Student Volunteer Making a Difference: Peterson brings theatre to the youth of Farmville

ShaVaughn Peterson is a Longwood University senior theatre major who has invested a lot of his time into volunteer work around the town of Farmville. His work has been greatly appreciated by the Town Planner, Cindy Morris, and the Director of the Recreation Department, William Bailey, as well as the community members and the children that he works with. When speaking about Peterson both Morris and Bailey lit up with enthusiasm for the work he has done. Morris explained that Peterson “is volunteering with the Town and directs all the youth theatre plays.” She went on to say that “everybody just thinks he is awesome.”
Peterson recounted his story of becoming a regular volunteer for the town. It all started at the Longwood Center for the Visual Arts. During the summer of his sophomore year Peterson found himself with lots of time and little to do. “I had a lot of free time on my hands so I walked into town one day and stopped by the LCVA to see if they could use any volunteers, as it turned out they have a children's program every summer that is volunteer supervised so I hopped on to do that to occupy my time while I was job hunting.” This made him a “familiar with a lot of faces in town” so when it came time for him to take on the community project for English 400 he already had a pretty good idea of where he would turn. He knew before starting the class that he wanted to do something that he “was passionate about” which naturally brought him to theatre.
“I did my research, borrowed some money from my aunt, and by the first day of classes I had the scripts, scores, and CDs for The Elves & the Shoemaker.” His English professor was pleased with this idea and soon he met William Bailey. Bailey was all for the idea and helped him get him “space to rehearse and hold auditions.” Bailey explained, “We came together and sat down and created a plan.” He went to schools in the area and soon got himself “a following.”
Peterson strongly believes in what he is doing with the youth of Farmville. “These kids have learned to love theatre and each other.” Peterson stated, “It's absolutely magical watching them together.”
Bailey describes Peterson and his work with the youth program in this way, “He’s an exceptional talent and the things he can teach to children is amazing and how much he has done in bringing this youth theatre program to the town of Farmville.”
Peterson describes himself as an “army brat” that has moved many times but he calls Uniondale, New York his “home.” Peterson remembers the moment he realized theatre was his passion, “I spent the majority of my childhood hell-bent on become a psychologist because helping people made me happy. Theatre and choir had been hobbies of mine but I really didn't invest my soul in it … We did Chicago as our spring musical and something just hit me and I said, "Oh my God, I could be poor doing this the rest of my life and I would be perfectly happy with that." He explained that he realized “with psychology, I would only have been able to help one person at a time, but with theatre I could take entire audiences away from their troubles and into new unthinkable world even if only for two hours at a time.”

Peterson said that his “pride and joy is my children's theatre program.”

Currently he is working on the production of Cinderella Wore Combat Boots. “We bring theatre to the Prince Edward Community free of charge to any kid who will sign up and show up,” Peterson explained. These children, according to Peterson, “now have a gift that, should they choose, they can use and enjoy for the rest of their lives.”
Bailey explained that Peterson is “currently training future directors and theatre students who will take over and keep this program going.” Even though Peterson is bound bigger things he stated, “I'm no where near finished here in Farmville, but seeing the smiles I've brought them I know my work is done.”

Local Needs being Met by College Students

I'm currently in the process of writing an article about the impact Longwood students have on the community and what it is like when they are gone. I had no idea that starting out on this article would lead me to so many different ways that Longwood students give back to the community. I knew the students did volunteer work but it never really struck me as something that would stand out to the community but clearly it does. The services student do was the first thing that the Town Planner told me about when I sat down with her last week. My next blog post will be focused on the impact Longwood students have and what they are doing to give back. For now, I was hoping to hear from you. What kinds of volunteer work do you do around town? How do you think Longwood positively or negatively affects the town? If you would like, post community service ideas in your comments also.

Networking and Non-Profits

Finding ways to help and make a living is difficult especially when you're like me and have big plans to help with very little money to get there. Dr. B, Communications Professor at Longwood, and I were having a conversation a little while ago about what I wanted to do post-graduation. I told him that I wanted to help people here and in other countries. I want to volunteer and change the world in some way. He pointed to my nails and explained that the community service lifestyle won't pay for a french manicure lifestyle. It made me laugh and blush but it got me thinking about how I would make a living and help people. Obviously I would give up my pretty nails to help others but I also have to be able to take of my basic needs. So I'm on the search for non-profit organizations seeking employees. I found a nonprofit network site and was hoping others could send me information on nonprofits they know of or other sites that offer these job listings.

What to do... What to do.

A friend of mine came over last night and we got to talking about what we want to do with our lives. We both came to the conclusion that what we are majoring in as undergrads is not fulfilling. We have aspirations and things we want to change but we haven’t done anything to make this change. I am almost finished with school and whether or not my degree get used as it is intended no longer matters to me as much as it did two years ago. My ambitions have been gradually changing over the last few months from the drive to graduate, get a job, get married, get a better job, buy a house, have kids, retire, and die ... to now wanting to make a difference. I still want love in my life and I fully intend to get married eventually but my work is no longer a top priority. I want to travel while I can, do volunteer work while I can, and more than anything I want to go to Africa to purify water and/or help build schools. How I’m going to pay for these service adventures, I’m still not sure. Any suggestions?

Interesting Finds on Ways to Help

I've decided to change things up and add some ideas of ways you can help either in your community or around the world. Free the Children is a group who works to build schools and purify water in developing countries. I learned about them last night at a speech at Longwood University given by Michel Chikwanine, a former child soldier who was finally saved from the war in Congo and brought to Canada. His inspiring story and the work he does now has really pushed me to start thinking about my life and what I can do to help. I am going to use my blog to try to find a way to make a difference whether it be through another organization or something I can do on my own. The only thing I ask of you is that you offer ideas of things that we can do. Look into these two sites and tell me what inspires you!

Fighting for your Right

While getting off the path of least resistance is difficult at times it is wonderful to hear about people's experiences with trying it. Amanda George (Blogger of This Week in Weird) said that she has found herself consciously getting off the path and speaking up. I think the reason she has started doing this is because she, like she mentioned in her comment, is getting more educated about the "isms" and now has an understanding of why it is important to get off the path.
Getting off the path can cause you to be met with ignorant people or major blockades. This is just what happened in a Mississippi high school where a lesbian student is having to step out and speak up for what she wants. The school cancelled the prom to avoid having to deal with the 'issue' of having a same sex couple at the prom. This caused an even bigger issue for the school.
What are your thoughts on this?

Why do we do it?

"He's so gay!"

"Look at her- she is so butch!"

"Bet he bought that car with drug money..."

How do you respond when your friends or family members say things like this? Do you agree, laugh it off, sit their in silence, or shrug and walk away? Guess what! No matter if you whole-heartedly agree or just sit there quietly you have just participated in an "ism." Allan Johnson calls this staying on the "path of least resistance" in his book Privilege, Power, and Difference (2006). This path is the easy road. The smile or nod instead of speaking up and telling those people why it's wrong to judge people like that and how they are continuing the spiral of oppression in our society.

This week I'm asking you to speak up. Get off the Path. Respond to this blog! Tell me what you think!

What do you do when these situations arise?

What will you do to make a change?

________

Johnson, A. G. (2006). Privilege, Power, And Difference - Second Edition. New York, San Fransisco.