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