Emily- Guidance Center- Day One

After a just a few hours of sleep I woke up around 5 a.m. to get ready to go!  I was up late getting my things packed for the trip up to Michigan and I was actually quite a bit nervous.  I woke up full of energy and was picked up in my group’s lovely bright red minivan to meet everyone at the Lied Center.  We got a later start than we had intended after encountering a little snafu with one of our group members but we eventually hit the road about 7:30 a.m. The Guidance Center crew consisted of Sean and myself as site leaders, Maureen (my fellow driver), Monica, Katelyn, Neal, and Mitchell. Maureen drove the first leg of the journey and we stopped in northern Missouri at a McDonald’s for some lunch.  We passed through quite a few states and came up to Michigan from Ohio.  I slept in the car when I could but while I was driving it was really nice to listen to music and get to know the other people in my group.  We made it to the Celebration Church of Christ in Southgate, Michigan about 10 p.m. and the pastor Byron let us in and greeted us with a friendly face.  He was sooo nice! We received the grand tour of the church building; it is a very nice building and was previously a custom car design company that has been transformed into a church.  We had a good first day of the trip getting to know each other better.

Neal- Guidance Center- Day Five

On the fifth day, we went back to the guidance center's headquarters to meet with a lot of the people we worked with over the week. We thanked all of them profusely for  allowing to make a difference and for there generosity over the week. They also gave us a delicious breakfast of cheese danish and breakfast pizza. I told them my issues of not having enough interactions with children which I thought was the most interesting part of the trip. They told us we were welcome to come back at any time. They gave us a certificate of appreciation and we all discussed our problems and favorite moments of the trip. We then preceded to have our day off, where we  went to an art museum. On the way there, we noticed that there was an extremely large amount of trash on the side of the way. I wish that we were able to help with the trash problem because things like that are one of the reasons why Detroit has a bad reputation. It would be an act that would help the environment and the reputation of Detroit, it is also something that I would have gladly done. There is also another significant issue that I noticed when we went to get food in the Greek town section of Detroit and that was the significant homeless population. There was one guy that went up to us and tried to convince us to donate to his homeless shelter and gave us all a small American flag, he then asked for donations, I felt bad for the guy and wanted to help but I did not have any cash on me. When I told him that he quickly took his flag back and left. Later in the day when we were watching  the basketball game, the guy saw us in the window and walked in the restaurant and specifically went to me and gave me an American flag, he tried talking to me but he was too drunk and I could not understand a word he was saying. I gave him back the flag and reminded him that I only had a card and no cash. He then continued to talk to us, and there was nothing I could do to help him at that time and the waiter escorted him outside. After experiencing that i felt helpless that I could not do anything to help him, From that I feel really inspired to volunteer at the homeless shelter and try to make a positive difference in their lives.

Neal- Guidance Center- Day Four

On the  fourth day, we volunteered at River Rouge high school, in a suburb of Detroit. The first thing that I noticed when I walked in the school was that racial segregation is unfortunately still alive. I noticed about only 5 white students, the whole time that I was there. I also noticed some of the issues facing urban students when I noticed two pregnant teenagers. Yet, while I was there we did not get much of an opportunity to interact with the students. We were offered the task of making paper flowers or washing clothes to prepare for a clothing drive. I decided to wash the clothes because I thought it was a better way to produce an impact. I soon found out that they used a giant industrial washer and dryer that I had never seen or used before. We had one of the officials at the school teach us how to use it, but we still had to organize the clothes into cold and warm washes, and one load had to be hand wash which we ended up not having time for. One of the things that I noticed was that in the office of the school, they had cctv's that were being constantly monitored, I was told that they used them because fights break out quite frequently in the school. We ended up eating cafeteria food and it was weird to be in a high school cafeteria again. The smell of cafeteria pizza still grosses me out. Then after lunch, we started to organize a room that was meant to be made for clothing donations. We folded and organized clothes so it would be easy to find what people need. I wish while I was there I was able to have more student interaction because it is one of my main interests to help troubled teenagers. Next we went to the Walter White community center to set up another Clifford literary event. I was excited that I got to read to a group of children. It was exciting to be involved in a event that makes a difference in children's life.

Neal- Guidance Center- Day Three

On wednesday, we went to the head start center in Romulous Michigan. We were immediately treated to breakfast when we entered the center. Our first task of the day was to reorganize a bulletin board. Now this is where I had a slight issue with the way our time was used. The task was to change the colors of the bulletin board and make it more presentable. I did not really enjoy this task because I wanted to interact with the children in the center, and I felt my time was being somewhat wasted in making a small cosmetic touch-up. I liked that we put some school pride into the board by adding KU colors and a Jayhawk, subliminally suggesting the idea of going to KU to the impressionable minds of the children. Yet, I had the sinking feeling that I could be doing something more meaningful. Once, we finished up with the bulletin board, the advisors in the head start center asked us if we wanted pizza and then when we said no as we packed lunch. They insisted once again proving the generosity of strangers. The next task was more fulfilling. We organized stacks of books to give to the children. While we were organizing the books, there was a little girl who was there because she hurt her tooth. We ended up reading to her and after a while, the teacher asked her if she was feeling better and she said no, but she obviously was fine and just hamming up to the attention, because as we finished reading she felt better and wanted to run back to class. The last part of the day was by far my favorite and unfortunately the shortest. This was when I got to visit a classroom, yet it was just as they were cleaning up for the day. I got the chance to read a few short books to 3 kids. I liked being able to interact with them and help direct them to clean up. One memorable moment was when they had a microscope and a couple of slides, I showed them a slide of a sponge and a starfish and they told me it reminded them of spongebob and Patrick. I sat with them as the teacher had them reminisce over the days event, and was disappointed when I was told to leave for the day. I wish we were given more time for child interaction and less time doing cosmetic touch-ups, as I felt that would have equated a more rewarding experience.

Neal- Guidance Center- Day Two

On the second day, we got to work at a head start center which is like a pre-school for poverty stricken children in a suburb of Detroit called Southgate. Our first task of the day was to clean out and organize a storage room. When, we got there the whole place was a completely unorganized mess. We had to move several filling cabinets and assorted boxes across the building. We had to throw out all the stuff that was damaged, like broken printers, and damaged shelves. After our group of seven spent about four hours on it, we made an unorganized cluttered storage room become clean and functional. While we were working, I noticed the kids walking single-filed throughout the building, they were amazed by the sight of older people moving large cabinets. In the second half of the day, we were responsible to set up a clifford's 50th anniversary literacy event that gave out books to poverty stricken children. I took up the task of setting up the  sound system, while I was setting it up I was able to play with the children. After I set it up, I asked the coordinator for the event, Emily, if I can read during the event. I was told no because another organization had priority because they paid for the books. I was told I can read when we do the same event on thursday. During the event, I ran a bean bag toss. It was great to see kids get so excited over the simple act of throwing a bag into a hole. It seemed like that little event made their day as they jumped and danced around the room off of such a simple act. Seeing someone get that happy definitely made my day. After the event, we were finishing cleaning up and one of the ladies that monitored the playroom told us that we did a great job and that Jesus would reward us in the afterlife. I slightly was hesitant at that statement because I think the real reward of doing volunteering work is in the present from knowing that I enabled the children to have a positive and enriching experience.

Neal- Guidance Center- Day One

On the first day of volunteering at the guidance center, we started the day by preparing our own lunches. Yet, once we got to the guidance center which was 3 minutes away, they had breakfast ready for us. One recurring theme that I noticed through out the trip was how people were so generous to feed us for our good service. We were met in a office board-room by two of the directors of the program and our event coordinator (Jillian).  They explained that the organization has been around for 50 years and that it has been helping children in the suburbs of Detroit in a multitude of ways through various programs. Through the course of the break, we were able to see several of these programs in action. The first program we took part in the developmental disabilities program. We were given three options for tasks which were cleaning a play room, photocopying and filing. I chose cleaning because I believe it had the best direct impact for the children using the center.  When we started the task we were told to clean every toy individually because some of the children drool on the toys and put them in their mouths. I cleaned through several boxes of toys. I also cleaned a book shelf and moved the books out of the play room and into the waiting room because some of the children would damage the books. Over the course of the day, I got to sit in on three different therapy sessions. The first session was a occupational therapy session for this young autistic child named Lucas. He had a 1 on 1 session with a occupational therapist, I saw her help him learn how to tie his shoes, brush his teeth, and spread nutella on his cracker. She also had him do stretches, and core building activities. I noticed that Lucas had a mario shit and talked to him about some games, I played as a kid. His therapist told me that she doesn't like encouraging him with video games because he needs to focus on more outside play with others. It reminded me of my childhood where I used to play video games a lot, but I think that he shouldn't be discouraged with video games like Mario that have actually been proven to improve spatial reasoning and problem solving skills. Yet, I understand her stance that he does need to experience more physical activity. I also got to experience a speech therapy session which was a one on one session, between a 3 or 4 year old named Matteo and his Speech therapist, Alex. She played games with him and had him play games and have him recognize objects and tell her what they were. One of the games was where we would fill up balloons and he would tell us when to stop and then he would tell us to let it go and we would let the air out of the balloon which would make him really happy. Alex said she would play games like that to teach him how to interact with others, as he had some social issues like not being able to differentiate between he and she. I spent a while discussing with alex my career plans and she told me I should sit in on a session that was going in the other room, where they had a 12 year old kid run a obstacle course to improve his coordination. I wish i had more time to talk to him because I am planning on being a psychologist who would focus on working with teens and young adults. We had to leave shortly after that I wish we had more time because there still was a lot more to clean. I enjoyed the day and greatly appreciated that I was able to sit on actual therapy sessions. It was a good start to the week.

Ashley- 826 Chicago- Day One

Our first day was a whirlwind to say the least. We woke up at 7 (something I have not done in a year or so mind you) and went to a local grocery store to buy the supplies for our week. This was actually very exciting simply because it was like a peek at what it would be like to live here. The whole time we were walking around I was trying to imagen what it is like to grow up here and how different my childhood was compared to the children who we are working with who have only known city life. After that we headed to 826 Chi. I had no clue what to expect. When we got there they gave us some of the books that the children had written and sent us to a near by coffee shop to get a better feel of the work that the children are doing. We sat on overstuffed sofas flipping through the pages the books as the freezing rain hit the window of the shop. It was one of my favorite moments of the day not only because I love coffee and reading in a hipster setting but also because I had not had a chance to really see what 826 is all about. They were right in making us read what had been written in past years as an introduction to the program. When we returned we did a bit cleaning and elbow grease work on the shop. Then finally the time came to tutor. This had been much talked about and now it was a reality. All during the instructions I felt the butterflies stir. Then the children started to trickle in. I was assigned to a tiny 6 year old boy in Ninja Pjs. Apparently it was pajama day at school. His cartoon covered pjs brought me right back to memories of themed school days. With that the tutoring came so easily. A good example was when I was helping him write sentences and he wrote a D instead of a B and without thinking about it I just knew what to say. I just told him how I remember the difference when I was his age. I showed him how you can make a bed with your hands and by spelling the word bed you can see which way each goes. The best part was that he actually used it the next time he was writing a B and it worked! That made my day. I can already tell that I am going to get a lot out of this break.