Hello! My name is Bethany Schroeder and I am a freshman here at AU. As a freshman, there are many firsts coming my way, one of which being my first session as a corps member at Jumpstart. I knew I wanted to be involved in Jumpstart because I love children and wanted to surround myself with them, but no amount of this desire could have fully prepared myself for the chaos that is a classroom session with 20 3-year olds all wanting some kind of attention. 

However, a first session is not expected to be easy by any means. Not even a second, third, or fourth session is expected to be easy. That is part of the fun and the challenge of working with these young children. You never know what they will say or do, and you will never have a clear cut vision for how each day will go. This is a reason I am excited for sessions to come, to learn valuable skills such as patience and management from these kids while simultaneously teaching them valuable tools such as phonics. The Jumpstart experience mutually provides lessons to both parties, a rewarding concept of the program of which I am eager to see more of unfold.