Personal Service Learning Projects on Emergency Management

During the semester, we were instructed that we were going to do service learning projects essays. The assignment that I was given was to participate with M.E.M.A. Kids at the Natural Science Museum. I collaborated with my Incident Commander Kayla Anderson and my Safety Officer Anthony Jones. I was the Liaison Officer who had to make sure that both parties were in direct contact with each other. The program lasted two days and was a very enjoyable experience to be a part of.

Emergency Management is managing risks and learning how to prevent different disasters and learning how to get back to the new normal. The action of being prepared is also known as Preparedness, which is one of the four stages of Emergency Management. Emergency Management has four different phases that emergencies must follow to get back to the new normal.

The first stage is mitigation is taking action and getting involved to reduce any type of consequences and it involves making sure all risks are can be semi prevented. Mitigation is achieved through regulations, local ordinances, and land use. A community can also through mitigation achieve Preparedness, which is the second stage of Emergency Management.

Preparedness is a continuous cycle of planning, managing, organizing, training, and the enhancement to ensure effective coordination. Preparedness prevents, protect against, create resources, and mitigate the effects of natural disasters, acts of terrorism, and other man-made disasters. The next course of action is Response.

The response includes the immobilization of necessary response and first responders. This is driven by the type of emergency and supported by secondary emergency services. Different types of emergencies use different types of vehicles. A simple robbery will not need HAZMAT teams. The many different ways of responses come from different variables.

The last element of Emergency Management is Recovery. Recovery is the aim to bring the affected area back to its previous state. The effects after a huge disaster or emergency take time to be recovered. Recovery efforts deal with issues and decisions that must be made after needs are met. Recovery efforts include rebuilding destroyed property, re-employment, and the repair of essential infrastructure.

The description of Service Learning is getting field training for future endeavors. It’s not considered community service or any time of service that’s not meant for learning. Service Learning is a huge opportunity to get hands on experience especially in your field. Service-Learning projects are needed to get any hands-on experience for any type of field. The uniqueness of service learning is that it opens any opportunities. 

Emergency Management & Service-Learning projects go hand in hand because any type of emergency could happen at the project. Any type of emergency could mean that a hurricane, tornado, or any type of man made or natural disaster could happen at any time. Emergency Management has the tools needed to help a person get through a disaster. Different projects are in different areas could possibly need the training to get them through an emergency.

My project was to be assisting with M.E.M.A. Kids at the Natural Science Museum. We helped out with the kids. Kayla, Anthony, and I wore different costumes during the duration of the event. We taught the children about safety and what not to do during emergencies. The children were very excited to get the information and to run and tell their parents.

My role in the project was the Liaison Officer. The Liaison Officer’s job is to be the liaison between two people to communicate and coordinate their activities. Liaison officers are used to provide technical and subject matter expertise to the other organization. They must be the main communication between the two.

The project really impacted the community because I felt like the children learned more about the course of information because they took all the information. The project taught the children more information that they didn’t know. Children are like sponges and they absorb everything. The two-day excursion of learning about EM and how to be prepared for any storms or incoming danger. They were taught more about tornados and hurricanes.

My involvement in the project really helped me decide to stick to my emergency management career. The project taught me a lot of information that I didn’t know at first. The clarification came in because I learned more behind the backdrop of my major. The path of the emergency management career has been led straight because I had people to talk to about it. It really helped me solidify the wanting to stay in my career.

The component taken from the textbook was the ICS structure chart. We had to use it to identify the Incident Commander, Liaison Officer, and Safety Officer. The other parts of the chart didn’t have to be used due to the location. The structure didn’t fully have to be used since we didn’t need an administration team or task force.

I learned a lot from this project because I was very interested in learning about my major. I learned more with the children and helping to teach them about different emergencies. I reflect by saying that I was taught how to deal with various children and how to deal with big crowds of children at once. It taught me how to deal with children and how to keep their attention.

In conclusion, this service-learning project was very informational. I learned so much about Emergency Management through MEMA. I enjoyed doing this project with my classmates and learning with them. The service-learning project taught me so much and it was very informative. I learned more about the Incident Commander and the Liaison Officer positions and I would like to learn more and more about it