I drove over to Lee High School today and had the opportunity of meeting the student I will be working with this semester. The CIS employee I spent the afternoon speaking with did not know about UST's partnership with CIS or what I was doing at the school. It was all a little confusing at first, but eventually we had everything straightened out and I ended up learning a great deal about the services provided by CIS and the need Lee High School has for outside help. The student I met today is eighteen and a sophomore; she needs help in all her classes but specifically asked for assistance with her Chemistry class, as she has failed it several times. I am very excited about the partnership with CIS and the opportunity to help them in any way. I plan on doing research this week, before I meet with the student again on Friday, to find out more about what tenth grade chemistry students do in the class room and hopefully find some helpful material online to take with me. The students do not have textbooks, so I feel that it will be very helpful if I am able to find any literature online to aid in the tutoring sessions this semester.

For the Service Learning project with Communities in Schools, I have chosen to partner with Lee High School. I have researched many of the schools in the Houston Independent School District but ultimately decided on Lee HS because of it's very diverse student population. From what I have read about the campus, I have learned that the student population is made up of students speaking over 40 different languages and a large portion of the population is made up of refuges of Hurricane Katrina. It appears that the school is struggling with financial problems as well as a high drop-out rate. I am slightly intimidated by the project, as the only service learning experience I have with students is with elementary school-age children, but I am also very hopeful. I believe this will be a very positive experience and I am looking forward to helping the school in whatever way I am granted the opportunity.