Community Service Ryan Wichtendahl

Fall Community Service 2014

My Community Service This Year… Hello, as a Virginia Teachers for Tomorrow student community service is a large portion of achieving success in the course as it reinforces the lessons taught in the class. This year I had the pleasure of serving my community in several different ways. Community service is very important to me because it gives me a chance to give back to a community and people who have invested so much in my own personal growth. Being able to serve my community is a highly rewarding and humbling experience which I love being able to do. I am excited to share with you my experiences serving my community this year. Thank You!

Fall Community Service Legal Studies Mentor Leadership Program A program in which upperclassmen volunteer their time to invest in the leadership skills of upcoming freshmen. Includes team building exercises, volunteering at open house, field trips, and lastly freshman orientation. First Colonial Patriot Primetime Mentor Program A program for all First Colonial freshmen students in which 10th, 11th, and 12th grade students invest in the success both academically and socially of this years 9th grade students at First Colonial High School through various team building exercises and leadership experiences. First Colonial Theatrical Work Calls First Colonial Patriot Playhouse puts on four main stage productions a year which require lots of work in order to ensure success. Work Calls take place every Saturday during these days we build sets, clean up the theater, and create basic components of production.

Legal Studies Academy 9th Grade Orientation At LSA 9th grade orientation two other students and myself were in charge of technical programming and design as we are members of theater at First Colonial and understand how to work with these things through FC’s technological equipment

Mentor Training Fellow First Colonial Patriot Primetime Mentor Madison Manock and I at the Mentor training and prep day. On this day we prepared for upcoming Freshman orientation and organized events as well as trained for how to be effective mentors.

Winter Community Service 2014/2015

Winter Community Service Roc Solid Event Roc Solid is a foundation to build playgrounds for children battling childhood cancer and other serious illnesses. First Colonial put on an event in which parents paid to drop their children off while they went Christmas shopping. We had activities and games for children to participate in. All proceeds went to Roc Solid. First Colonial Canned Food Drive Canned goods were collected outside of the cafeteria for First Colonial Families in need. Each family had a list of their family members and their ages/preferences. About a dozen FC students and myself volunteered to sort the food after school and then distribute it to each family based on their specifications so they could have quality holiday family meals. Valentine’s Day at Bettie Williams First Colonial LSA Leadership students and myself went to Bettie F. Williams Elementary school to put on a Valentine’s Day party event for elementary students. The party included several stations, including one in which kids got to pick their very own book to take home with them that day.

VTfT Students Volunteering at Roc Solid At Roc Solid my fellow Virginia Teachers for Tomorrow students and I volunteered and ran activities and games while ensuring safety of children at the event.

Bettie F. Williams Myself and three Bettie F. Williams Elementary School students, who had just picked their very own chapter books to take home.

Spring Community Service 2015

Spring Community Service Interning/Volunteering at the YoungLife Office YoungLife is a nonprofit Christian ministry at public schools which aims to develop good quality relationships with kids and encourage them. YoungLife goes to fall camp and summer camp every year. Kids pay to go and fill out a form. At the YoungLife office I enter the forms into a database and copy checks as well as enter them into a system. Also doing any other tasks staff needs done. WyldLife Leadership WyldLife is similar to YoungLife with the exception that it reaches out to kids in middle school. Four other high school students including myself volunteer to be “leaders” for the children. This means we are in charge of coordination and management of all WyldLife events and we must be good examples for the children. We meet every other Tuesday and have several other special events throughout the year. Autism Buddies My family has our own nonprofit organization, called Autism Buddies. I participated a lot in our organization over this winter. Our organization provides a night for parents of children on the Austic Spectrum to drop their children off for an evening while they are paired with usually a teenager – not on the spectrum to play with at a bounce house.

WyldLife Leaders This picture shows four of my fellow WyldLife leaders – two of which are high school students two are post college. This was following one of our big winter events where we take children ice skating.

WyldLife Club Here me and my fellow High School WL leader Lukas are sitting with two of our middle school students before an event.

YoungLife Office A “silly” picture of me and some of my YoungLife friends at the office this past spring.

Autism Buddies Volunteers Pictured are all our autism buddies volunteers at one of our recent events. Volunteers ensure the safety and fun of children who come to our events.