So I've had a final round of communication with students. This time went better - many more were responsive. I definitely sent out a more urgent tone in my e-mail.
Every single comment was positive. I'm not sure if everyone really did have a positive experience or if they were just telling me so because i'm an SL employee. I don't know if this is cynicism or realism on my part.
I do think there's some learning happening, though... many of those who responded mention the people that they met while doing their service... and the Service Learning students that I'm responsible for are those that go to the Food Bank and St. James United Church Free Lunch. I mean, for a lot of students, it's quite possible that it's their first time interacting with people from the particular demographics that would be at the Food Bank or Free Lunch... and if this is particularly what they're mentioning, maybe Service Learning is kind of doing the trick...
I really don't feel like I'm doing anything though. Meaningless work, perhaps. I check in with students... with community partners... with SL staff... co-workers... I don't do things to make sure everything's running smoothly, I simply check if everything's running smoothly. I do lots of administrative work to talk about that... which doesn't really seem to benefit the students or the community partners, but gives peace of mind to the staff. I offer the rare suggestion or response to the students upon being asked... but this takes seconds.
But at the same time I feel that I just think I'm not doing anything meaningful... and will be honest that when I imagined such a job at an organization that offers a certain style of service, I expected more... fruits from my labour. I expect it to be appreciated by me as much more than a job, but something important, and visibly important...
I don't know. I'm going multiple directions with my thoughts here withouth getting much that's really important...