Silver City, NM- Students from a number of classes recently volunteered with the High Desert Humane Society as part of a service-learning project. Two groups were from Dr. Benjamin Cline’s Public Speaking class.
Quiwaina Robinson from Casa Grande Arizona and Zulema Hernandez from Phoenix, Arizona, are both students that participated in the service-learning project for Dr. Cline’s class by volunteering with High Desert Humane Society. However, both of their groups took very different approaches.
Quiwaina, with her fellow group members Karol, Ulu, and Kylie, who give presentations on the High Desert Humane Society in Silver City, detailing what sort of services they offer pet owners and potential pet owners. The also wanted to encourage community members to volunteer and help walk, clean, and care for the assorted dogs and cats at the shelter.
Zulema, and her group consisting of Erin Moss, Paul Montoya, and Tara O’Brien, also gave presentations on donating blankets, toys and kitten and puppy food to the shelter. They also started marketing the High Desert Humane Society on Twitter and Facebook.
Zulema stated that her group learned quite a bit about the struggles of marketing a non-profit organization.
Other groups helped out by caring for the animals themselves, cleaning them, feeding them and taking them out for walks.
Service-learning projects such as this are an educational method that combines learning objectives with community service. The goal of such projects is for students to have a learning experience while also meeting certain needs within society.
When asked what they felt was the most difficult part of the project, both Quiwaina and Zulema admitted that they both had to overcome a dislike for cats. However, Zulema admitted that, being a dog-lover, she had no issues caring for the puppies.
Humane society hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 8:30 am to 5:30pm.
