Monday, March 9, 2015

The Return


Jacob Jaehne
20 January 2015
The Return
We walked into Cedar Tree Academy today with our materials prepped, our A Letter to Amy books in hand, and a feeling of excitement. Yes, we always do this, but this session was different; today was the first day back after a long winter break. Having seen the children before and knowing how much Jumpstart actually means to them, it was as if we were celebrities.
Walking down the halls with the red t-shirt on made me feel like a football quarterback right before going on the field with his team. With our team, we had some setbacks: some of our Corps members could no longer be with us, leaving Team Curiosity with only four members, and today we were going to be observed by one of our Site Managers. The pressure was on. Despite our low numbers, we did what we came there to do. Session was great, and seeing the children again made all those hours of prep work worth it as they always do. I saw the improvements in most of the kids as we read and did center time, and let me be the first to say: there very little words to describe how I felt to know that my work was meaningful; the one that comes to mind for me is proud.
As far as our numbers are concerned, we are going to have to figure out how best to work with the children, but I am not worried at all. However, I was proud of the work we did today, and one could tell that the children had fun, and in the end it is about them. That feeling I described earlier – that feeling like we were a celebrity – is not in vain; it is in knowing that we are making a difference.

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