If you think that coming to Booth College means you will be sitting in a classroom and hearing lectures, you are only partially correct. Here at Booth we have a course designed to get students out into the community and working with people in need. It’s called Urban Service Learning and it’s a requirement here at the College. The course gets students up and out of the classroom to experience what poverty and injustice looks like in the city of Winnipeg.

With the USL program, students are required to team up with one of our USL partners and complete a number of volunteer hours in the community, as well as attend a seminar once a week. Our USL partners are: Weetamah Corps, Weston Corps, New Life Ministries, Urban Youth Adventures, Riverwood Church Community and Inner City Youth Alive. Each of these locations offer programs that cater to the down and out in their communities; being involved is a great way to love on the people that need love the most.

My experience with USL was a great one. I chose to do my hours at Weetamah, where my fellow first-year Laura and I helped with their Kids’ Club. Every Thursday afternoon we would head over to Weetamah, set up tables, chairs, and games, and then cook dinner for 15-25 kids.

I instantly fell in love with the kids that I met, and I started to wait eagerly for Thursday afternoon to come around again so that we could all hang out some more. Most days we would hang out at the church and play games, run around in the gym, and do crafts; but sometimes we got to take the kids on outings, such as bowling.

One of my favourite Kids’ Club experiences was when we had a day at the park. We ate hotdogs, had water fights, play grounders on the play structure, and painted each other’s faces. All of the kids were running around and having a good time. After losing a water fight and getting soaked, I was painting faces when some girls thought that it was my turn for the face paint. My entire face was converted into a huge blue butterfly. I had a lot of fun with it ... until it was time to wash the paint off of my face. Long story short, I drove home from Weetamah that day looking like a giant smurf who had fallen into the lake. 

Michelle Robert is a second-year student at Booth College in Winnipeg. She is studying social work and hopes to spend her life helping others. In addition to spending time with family and friends, she enjoys knitting, reading and playing with her dog.