YouVote Logo

Christopher Kellogg's 
SLWP Webfolio
for the 
YouVote



This webfolio is dedicated to my WRA135 Service-Learning Writing Project for Spring 2005 at Michigan State University.  The agency I was placed with is The YouVote of East Lansing. 

Please note, Adobe Reader is required to view Portable Document Format (PDF) files on this page.  Adobe Reader is available as a free download by clicking on any of the Acrobat icons. Note also, blue text indicates a hyperlink on all the materials associated with this SLWP Webfolio.

Part I: Planning the Writing Project

Agreement and Proposal

During the second day of class, I met with Tim O'Malley, our 2005 YouVote representitive.  Tim explained what my participation in the  Service-Learning Writing Project would entail.  I will be writing pieces for the YouVote website, which can be found below.

Audience Assessment

YouVote tries to reach the entire Lansing and East Lansing community, so knowing the audience I would be writing for is vital to the success of YouVote.

Part II: Working on the Writing Project

Fact File

After establishing who our audience would be I have compiled a fact file on YouVote and our role assisting the YouVote organization.

Journal Entries

Since Tim's first visit to class on the second day, I have been keeping a journal of his visits and my time spent working for YouVote .  The journal is a place where I can keep my thoughts assembled so that I may reflect back on my time spent with YouVote.

Project Updates

With Only a few weeks remaining in the semester, I have noted my progress.  Updates can be found here.

Service-Learning Writing Project for The YouVote

As indicated earlier, The YouVote is both a physical "brick-and-mortar" building and a "virtual" site available only online.  My primary writing responsibilities to "the Zone" (as it's often called in-house) were dedicated to maintaining current information available at the website.  Thus, I wrote a number of documents in Microsoft Word and then turned them into PDF files - complete with links.

Assignment One:  Why Voting Is Important for Young Americans

Why Voting Is Important           

Assignment Two:  Election Voting Timeframe

Elections for 2005

Assignment Three: Review East Lansing City Council Race

An assignment focused on educating the public on candidates in the upcoming East Lansing City Council elections.  Our candidate was John Fournier, a 21 year old student in the James Madison College. 

Assignment Four:  Lansing Candidate Q & A

For this assignment we were to write a letter to Tony Benevides asking him questions about his political goals.  Our letter can be found here.

Assignment Five: What If We Were Burundi?

A short essay discussing the differences between voter turnout in the U.S. and Burundi can be found here.

Assignment Six: Looking Toward the Future.

For this assignment we were required to compile a list of potential Republican candidates for the 2008 Presidential election.  Our list can be found here along with a brief biography of each potential candidate.

Assignment Seven: Changing the System.

For this assignment we were required to compile reasons against having an Electoral College in the 2008 Presidential Election.  After discussing it in class we came up with our list which can be found here.

Assignment Eight: How does Voting Play into Citizenship?

For this final assingment we were asked to discuss the importances of voting and why it is crutial to citizenship.  The emphasis for the paper was for our personal experiences to reflect on why voting is so important.  My paper can be found here.

Part III: Evaluating the Writing Project 

               Reflecting on the SLWP Experience

After the Service-Learning Writing Project was finished, we were asked to write a reflection of our experiences.  With my time spent working on YouVote, I learned a great deal about the importances of voting as well as what issues are important in the community where YouVote focuses.  My reflections can be found here.
   
Study Group Writing Project

While working in my group there were many positive and negative experiences we encountered.  The majority of our projects for YouVote were to be written as a group, therefore we develeoped a strategy to make our group work go smoothly.

Agency Evaluation for Service-Learning Writing Project


After the end of the semester, Tim O'Malley will be evaluating my performance while working with YouVote.  Here is the form he will be using.


created: 2/22/01
last updated: 1/11/05