Wind-Shield Survey

A wind-shield survey is a method observation. You are meant to observe only what you can see in a community in order to gain a rough idea of how that community works, and see what pieces go together to make it a working community. During this time, you can also look for potential problems a community may have. My CODES Cohort was given the opportunity to do a windshield survey on several different areas while being guided by community leaders.

These notes were taken on the bus and during touring the listed spaces. With observing all of these components in an area, I can begin to get a better idea of what it may be like to live in that community. Doing this windshield survey made me realize how much easier it is to put myself in the shoes of others after analyzing the things that are important to them. Koch Park was located in Florissant, Missouri. Prior to the windshield survey, I had never been in Florissant, and I didn’t know anything about the city whatsoever. Now that the windshield survey is over, I can tell you what schools’ success have, there is a strong youth soccer community, and the town is very active during the day.

At first glance, this page does not seem to have many notes, but sometimes it’s less about the amount, and more about the value of the notes instead. To break it down, all of these notes were taken on the subject of Christ Covenant Church, also in Florissant. It’s not easy to talk much about this church from the outside, but I was given the opportunity to go inside to learn about the people who attend this church, as well as their values. Within the church, there was a place of warship, areas for the young to learn, and a meeting room that had some history. These things help us to understand that the church values the education of the young individuals. Something that I can remember from the tour, is being told that Covenant Church is not just a place to help people go to heaven. It’s also meant to be a place of structure and stability in one’s life until death. Because of this, those who are loyal to the church make sure that there are resources for the children who attend. I think that it’s amazing that Christ Covenant Church serves as more than just a place of warship on Sundays, and they utilize the space for more activities. It shows that the community has an interest in getting all that they can out of what they have, which is amazing.

This windshield survey was an important part of my personal development in CODES. One important part of this class is being open-minded when meeting new people from new areas and communities. This windshield survey gave me the opportunity to deeply analyze Florissant, understand what works and what does not, and get a better idea of what kind of people make up the community. Above all, I found it easy to stay curious and open-minded, and those are characteristics that it takes in order to help a community!