The Burn Out

            If you talk to anyone who has worked or currently works with children you will hear them talk about “The Burn Out,” the period of time a little while into working that they began to feel overwhelmed, a little tired and just burnt out.  Well the same thing happens in Jumpstart, not because we don’t love working with the children, session or teaching but because around midterms everything begins to weigh on you.  The combination of school, work and social life becomes a little much to balance, you begin to crave spring break, and lose sight of why you serve.  I had recently gotten close to the “Burn Out” and found myself desperately craving a break from it all.  I begin to find myself in the midst of a thousand things to do and no idea how I  was going to complete them all. One of the things on my list of “things to do” was what Jumpstart call a Self-Study.  It is a variation of training that you do on your own.  These trainings tend to be extremely helpful because you can set your own pace and go back to certain aspects that spoke to you.  However, this time I was having a hard time finding time to do the training with the level of concentration that is necessary.  I was eventually able to find some time and as I began the training and begin to learn more about how we as corps members should position ourselves to work with children I began to feel my passion returning. 

            I had almost forgot that Jumpstart is more than playing games, reading and practicing writing with children.  Its the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of these children that we have grown so attached to.  Working on the Self- Study made me rethink the approach I was bringing to Jumpstart, my strategies for classroom management and how I generally interacted with the children. It gave me new ideas on how to keep my kids engaged.  It reignited my passion for working with children, teaching and serving.  Yes, working with children can be hard at times and balancing school and work can be difficult but Jumpstart has given me the opportunity to leave those cares behind me.  I get the opportunity to escape the college domain for a couple hours a week, revisit my childhood and make a difference at the same time: nothing could be better. 

~Jasmine Hardy

Corps member

Team Learning