Sam Brock

Reflecting on University Hill Elementary

This program has been so rewarding and fulfilling for me. I look forward to being in the class with my kids everyday that I am not with them. Even just that sentence, "my kids", I feel so connected to these kids and want nothing but success for each and every one of them. The other day I took one of the kids to the book fair. He picked out a book he was excited to give his brother and a chest of erasers for himself. He didn't have enough money for both and didn't understand that. He said "but thats for my brother". It broke my heart watching, and I paid the difference. It brought me so much joy to help him. I was smiling the whole rest of the day, seriously. 

This volunteering opportunity is really helping me to cement my own values and morals as a young adult. These kids have nothing extrinsic to offer me they simply need help and I am there to give it. I have been working on making sure the kids are kind to each other but also balancing the fact that I think some conflict is important. I am more and more trying to understand what makes them frustrated and how to work through that rather then trying to prevent it in the first place. Another thing I am trying to balance is making sure I am spending time with the quieter kids or kids that really need help but are afraid to ask for it. I am learning how to approach and offer help to those that are struggling. I am also using that as an opportunity to help the kids understand that sometimes other kids may need me more then them which is hard for them to understand.

I really can not begin to explain how beneficial this entire experience has been for me. As silly or cliche as it sounds I truly have learned just as much, if not more from the kids, as they have learned from me. I feel as though I have become substantially more empathetic and patient. I think working with these kids has also given me such a different perspective than I have had before. Some of these kids' families really struggle financially and there is something so innocent about how they talk about these struggles. There is a sense of such intense gratitude for what they have which is just so beautiful to see. 

This is my first real experience working with kids and although I shouldn't have been surprised I still am so surprised that the things I feel like poison my mind have not yet affected them. Sometimes the kids will say something so simple and so obvious but I realize how if someone my age said the same thing it would be seen as so insightful or progressive. I really love all the kids I work with. I just want them to have nothing but success in their life.  I would suggest to future students in this class to take it all in and try to notice how the kids think and feel. The only thing I would change about LING 1900 is that it was more time.