Conscious Allinace and service learning in university classrooms

I began working with Conscious Alliance last semester through a service learning writing class at the University of Colorado at Boulder. The class was called Hunger in America and Abroad and I learned about how hunger affects not only people abroad but right in our backyard as well. The media doesn’t talk about hunger issues facing Americans, let alone Native Americans People here are experiencing hunger that mirrors the conditions of the third world in a first world nation. I was shocked to learn about all of the hunger issues going on in the world and the statistics that relate to it. Through this service learning class we not only learned about all of these issues, but also explored them first hand by working with community partners. I was put into a group who worked with Conscious Alliance. Throughout the semester we learned about what Conscious Alliance does and how important their work is. My group made a video about hunger facts that affect individuals and families in the U.S., Colorado, and on Native American reservations. This project really opened my eyes to the numbers involved with hunger issues I was learning about in class. As the semester progressed I became more drawn to the work that Conscious Alliance does.

The way Conscious Alliance uses art and music to spread awareness of their cause is amazing and it is something that I didn’t want to stop being a part of. At the end of the semester, my class put on a symposium titled “The Skinny on Hunger”. We presented information on hunger issues abroad and in the U.S., in rural and urban settings, and in elderly and youth populations. At the end of our presentation Floyd and Natalie Hand from the Pine Ridge Indian reservation spoke. This was a truly empowering experience. Until that point I had heard about the people on the reservation, learned statistics, and gotten a glimpse at what Conscious Alliance does to help people living on the reservations, but actually meeting Floyd and Natalie was unforgettable. I knew at the end of their presentation that this organization was something I definitely wanted to continue to be a part of. I am now interning with Conscious Alliance and am so honored to be able to continue working with them. I am really enjoying being more involved with their organization and look forward to the opportunity to get to meet more people from the reservation and hear their stories. Everyone on the reservation has a story to tell, and Conscious Alliance is working to get those stories heard. I think Conscious Alliance is going to continue growing and make a difference in more and more people’s lives. I am excited about new projects we are working on and hope that everyone else is too!

Written By Kelly Pauken