When I Signed Up For Jumpstart

March 5, 2015

When I signed up for Jumpstart, I retrospectively had no idea what I was signing up for. I knew I was going to work with three year-olds in a literacy program, but I didn’t really understand how the program worked. I was worried that I would look stupid or be behind coming into Jumpstart a semester after most people. Yet, while my first few weeks of session were awkward, they were definitely learning experiences.

I can now very proudly name every kid in our class. I understand what people mean when they refer to dramatic play and core storybooks. I better understand what needs to be done in terms of prep work for centers. However, more importantly than this, I have come to understand Jumpstart’s role in the classroom. I see the excitement on the kids’ faces when we walk in the room with our Jumpstart t-shirts on and they start bouncing in their seats screaming “Jumpstart, Jumpstart!” I see the excitement on the teachers’ faces when Jumpstart arrives at the site each time, and I have started to witness firsthand growth and development in the kids’ vocabularies and maturity.

I love to watch the kids become more engaged in the circle time songs, and point out letters in their friends’ names. I love walking into session and having kids recognize you from previous sessions. The one thing I have learned from working with kids is that they are smart and never fail to surprise you with how much they know. And I feel like this opportunity arises so often with Jumpstart. We expect to teach kids about literacy and to expand their vocabularies, but when I look back, they are also teaching me.

The most impactful Jumpstart moment for me was walking into my first session ever, right after Winter Break, and having the teachers around the entrance when we got there cheering because Jumpstart was back. For me, it was awkward, because I had never been there before and did not feel deserving of the excitement they had. But this was when I realized just how important Jumpstart is to the kids and I knew I wanted to be a part of it.     

As I begin to feel more comfortable in session and working with my fellow Corps members and the students, I am becoming more and more sure that I want to pursue a career that allows me to work with students so that they may have the same opportunities that I have been privileged enough to have had in my life. I look forward to finishing the semester strong and continuing to see where Jumpstart can take me.