fund the construction done during build days. The next day I worked at the NFC playoff game selling raffle tickets. This was by far the most fun experience. Not only did I get to see the Saints win a playoff game at home but I helped raise money for the United Negro College Fund. The following week I helped SOUL Nola with planting trees in my neighborhood. I enjoyed planting trees because I got to instantly see the fruits of my labor. We also got free food which always makes it that much more worthwhile. In fact it was so fun I did it again the following week. This time we grabbed a few drinks after at the Wayward Owl Brewery.   January Hours: 24 Hours
Post a Comment
Read more
February is different down here. Usually February is the coldest month as Boston temperature’s average in the single digits for the month. Oh, also there’s no Mardi Gras. The parades were an absurd amount of fun and the fact the entire city comes together for them enhances the experience. Outside of Mardi Gras, my February has been spent mostly hitting the books. The MCAT, NBME Shelf exam and my thesis due date approach quickly. As a break from the continuous studying and lab work I volunteered with Soul Nola once again. This time we planted trees in Mid-City. I enjoy working with the organization because the work they do is so obviously important. New Orleans is the most deforested city in the United States and with the constant flooding it is in desperate need of some trees. February Hours: 4 Hours Total 28 Hours
Post a Comment
Read more