At first when I was given the task of finding the child for the Service Learning project, I was a little nervous. I wasn't a very outgoing person, but with this project, that soon had to change. I had to break out of my shell and work with my partner to get the job done. I was so glad that I had a partner that was willing to pull his weight just as much as I was willing to pull mines. Kory was a really nice guy. He was easy to talk to, and I never felt uncomfortable when I was around him. He made doing this project a lot easier.
When we got to the Girls and Boys club, we were assigned our child to work with. I was a little worried about the child not being cooperative, but that wasn't the case for Breona. She came in prepared to talk about her careers (Engineer and Basketball player) and to work on the dream collage. Once we got her talking and comfortable, time just flew by. Before we knew it, we were finished with the collage. The first week was probably one of the most memorable and most fun for me.
The second visit went a little slower than the first. Kory and I sat down with Breona and researched her dream careers with her. We found out that engineering might not fit her interests as much. Science wasn't a favorite class of Breona's, and engineering requires lots of it. So, we moved on to basketball and discovered that that particular career was the way to go.
Now, that we had all the information that we needed, it was time to write the essay. We all know it's hard to get a kid to sit still, let alone get them to write an essay. Maria suggested bringing candy as an incentive for the kid, but Kory and I took another route. Me being me, I know how to get the job done. If you just set a piece of paper in front of the child's face and tell them to write an essay, they're probably going to look at you like you're crazy. You have to ease your way into the topic and guide them. So, we started off with the outline and worked our way into the essay. I happened to have a candy bar with me that day, and I was planning on saving it for later but I decided to share it with Breona. This visit turned out to be a fun visit for all of us. Though it was hard to get into, we managed to get the essay written.
Last but not least, the Action Plan. This last week of Summer Scholars has been a very busy one, and everybody has been trying to get to their last Service Learning, including Kory and I. We too had to create an Action Plan of our own. Ours is preparing us for the hectic year ahead of us. The Action Plan that we have to do with our student is a little different. We have to help them prepare for the middle school and high school years ahead of them. This will keep them on the right path to achieving their goals.
One thing that I learned from this experience was to never say that you can't do something. If you put your mind to it and put forth effort, you can do anything. This experience as well as the one with Summer Scholars has helped me interact with other people instead of staying in my comfort zone. I'm glad to have changed Breona's life in some way and to have shown her that there is hope for her in the future. I hope that she takes this experience and uses it to get her to where she wants to be.
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