Reflection

A large part of my EDGE project involved training volunteers to perform health screenings. Although I had learned how to measure vitals such as blood pressure and blood glucose from previous screenings, teaching others to do the same required a different skillset. Normally, I am a reserved and quiet person. I prefer to lead by example than by commanding others. Throughout the process of my project, I learned that a balance of both example and instruction is necessary. For example, while in Las Vegas, the night before going to the Salvation Army homeless shelter, I met with 15 volunteers and taught them how to take blood pressure and blood glucose. While it was necessary to give an initial explanation, most of the learning took place as I allowed the volunteers to practice on each other. In the future, I will remember that instructing or lecturing is only effective to a point. Most learning takes place while doing, not hearing.

I also learned that organizing and leading a group of volunteers is not a one-time effort. Although I had a solid group of help for the first several screenings, there were several volunteers who eventually stopped coming or were no longer able to participate. In order to get more help, I spoke about the health screenings in pre-health classes taught by RHS. My presentation of the project was successful in recruiting more support when help was needed. Being a leader requires constant effort to keep things running smoothly and to verify that enough help is available.