Melissa McHugh

LBST 2215-H77
10 December 2014
Final Reflection: Building a Home & Building a Better Me
Through a semester of hard work and dedication, I believe I have developed a further
understanding and a deeper look into what this course was designed to do: challenging my
definition of citizenship. What it means to be engaged in a community differs for many people.
Starting this semester, and looking at my midterm reflection, I had originally defined citizenship
as the act of volunteering and providing service for the good of others in your local
community. From this, I now looked up the actual definition online through Merriam-Webster
Dictionary as the qualities that a person is expected to have as a responsible member of a
community.1 I also discovered through the semester that being an active citizen is hotly debated
for whether it is considered a right or a responsibility. I have encompassed my definition and
broader look back this semester in this course to consider active citizenship in my community to
be both a responsibility and a right.
As a right, we are born citizens in this country, and therefore as a rightful citizen, it is our
responsibility to give back to the community to make it a better place for not only ourselves but
others as well. Through my selected service work this semester with Habitat for Humanity, I
believe my definition well correlates to the type of work I embarked on. Working with a local
citizen of the Charlotte area, Ms. Peggy McMullen, I found that some people are not able to
afford as much as others, pulling on our discussions of what we define as poverty. Ms.
McMullen was not poverty stricken in the sense we usually think of, but the opportunity to have

Citizenship (n.) - the fact or status of being a citizen of a particular place; the qualities that a person is expected
to have as a responsible member of a community. Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Online.

an affordable home was what she needed. I believe that the organization Habitat for Humanity
was my best engagement opportunity I have worked on in my school career because it allowed
her to have something that not only benefits her currently, but goes on to foster success in the
future. Building her home, as well as working on renovations in the Habitat neighborhood, has
made me appreciate the work I am capable of providing for others, and fulfilled my definition of
being an active citizen.
Public services of all kinds are great to work with, but to draw upon a previous group
activity we worked on this semester, we had to rank our civil engagement in the types of service
work we had completed before. I had ranked my previous involvement with Habitat last year as
being the most directly involved with the recipient of my work, the homeowner. After this
activity I had selected Habitat for that specific reason: I was doing work that allowed me to
directly engage with the beneficiary, as well as helping the community she will being moving
into.
Furthermore, I was passionate about making a difference, and this type of service work
made me feel motivated to see through my efforts from start to finish. From waking up at 6am to
walk to the location of the build, and working for several hours at a time, it took dedication and
motivation to want to do this sort of service. I found that each day, it was easier and easier to be
motivated to go to the build. Starting from framing the floors to raising the walls and roof upon
the house, seeing my hard work and the other volunteers work come together to a completed
house was satisfying. This is where I modified my definition even more this semester. I not only
defined citizenship and being an active volunteer as working for community to better it overall,
but I was in the process of benefiting myself. I have learned what it means to be truly dedicated
and to make time for something lots of other students dont consider to partake through studying

for classes and having a job. My hectic junior year had challenged me this semester to fit build
times into my schedule and to complete my required hours. But through this requirement, I also
found that I was self-motivated to complete them and to ensure it was with the same project
group. I mentioned in my midterm reflective essay that in the back of my mind when its early
on a Saturday and I know I could be staying in bed [] I have retrained myself to think
differently I would be spending my time that I would have otherwise done nothing productive
to go out and make a difference. I think this is the mindset that should be emphasized most
when taking this course. I am not only helping others in my community, but the efforts and
recognizing what I can do for someone else who is in need is the greatest reward of volunteering.
Many students in this course this semester took to various aspect of community service that I
would not find as engaging, but it differs from student to student in their passion. I would not
have found volunteering at a desk job or filing papers as immediately gratifying as walk back to
my apartment after 4 hours of swinging a hammer and building a home for someone who
otherwise would not have such a place to live. That is what I found to be the best in deciding to
work with Habitat.
Looking at our other assignments this semester, I keep going back to the Anderson
Cooper video on the 100,000 Homes project, since I found this the most relevant to my type of
service work. I loved the idea the group had of providing a place to live to get those in the most
need off the streets and begging into a home and community to call their own. This video
motivated me to want to provide the stability and success that having a place to go home to at
night provides for the recipients of Habitat homes. Through our further research on Reflective
Journal 8, we had to find more research conducted about our service project, and I had
discovered through this assignment the great success Habitat truly provides its homeowners and

their families. This success rate proved that having a home not only increased the homeowners
engagement to their community and the desire to give back, but also provides mental and
physical health benefits and as well as a strong foundation for getting a better education and
bettering oneself as a whole. With so many positive aspects to the home recipients, I couldnt
argue that Habitat for Humanity was accomplishing so much when volunteers come build the
home for free labor. Volunteer work allows the homes to be given at such low prices/mortgages,
and gives families the kick start they need to better themselves.
Overall, I found this semester to be both challenging and so rewarding to myself, and I
am satisfied with how I have changed my views to develop a better citizen state of mind. I have
learned to stick to something through the end and to see my efforts go to a greater cause, which
has been the most rewarding work I have completed thus far. It has also motivated me to wish to
work each remaining year with Habitat when I can, as well as possibly extending into my future
as a go-to service project that I can make a difference doing. I have encompassed my service
with Habitat for Humanity in Charlotte to not only building a home for someone else and helping
the community, but in result, building a better me as well.