Today I met with the director of East Side Neighborhood Service. Aside from filling out some paper work, she gave me an overview of exactly what would be going on. It turns out that the afterschool program I will be working in has many more students than usual and not enough help. Jean siad that she even had to turn families away. I could tell that this was very distressing for her as she is very commited to the program and the people in it. So right off the bat, I could tell that while this experience will be wonderful, it will have it's interesting moments and will most likely wipe me out a little. The age range of the kids extends from kids in kindergarten to High Schoolers. The most interesting thing is that a majority of the students have recently moved to the US. There is a very high population of Somalians. I had the pleasure to meet some of the elders today that were there to take an English class. They were very welcoming. I am SO excited to get started, but at the same time I am very nervous. I want to make sure that I connect well with the kids and become someone they enjoy hanging out with and that they know they can ask help from. Thursday is my first day, so I guess we'll see what happens!
Posted by dres0060 at September 28, 2004 9:21 PM