My Soon To End Journey...
Children running in with no worries searching for fun things to do, and for snacks to eat was what my eyes sought every time I stepped foot in the Grandview center in Everett. On a daily basis after school this children step foot in the building seeking help with homework and or seeking to play with other kids and talk. As they came in and saw me or any other volunteer they came up wondering our names and some shy ones were scared to ask for help. From this experience I gained somewhat patience, along with seeing how other nationalities seem to think and act. This helped me because I think it is important for children to learn how to interact with not only other children from other nationalities but also adults.
before learning that we had to do some service learning hours for this class, I would never have volunteered to help children that came from low income families. To me it seem like my life was already filled with things to do daily from going to work,school, to doing homework,keeping my apartment clean, and hanging out with friends. when I learned I had to volunteered 10 hrs of the quarter at a place full of children seemed and i really didn't think i could go through it because of my busy schedule. However i figured it out and though most of the times I would get somewhat impatient and attacked by this kids, I went through it not only for the fact that this could influence my grade but also because i wanted to make and impression on at least one of all these kids.
during my presence at Grandview I helped a few kids do there homework , play games, read a book ,and even do some arts & crafts, something I hadn't done in a very long time. Interacting and talking with these children mostly from Ukrain and India was always interesting to me. It was funny talking to them and having them teach me how to say there names,especially the Ukrainian kids. What i learned besides names and trying to learn different accents was that many of these kids had no discipline, which meant that they didnt have a role model to look up to and learn from at there home. I saw that many of this children had very large families, which means that their parents aren't home most of the time because they need to provide for the family. Which i could say explains the behavior of the children.
Many of the children are in need of attention and tend to do very crazy things to get any of the volunteers attention, A specific child made my day the last time I was there and I can say I came out very happy that day, this was because I helped her with her homework and when she was done she looks at me and says " How do you know so much" I responded saying "well I try to always pay attention in class and not let others influence me to do the opposite", she looked at me and said its hard not to do what others do, but i try to not listen to them , maybe one day I can be as smart as you ". when she said that, though it wasnt anything big, I felt like in a way I somewhat made an impact on her and for that I felt very proud of myself.
My journey with the kids was fun and im glad I did this becuase I learned from them as they learned from me. I did my best to try to get them to respect themselves and others, and also to try to influence in them the impportance of education ,so ending my Sl was comforting for me because I know I tried my best, though the very first day I really thought about just not going through with it. I learned to communicate with them and to be tolerant with their behavior.my experience was interesting and if one thing I got out of this, is that I really don't want a kid anytime soon. =)
For the service learning required for this class I will be volunteering at the Grandview Community Center. this institution is a center where low income kids go to be helped with school, also they provide various activities and tutoring. The intention of this program is to have the children involved in activities along with prepare them for school. Most of these kids parents work and don't have time to help their children to study.
