Lizeth Becerra

Major: Biology Pre-Med

Service Learning project: 

During the Spring 2010 semester, I had the opportunity to work with Dr. McNabb and her group of students in the Scorpion Consort class. We decided we wanted to impact the lives of the elderly and brighten their days by visiting and playing different music pieces for them in several nursing homes (Ebony Lake, Alta Vista, & Mother of Perpetual Hope). The students of the scorpion consort dressed up in Renaissance outfits and played their recorders for the elderly. To engage the elderly in the music, we took tambourines and handed them out so they could play along with the ensemble.

It was very gratifying to see the elderly so happy when participating through clapping and playing the tambourines to the music. They truly enjoyed having us visit them. We had the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of these elderly residents. Like Leo Rosten said, "The purpose of life is not to be happy- but to matter, to be productive, to be useful to have it make some difference that you have lived at all". Along with Dr. McNabb and the Scorpion Consort, I had the opportunity to make my life have one more purpose, that of brightening, with our music, the lives of these elderly residents.