Great Book Giveaway

In our Conference and Group Leadership class, we are currently working on a service learning group project called "The Great Book Giveaway." Service learning is the integration of meaningful community service and following instructions that meet specific learning objectives, enriching the overall learning experience. Along with enriching students learning experience, service learning is also a way to develop and acquire necessary skills, as well as knowledge. The goal of this project is to distribute 30 books to a non-profit organization outside of the Capital District by April 30^th, while applying our leadership and team skills. The members in our group are Chelsea Merrill, Tunisha Bey, Chris Smith, Michaela Burbank, and Stephanie Acosta. Chelsea Merrill is a junior majoring in Communications and minoring in Business and German. Tunisha Bey is a senior majoring in Communications and minoring in Psychology. Chris Smith is a senior majoring in History and minoring in Communications. Michaela Burbank is a junior majoring in Communications and minoring in Business and Psychology. And Stephanie Acosta is a senior majoring in Communications and minoring in Criminal Justice. We have decided to donate our books to the Ingalls Memorial Library in Rindge, New Hampshire. The Ingalls Memorial Library was built in 1894 on historic ground, which once belonged to Colonel Nathan Hale of Revolutionary fame. Today, the library offers many services such as book sales from donated books, children's story time, and home school programs. To successfully complete this project we have been following a consensus approach. We believe and have agreed that through the consensus decision making process we effectively complete our tasks more effectively than through a directive decision making process. Through the consensus process that we have chosen to follow, every group member gives their input in a decision that needs to be made and as a group we come to an agreement on the ultimate decision. Each and every one of us has distinct skills and attributes that make it possible for us to collaborate together to complete our given tasks. We will be distributing children’s books to the Ingalls Memorial Library. The reading level of the children’s books that we will be distributing to the library will range from toddlers up to preadolescents. One of the main reasons as to why we decided to donate children’s books instead of any other kind of books was because we believe that it is extremely critical for children to learn and flourish through reading.  Therefore, the Ingalls Memorial Library was the perfect library since it also has a passion for educating our youth. We have successfully collected 30 books and will officially distribute to them to Ingalls Memorial Library on April 18. We are looking forward to completing this project and furthermore providing children with inspiring books!