I’m
really going to miss all these kids that I’ve met on this trip, as well as all
the teachers we’ve been working with. The
students in Ms. Ashworth’s kindergarten class at Glen Lea made me a beautiful
flower pot to bring home. They painted
it white, and then each kindergartener decorated it with a pattern of flowers
made out of their finger prints. Each flower
petal and each dot of the polka dot border around the top is a different child’s
fingerprint, which I think is such a great gift! They didn’t plant anything in it because we’ll
be traveling, but their teacher included some seeds to plant with it. This is one of my favorite gifts I’ve ever
gotten! Another wonderful gift was the Peter
Paul Development Center T-Shirts they made for our group! On the front they just look like T-shirts
with their logo on it, but on the back they personalized them with a Jayhawk
and “Alternative Spring Break 2012” for us, which was absolutely touching. The people who work at that center are just so
amazing and devoted to their work, and some of the most genuinely giving people
that I’ve ever met.
This
week has flown by. I can’t believe we’re
already packing to go home. I feel like
I’ve grown so much this week, and I had such a wonderful time here in
Richmond. Both sites that we volunteered
at were so enjoyable and welcoming. Today
at Glen Lea we had a substitute in my class and it was interesting to see how
they kids behave when their regular routine is disturbed. They were overall pretty good, but they were
much louder and less willing to sit still.
I also got to take a more active role in the classroom; when we got back
from lunch, I was in charge of reading them stories for about forty five
minutes while their substitute organized lesson plans. Of course, it took about ten or fifteen minutes
to get them to quiet down enough to read aloud, which was very daunting for
me. I’m used to being the fun novelty
volunteer in the classroom, although I’ve adopted the same strictness about following
the rules as Ms. Ashworth from the beginning of the week. Eventually, those that wanted to listen stayed
for more stories while the rest of the children did a worksheet at their
desk.
At
Peter Paul, Fridays are fun days because there’s no homework due the next
day. It was really hot outside, but I
braved it to go play with some of the kids outside. Most of them went to a local park to play for
an hour or so, but a group of 12 or so girls in third and fourth grade stayed
behind because they had glee club at 5:15.
Until that began, though, I stayed to play with them in the empty lot
and parking lot across the street that Peter Paul owns. We played catch, jump rope, and hula hoop,
and I had a great time. They had some
toys for playing catch that I had never used before, and I think they enjoyed
getting to teach me something and supporting me as I slowly picked up the
skill. I loved seeing how happy they
were, and playing with them there was so fun that I forgot for a while what a
poor and dangerous neighborhood we were surrounded by.
I
am really grateful to have had this chance to work at these sites with such
great kids. I’ve learned more life
skills and world awareness this week than I have in a long time, and that has
been the biggest lesson of all for me. I’m
exhausted from all the work, but I don’t want the week to be over yet because I’ve
had such a good time. I can’t believe
how fast it has gone!
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