The Grant
One of the many good things that PC offers is the potential for volunteers to start small projects at their sites. These ideas should be community-based and help some sort of need your community has.
My "community" (my university) has needed a TV. The current one we have is shared by our ajoining school and is probably smaller than the computer screen you are reading this on. In addition, it is one of those two in one deals, meaning it has a built in VCR. But who uses VHS tapes anymore? I found one library in Kyiv where I could borrow English films to show in my courses, but abandoned that last year because it was so annoying between the size of the TV (imagine now sitting 10 feet away from your computer screen and trying to read subtitles) and the pain in the arse it was to trudge all the way up to Kyiv to get and then to return movies. It'd be like having your Blockbuster in downtown Manhattan when you lived in Oklahoma. Time consuming and expensive. And in either case, just not practical.
My coordinator was particularly interested in getting a high tech flat screen TV and a DVD player, bringing the University up to speed with any higher education facility in the US. Unfortunately, I could not see the folks at the SPA committee or Uncle Sam doling out the $1000+ it would take to fund such a purchase and instead opted for a 29" TV and a DVD player that would play any type of formatted disk. And also because I knew the committee would not be interested in funding such equipment so students could view films like Mandy Moore's flick about being the President's daughter (despite how high quality a film it is) we talked about bringnig socially revelant films into the classroom. Films that would demonstrate social problems in English speaking countries, issues like racism, sexism, discrimination, and the like. With all of this in mind, the grant was written, approved, and apparently highly received. I was in HQ when the committee was meeting to decide on which grants would be funded, and people on the committee I didn't even know would compliment me on it. It's interesting how writing a relatively intellectual grant with a pretty simple idea will make everyone think that you are a pretty active and successful volunteer at your site. I am by no means going to argue that I'm not, but I'm also by no means the active crusader sort of volunteer that will have their communities talk about them for years to come and where everyone will name their first born child after them, in addition to having a yearly parade in their honor even after they are gone.
I am more typical, I think. I do the work asked of me, have a few clubs in town with other volunteers, and otherswise mind my own business. But if other volunteers want to view me as otherwise, who am I to tell them differently?
But of course, all of the acknowledgement could have simply been due to the fact that I had brought home mounds of Belgian chocolate and promised them that if my grant was funded, they could get some. Who knows?
My "community" (my university) has needed a TV. The current one we have is shared by our ajoining school and is probably smaller than the computer screen you are reading this on. In addition, it is one of those two in one deals, meaning it has a built in VCR. But who uses VHS tapes anymore? I found one library in Kyiv where I could borrow English films to show in my courses, but abandoned that last year because it was so annoying between the size of the TV (imagine now sitting 10 feet away from your computer screen and trying to read subtitles) and the pain in the arse it was to trudge all the way up to Kyiv to get and then to return movies. It'd be like having your Blockbuster in downtown Manhattan when you lived in Oklahoma. Time consuming and expensive. And in either case, just not practical.
My coordinator was particularly interested in getting a high tech flat screen TV and a DVD player, bringing the University up to speed with any higher education facility in the US. Unfortunately, I could not see the folks at the SPA committee or Uncle Sam doling out the $1000+ it would take to fund such a purchase and instead opted for a 29" TV and a DVD player that would play any type of formatted disk. And also because I knew the committee would not be interested in funding such equipment so students could view films like Mandy Moore's flick about being the President's daughter (despite how high quality a film it is) we talked about bringnig socially revelant films into the classroom. Films that would demonstrate social problems in English speaking countries, issues like racism, sexism, discrimination, and the like. With all of this in mind, the grant was written, approved, and apparently highly received. I was in HQ when the committee was meeting to decide on which grants would be funded, and people on the committee I didn't even know would compliment me on it. It's interesting how writing a relatively intellectual grant with a pretty simple idea will make everyone think that you are a pretty active and successful volunteer at your site. I am by no means going to argue that I'm not, but I'm also by no means the active crusader sort of volunteer that will have their communities talk about them for years to come and where everyone will name their first born child after them, in addition to having a yearly parade in their honor even after they are gone.
I am more typical, I think. I do the work asked of me, have a few clubs in town with other volunteers, and otherswise mind my own business. But if other volunteers want to view me as otherwise, who am I to tell them differently?
But of course, all of the acknowledgement could have simply been due to the fact that I had brought home mounds of Belgian chocolate and promised them that if my grant was funded, they could get some. Who knows?
posted by Molly | 5:40 AM
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