Month: January 2010

After completing our third day of service, my outlooks and thoughts on the trip are a little more cohesive. Our day began like the others, morning and early afternoon at the school, late afternoon at the boys and girls club. I finally had each kindergartener’s name memorized and began to know them all on a more personal level. What amazed me today was the insight and purity each youngster possessed, and the curious ways they articulated them. After learning the sounds that M and S make, I got to read a story about the wind! Before I handed out Quaker Oatmeal bars to each student, and since there are about 18 of them, I had to use two boxes. After passing out the first box and returning the my desk to grab the second, I observed something quite fantastic. About six students did not yet have an oatmeal bar, but the other twelve who had one in their possession were offering to give theirs up to suffice the snacking needs of their classmate. I was awed by the kindness these children showed. Unprompted, they all rose to the occasion to help those around them. In addition, many of the boys decided to “share” their snacks with me. We all had the same kind of bar (chocolate chip, delicious) but we would break ours in half and trade with someone. The end result was of course the same, but it was more the gesture of kindness these children demonstrated that I found satisfying.

I also learned I have the same sense of humor as a kindergartener. We were supposed to use plastic insects today to practice counting, but most of the boys were far too interested in playing to complete the activities (the girls were much more obedient, though it pains me to say it). One boy put the fly on his abdomen and said “Mr. Greg, I have to go to the nurse, I have a stomach bug!” It was hard to reprimand him when I found his joke gut-busting (excuse the pun). But after a quick laugh he moved on to counting in pairs.

Along with the humor aspect, I learned I have identical interests to an 8-10 year old. At the boys and girls club, most of the kids wanted nothing short of endless pool, ping pong, and foosball matches. To their dismay, we had an activity to complete before that. Brett and I, who together were in charge of about 20 pre-preteens, helped organize a service project for the Haiti Relief effort. The first day we brought it up, the kids had little to no interest in it. However today, we proposed writing letters to those affected telling them they were in our thoughts. To my amazement, once we gave the children something to be actively involved in, the thrived. Even some of the most troublesome boys settled down to write very thoughtful things. After a half hour of thoughtful writing and coloring we had a stack of personalized, handwritten letters. I explained to the boys that there were two kinds of needs the vicitms had, emotional and physical. We realized we were helping to appease the emotional needs, and decided to implement another part of the plan. Each children vowed to ask friends, family, and neighbors to donate non-perishable canned goods to aid in the effort. One child even proposed scouring his house for clothes and toys he outgrew. The children were excited to participate and it seems that the program will continue even after we leave Chicago. It’s great to see the kids get so involved in their own service, and that some would even step up as leaders to keep the effort going. And after all the work of course, we had time for foosball.

Overall today was one of the most meaningful days of service because every ounce of effort I put towards to kids was rebounded tenfold to me in a mixture of laughter, smiling, and exertion of effort to help one another and the world around them.

Where to even begin…the past few days have been such a fantastic experience.  On Tuesday we arrived in at Holy Family Lutheran School where we were each assigned to a different classroom/grade level.  I was placed in the second grade classroom with 16 seven-eight year olds.  Spending the past few days with them has been almost indescribable.  The feeling of walking into a cafeteria early in the morning and having student after student run up to me yelling “Miss K! Miss K!” giving me giants hugs, completely overjoyed is simply heartwarming.  From making copies of workbook sheets, to grading papers, to making signs for the classroom, and preforming other simple tasks for the teacher, the help is clearly appreciated.  Having the opportunity to also work one-on-one with the kids and see them grow even in three days has only added to the experience.  During our tour and introduction to the school we were given a brief background of the student body.  We were told that many, if not most, of the students come from low-income families, few with two parents and many with a single grandparent raising them.  Regardless of their home life and personal struggles, the school’s goal is to, for the day, help them forget about such things by giving them a place to come that they can be feel comfortable at and excited to go to.  This great sense of community was most seen  during chapel on Wednesday afternoon.  One of my favorite experiences thus far, chapel at the school was so unique.  With lots of singing, dancing, and yelling every student, pre-school to eighth grade, participated fully.  At the end the principal assigned all the students a question for their weekly chapel reflection.  Hearing the students back in the classroom talk about what they had learned at chapel and writing their chapel reflections shows that the school offers much more than an education.

After Holy Family, we took the bus a few blocks over to the Boys and Girls Club.  A much different atmosphere, here I was assigned to help the 6-7 year old age group with different activities.  As the days have passed, the progress of the kids has been substantial.  The struggles and background of the kids at the Boys and Girls Club are certainly more evident.  The contrast between the school and the boys and girls club has only made the learning experience for myself that much greater.  With a little time and patience, there has been a great opportunities to make a strong impression on the kids at the club.  They truly appreciate having us there and even in the short amount of time we have spent with them, see us all as role models, something the kids can never have enough of.

Leaving tomorrow and saying goodbye tomorrow will certainly not be easy.  It is comforting to know, however, that even in a week I was able to leave a positive impression on the students and putting a few smiles on their faces just as they did for me.