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YMCA program at margaret beeks
For my ongoing service project, I started volunteering through the YMCA at a local elementary school, Margaret Beeks. I didn’t actually get started with them until later on in the semester, but I made a commitment to go twice a week. The Y does an afterschool program there that allows the kids to work on homework, but also schedules some activity for them as well. The typical day goes as followed:
Volunteers arrive early to get everything set up
Gather the kids from school and walk them over to a separate building
Snack time/ share highs and lows
Homework time (or lack thereof)
Activity time(includes going outside, activity books, arts and crafts, etc)
Walk kids to the afterschool bus
The amount of kids vary per day, ranging anywhere from 7-14, and the age varies from 1st-5th grade. With such an age difference, there does arise conflict between the kids. In particular, there are certain kids that cause more trouble than others. What I have noticed is that the YMCA mentors do not hold the authority that is needed to have a controlled group. There is no incentive for the kids to behave well and stay focused and no punishment for them when they misbehave. They get easily distracted while doing homework and tend to goof off. I’m not saying that the kids are wild animals. There are bad days, but there are good days as well. The kids can be such a joy. They all have distinct personalities that can be very entertaining.
Listed below is a brief journal of the times I have gone. I have included some events I found important and my feelings.
November 13th: It was the first day volunteering at Margaret Beeks. I mainly just watched, helping when I could, but I wanted to see how things worked. From observing, I can tell the Y coordinators and volunteers do not have much control. They warned me about this one boy named Issac, who doesn’t like authority at all. He actually hit one of the program coordinators! He is one of those people that when you tell him not to do something, he does it anyway. Issac is a bully, but apparently is very sensitive as well. Since nobody else wanted to do it, I had to go convince him to come back and join the group after someone interrupted him. I just got the sense that the program wasn’t doing anything for the kids.
November 15th: I actually was able to connect to one of the girls, Nicole. Besides that, everything else was havoc. A girl named Raven started crying because she wanted to finish her homework, but we were going outside. That shocked me that the kids actually would rather finish homework than go outside. The other girls started ganging up on one another and being mean. I told the girl who was the target just to ignore them but it’s hard when the other girls are up in her face. I know I am to blame that nothing happened, but I truly did not know what to do. I didn’t know what authority I had over the situation.
November 27th: For activity time, Kara and Issac had to present a project they did. Kara’s was about Native American Indians and Issac’s was about Tazmanian Devils. The other kids were well behaved and listened, but the problem came when Issac presented his project. He couldn’t pronounce half of what he wrote, making it obvious he copy and pasted most of it. It was sad though because not being able to read as a 5th grader is a problem. I feel like the Y should address that to his guidance counselor or something.
November 29th: Today, I worked with a girl named Abby. She is very rambunctious, but a very smart girl. Abby can get distracted easily, as do most of the kids, so it was a struggle to try to keep her attention. Once she was able to focus, she did a lot of the math problems in her head. I think that was what made homework time tough for a lot of the kids at Margaret Beeks is that they were so easily distracted. They were constantly up talking to friends or looking around.
December 4th: I was able to work with another girl named Shayla. She is the same age as Abby and gets just as distracted. For activity, we played capture the flag. That was a big hit among the kids, as well as the mentors. Everybody behaved well and overall, it was a good day. It was one of the mentors last days, and as the kids were leaving, they were very sad to say goodbye. It showed that relationships had formed.
December 7th: Last day of the semester at Margaret Beeks. I tried working with Abby again, but it didn’t turn out very well. One of the older girls, Vivian, said she would give Abby the answers to the math questions, but I refused to let her help Abby. Eventually, Abby didn’t finish her math homework. In that moment, I felt like I had lost all form of authority and I didn’t know what to do. Thankfully another mentor helped separate the girls for me. For activity we made cards and snowflakes, and colored. All the kids seemed to enjoy themselves. A boy named Anthony drew all the mentors a picture. It was a good day to end with.
When I first began going to Margaret Beeks, I felt like the Y was not doing anything productive for the kids, besides providing them a place to go afterschool. Homework was not a focus, and it often did not get done. The kids were so distracted that it was hard to get them to settle down for anything. The activity was continually just going outside. We weren’t helping them academically, even when it was pretty obvious some of the kids needed more attention and practice. After thinking about it, and observing the kids over a couple of weeks, I realized the program was making an impact, though it may not be obvious. We were providing them with love and care, and for children, that is essential. We showed them we cared by asking them about their day and helping them when they needed it. The YMCA allowed them to feel important.
Honestly, I went into Margaret Beeks with the intention of leaving after the semester was over to go to another one of the YMCA’s programs at a different elementary school. Relationships formed faster than what I expected as I found the kids remembered my name, wanted me to sit with them, or play with them. I then felt like I had to come back, that I had made a commitment to them. Hopefully, the program will make some changes on better ways to control the kids or go about homework time, but even if they don’t, I am still happy to go to Margaret Beeks and spend time with some amazing kids. Overall, I was very happy I got involved with the YMCA and I hope to continue working with them for the rest of my college experience.
Volunteers arrive early to get everything set up
Gather the kids from school and walk them over to a separate building
Snack time/ share highs and lows
Homework time (or lack thereof)
Activity time(includes going outside, activity books, arts and crafts, etc)
Walk kids to the afterschool bus
The amount of kids vary per day, ranging anywhere from 7-14, and the age varies from 1st-5th grade. With such an age difference, there does arise conflict between the kids. In particular, there are certain kids that cause more trouble than others. What I have noticed is that the YMCA mentors do not hold the authority that is needed to have a controlled group. There is no incentive for the kids to behave well and stay focused and no punishment for them when they misbehave. They get easily distracted while doing homework and tend to goof off. I’m not saying that the kids are wild animals. There are bad days, but there are good days as well. The kids can be such a joy. They all have distinct personalities that can be very entertaining.
Listed below is a brief journal of the times I have gone. I have included some events I found important and my feelings.
November 13th: It was the first day volunteering at Margaret Beeks. I mainly just watched, helping when I could, but I wanted to see how things worked. From observing, I can tell the Y coordinators and volunteers do not have much control. They warned me about this one boy named Issac, who doesn’t like authority at all. He actually hit one of the program coordinators! He is one of those people that when you tell him not to do something, he does it anyway. Issac is a bully, but apparently is very sensitive as well. Since nobody else wanted to do it, I had to go convince him to come back and join the group after someone interrupted him. I just got the sense that the program wasn’t doing anything for the kids.
November 15th: I actually was able to connect to one of the girls, Nicole. Besides that, everything else was havoc. A girl named Raven started crying because she wanted to finish her homework, but we were going outside. That shocked me that the kids actually would rather finish homework than go outside. The other girls started ganging up on one another and being mean. I told the girl who was the target just to ignore them but it’s hard when the other girls are up in her face. I know I am to blame that nothing happened, but I truly did not know what to do. I didn’t know what authority I had over the situation.
November 27th: For activity time, Kara and Issac had to present a project they did. Kara’s was about Native American Indians and Issac’s was about Tazmanian Devils. The other kids were well behaved and listened, but the problem came when Issac presented his project. He couldn’t pronounce half of what he wrote, making it obvious he copy and pasted most of it. It was sad though because not being able to read as a 5th grader is a problem. I feel like the Y should address that to his guidance counselor or something.
November 29th: Today, I worked with a girl named Abby. She is very rambunctious, but a very smart girl. Abby can get distracted easily, as do most of the kids, so it was a struggle to try to keep her attention. Once she was able to focus, she did a lot of the math problems in her head. I think that was what made homework time tough for a lot of the kids at Margaret Beeks is that they were so easily distracted. They were constantly up talking to friends or looking around.
December 4th: I was able to work with another girl named Shayla. She is the same age as Abby and gets just as distracted. For activity, we played capture the flag. That was a big hit among the kids, as well as the mentors. Everybody behaved well and overall, it was a good day. It was one of the mentors last days, and as the kids were leaving, they were very sad to say goodbye. It showed that relationships had formed.
December 7th: Last day of the semester at Margaret Beeks. I tried working with Abby again, but it didn’t turn out very well. One of the older girls, Vivian, said she would give Abby the answers to the math questions, but I refused to let her help Abby. Eventually, Abby didn’t finish her math homework. In that moment, I felt like I had lost all form of authority and I didn’t know what to do. Thankfully another mentor helped separate the girls for me. For activity we made cards and snowflakes, and colored. All the kids seemed to enjoy themselves. A boy named Anthony drew all the mentors a picture. It was a good day to end with.
When I first began going to Margaret Beeks, I felt like the Y was not doing anything productive for the kids, besides providing them a place to go afterschool. Homework was not a focus, and it often did not get done. The kids were so distracted that it was hard to get them to settle down for anything. The activity was continually just going outside. We weren’t helping them academically, even when it was pretty obvious some of the kids needed more attention and practice. After thinking about it, and observing the kids over a couple of weeks, I realized the program was making an impact, though it may not be obvious. We were providing them with love and care, and for children, that is essential. We showed them we cared by asking them about their day and helping them when they needed it. The YMCA allowed them to feel important.
Honestly, I went into Margaret Beeks with the intention of leaving after the semester was over to go to another one of the YMCA’s programs at a different elementary school. Relationships formed faster than what I expected as I found the kids remembered my name, wanted me to sit with them, or play with them. I then felt like I had to come back, that I had made a commitment to them. Hopefully, the program will make some changes on better ways to control the kids or go about homework time, but even if they don’t, I am still happy to go to Margaret Beeks and spend time with some amazing kids. Overall, I was very happy I got involved with the YMCA and I hope to continue working with them for the rest of my college experience.