Hey everyone!
So, I am still loving everything about this project as much as I was a week ago, which is amazing! I've made closer bonds with some of the kids, and I've begun to feel more comfortable taking charge when I need to. I've also been continuing to work at the Hilltop branch, and I love it there as well. It's crazy how fast the kids get attached to you, and how fast you can get attached to the kids! We get notes and pictures from them all of the time, pretty soon I'm going to start hanging mine above my cot. The kids just love whatever attention you can give them!
Another really neat thing is how it seems like I'm making somewhat of a connection with some of the 5th and 6th grade girls, who seem to be a little tougher to work with. The younger kids just want to please you all of the time and immediately look up to you, but the older girls aren't that way. On Wednesday of this past week I was in charge of starting a "Youth Board", which is sort of like a student council for the club. Some of the older girls came and I really liked talking with them about things. Now I make it a normal thing for me to come say hi wherever they're hanging out, and I think it's helping. They know my name and ask me questions and stuff hahaha it's pretty neat!
In the mornings now 4 people on my team started at the food bank. Katy came back Thursday and she was so excited about all the families she got to help. The other's loved it too! I was sooo happy they were enjoying the work there. My project is supposed to be started at the Senior Center, but there was a miscommunication and I don't think we'll get to start it until maybe Tuesday or Wednesday this week. I'm not sure how that's going to work out, but so far we've just continued to work on organizing and helping out with things at the club in the mornings. On Thursday, San Juan College was having a free day at their rec center. Our whole team went to go rock climbing!! It was soooo much fun and now we all really want to make it a regular thing to go there, because I don't think it costs very much. I wasn't the best at it, but I definitely was having a good time. And it's one of those things that you just want to keep doing to see how good you can get at it. I'm so excited to try again! Today (Saturday) we went to Aztec, NM to get some ISP hours at the Aztec Ruins! It's a National Park and it's sooooo neat! We did a few hours of service for them, and in return they gave us a free tour of the ruins. The team was definitely glad we went.
So for now everyone's just hanging around being lazy. We're really enjoying have 2 full days of the weekend while we're here, because we didn't get that in Joplin. Anyways...I think that's all I have for now! :)
Love
Abby
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Friday, January 13, 2012
Training
Hey everyone!
We've completed our first week here at the Boys and Girls Club, and I can honestly say I love it. We havent begun our morning projects yet for the food bank or the senior center, so we've been spending the morning doing trainings. We've talked about things like appropriate interaction with the kids, disciplinary stuff, and how to hold a healthy professional boundary with the kids. But come the afternoon we were thrown right into the mix. We were either assigned with a certain grade or with a specific area of the club to supervise. It's pretty much pure chaos for 4 straight hours, but it's pretty dang fun. I think even my team members who were hesitant about working with children are enjoying themselves so far, so that definitely makes me happy. Farmington has a high rate of poverty, crime, abuse, etc., so sometimes the situations we face with the kids are really sad. But the staff helps us out to realize how much of a difference we are making.
There is a branch of the club called Hilltop on the other side of Farmington on the Navajo reservation land. It is in the middle of a trailer park and is much, much smaller. Caroline and Katy go there on Mon, Wed, and Fri..and Alyssa and I get to go on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I absolutely LOVE it there. The smaller numbers makes it much easier to give the kids your attention, and they are serioustly attention starved. It is so beneficial for them to have positive interaction with us, because they have even rougher lives at home than most of the kids at the main club do. Alcoholism is a huge problem, and our supervisor at Hilltop told us that she can tell when the parents are drinking a lot because the kids come in super angry and fiesty. Again, they help us with understanding that some things we can't do anything about, but we have to realized what a huge difference we are making. Aside from Navajo, many of the students are also Hispanic..which gives me an excellent chance to brush up on my Spanish! Meanwhile, I've so far learned to say "hello" in Navajo! Hahaha, it's great how open the kids are and willing to talk about it. I think it's wonderful that they have a safe place like this to express themselves.
Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. day, which is a day ON for us, because it's is considered a national day of service. The club will be open all day for the kids, so we'll be working here...and at 5 pm we are having a program here about the day. The mayor will be honoring my team for our national service! Lots of other things will be happening too. It's a pretty big deal and lots of media will be there, which is excellent for NCCC! I also will be giving a speech along with Caroline and Quin. The speech is on "the reason we serve", and like why MLK day is a national day of service. I feel really lucky to get to give this speech!!!
Ok, so that's all I have for now. Sometime next week is when we'll begin our morning projects with other organizations. Hope all is well for everyone at home! :)
Love
Abby
We've completed our first week here at the Boys and Girls Club, and I can honestly say I love it. We havent begun our morning projects yet for the food bank or the senior center, so we've been spending the morning doing trainings. We've talked about things like appropriate interaction with the kids, disciplinary stuff, and how to hold a healthy professional boundary with the kids. But come the afternoon we were thrown right into the mix. We were either assigned with a certain grade or with a specific area of the club to supervise. It's pretty much pure chaos for 4 straight hours, but it's pretty dang fun. I think even my team members who were hesitant about working with children are enjoying themselves so far, so that definitely makes me happy. Farmington has a high rate of poverty, crime, abuse, etc., so sometimes the situations we face with the kids are really sad. But the staff helps us out to realize how much of a difference we are making.
There is a branch of the club called Hilltop on the other side of Farmington on the Navajo reservation land. It is in the middle of a trailer park and is much, much smaller. Caroline and Katy go there on Mon, Wed, and Fri..and Alyssa and I get to go on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I absolutely LOVE it there. The smaller numbers makes it much easier to give the kids your attention, and they are serioustly attention starved. It is so beneficial for them to have positive interaction with us, because they have even rougher lives at home than most of the kids at the main club do. Alcoholism is a huge problem, and our supervisor at Hilltop told us that she can tell when the parents are drinking a lot because the kids come in super angry and fiesty. Again, they help us with understanding that some things we can't do anything about, but we have to realized what a huge difference we are making. Aside from Navajo, many of the students are also Hispanic..which gives me an excellent chance to brush up on my Spanish! Meanwhile, I've so far learned to say "hello" in Navajo! Hahaha, it's great how open the kids are and willing to talk about it. I think it's wonderful that they have a safe place like this to express themselves.
Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. day, which is a day ON for us, because it's is considered a national day of service. The club will be open all day for the kids, so we'll be working here...and at 5 pm we are having a program here about the day. The mayor will be honoring my team for our national service! Lots of other things will be happening too. It's a pretty big deal and lots of media will be there, which is excellent for NCCC! I also will be giving a speech along with Caroline and Quin. The speech is on "the reason we serve", and like why MLK day is a national day of service. I feel really lucky to get to give this speech!!!
Ok, so that's all I have for now. Sometime next week is when we'll begin our morning projects with other organizations. Hope all is well for everyone at home! :)
Love
Abby
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Round 2!!!!
Hey everyone!!
It's been awhile since the last post....but it was SO nice to be home with friends and family over christmas break! In fact, it almost made me sick to have to come back. I love the program and everything we're doing...it's just that the actual LEAVING part was soooo difficult. But a lot of my friends said they felt the same way..so I didn't feel too bad. And obviously, I survived :) We spent transition weeks wrapping up things from round 1 project in Joplin, and preparing things for our round 2 project in Farmington. I got the job of being 1 of 2 assistant team leaders and also 1 of 2 peer helpers, so I had some trainings for those positions as well as some added responsibilities. While it definintely ended up being some long days, (while many of my friends were back in their dorms hanging out) it made the week go by much faster which I am thankful for..because transition weeks can be pretty boring.
So we spent all day today (Saturday) traveling to Farmington, New Mexico! It was about a 7ish hour drive..and almost the entire thing was spent driving through the mountains which were absolutely breathtaking!! I couldn't believe the views that we got to see. We made it here around 7:45 and we were immediately excited! The facility that this Boys & Girls Club is in definitely surpassed my expectations for it. They are run on grants and donatoins, so I know that funding is always an issue. This building is much better than the one I got to work at in Denver. Anyways, the staff member began giving us a tour that included one big room with pool tables, air hockey, foosball, and ping pong..she also pointed out the big screen TV with cable, wii, play station 3, and a big nice kitchen that we get all to ourselves. There is also a big gym and free wifi. Compared to Joplin, we're living in luxury! We get the multi purpose room to ourselves and we're sleeping on cots that we checked out before we left campus. All in all, this isn't a bad gig! :)
We got a little bit of information about what we'll be doing. Our workdays will generally be from 9-6..in the mornings we will either be working at a food bank, at an elderly assistance program, or some other organizaion..and the afternoons will be spent at The Club. We were told that we would be matched up with 3 kids and we would be there mentor. We would also get the chance to work in a variety of different programs throughout the club. I am SO SO SO excited about this entire project. I love working with kids anyways, so this is a great opportunity for me. I think even the people on my team who aren't so thrilled to be working with kids are starting to get a little excited as well!
Well, work training starts on monday..so I'm sure I'll have more to say after that. So far everything is great and I am just sooo excited to be here. This particular Boys and Girls Club gets 200-300 kids every day, so we are definitely needed! Hope all is well with everyone at home :)
Love
Abby
It's been awhile since the last post....but it was SO nice to be home with friends and family over christmas break! In fact, it almost made me sick to have to come back. I love the program and everything we're doing...it's just that the actual LEAVING part was soooo difficult. But a lot of my friends said they felt the same way..so I didn't feel too bad. And obviously, I survived :) We spent transition weeks wrapping up things from round 1 project in Joplin, and preparing things for our round 2 project in Farmington. I got the job of being 1 of 2 assistant team leaders and also 1 of 2 peer helpers, so I had some trainings for those positions as well as some added responsibilities. While it definintely ended up being some long days, (while many of my friends were back in their dorms hanging out) it made the week go by much faster which I am thankful for..because transition weeks can be pretty boring.
So we spent all day today (Saturday) traveling to Farmington, New Mexico! It was about a 7ish hour drive..and almost the entire thing was spent driving through the mountains which were absolutely breathtaking!! I couldn't believe the views that we got to see. We made it here around 7:45 and we were immediately excited! The facility that this Boys & Girls Club is in definitely surpassed my expectations for it. They are run on grants and donatoins, so I know that funding is always an issue. This building is much better than the one I got to work at in Denver. Anyways, the staff member began giving us a tour that included one big room with pool tables, air hockey, foosball, and ping pong..she also pointed out the big screen TV with cable, wii, play station 3, and a big nice kitchen that we get all to ourselves. There is also a big gym and free wifi. Compared to Joplin, we're living in luxury! We get the multi purpose room to ourselves and we're sleeping on cots that we checked out before we left campus. All in all, this isn't a bad gig! :)
We got a little bit of information about what we'll be doing. Our workdays will generally be from 9-6..in the mornings we will either be working at a food bank, at an elderly assistance program, or some other organizaion..and the afternoons will be spent at The Club. We were told that we would be matched up with 3 kids and we would be there mentor. We would also get the chance to work in a variety of different programs throughout the club. I am SO SO SO excited about this entire project. I love working with kids anyways, so this is a great opportunity for me. I think even the people on my team who aren't so thrilled to be working with kids are starting to get a little excited as well!
Well, work training starts on monday..so I'm sure I'll have more to say after that. So far everything is great and I am just sooo excited to be here. This particular Boys and Girls Club gets 200-300 kids every day, so we are definitely needed! Hope all is well with everyone at home :)
Love
Abby
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