Will work for...a bus ride!

When I walked in today, it seemed like a typical Friday at the Boys & Girls Club but within ten minutes it became even better because not a single kid had any type of homework.  There were also not any Learning Activity packets for the kids either, just coloring sheets!  We all spent the first hour just coloring which was so relaxing for me after a hard week of college.  Despite there being about ten other volunteers plus the staff I still had a group of five little girls coloring at my table.  One of the little girls decided that she wanted to color her picture exactly like mine with the same crayon that I had used; she was so cute.  Another little girl decided that she should get to tell me what color to color each item in the picture since I “clearly didn’t know anything” because I colored the pencils in the picture blue instead of yellow.  After the coloring we went to the gym since it was too cold to go outside.  The activity for the day was relays; these relays were way better than the ones from last week.  This week there were three different relays.  In the first one they had to bounce a ping pong ball on a paddle while weaving around cones once they got to the middle of the gym they did ten jumping jacks then crab walked to the other end up the gym where they sat on a floor scooter and scooted all the way back across the gym.  The second one started with them dribbling a basketball around the cones then once they made it to the middle they jumped rope ten times and spun around on a baseball bat five times before skipping the rest of the way across the gym to the scooter so they could scooter back.  The third one was really simple since they were all tired; they ran all the way across the gym then scootered back.  I spent the rest of my time turning a jump rope for some girls then doing a coloring contest.   I ended up running to crew practice again because the bus driver was talking on his phone and did not see me at the bus stop.

Until next time…

XOXO Service Girl

Will work for...a game

I volunteered at the Boys & Girls Club on Monday and Friday this week.  Monday was just a normal day except I did homework help the entire two hours instead of play time for the last thirty minutes; this was because this one little girl needed a lot of help writing her state report.  I really felt like I accomplished a lot because I helped so many kids in that two hour time.  Friday was very interesting because there were about twelve other volunteers there from a sorority and a fraternity at Purdue.  Seeing as how it was a Friday, the vast majority of the children did not have homework and the few who did only had spelling words that took less than fifteen minutes.  Friday is always the day for fun activities and this one was extra special activities.  It was the World Wide Day of Play and the Keystone group planned a group of relays for the kids.  The first relay was the egg relay in which the kids had to carry an egg on a plastic spoon down the field, around a cone, and back.  My team actually won this one!  The second event was a variation on a tradition water balloon toss.  The kids lined up in two lines about three feet apart with the each kid directly across from another kid.  The first person tossed the water balloon to the person across from them who then proceeded to hand it to the person next to them who then tossed it to the person across from them; this continued on down the lines and then back up the lines.  The game was really fun but my group totally didn’t win; they broke five balloons before they could even get all the way through the lines one direction!  They ran out of water balloons so most of the groups, including mine, had to finish the game with the eggs from the egg relay and all I can say about that is thank goodness that the eggs were hard boiled.  In the final relay the kids had to run down the field and back while bouncing a balloon in the air.  This would have been challenging enough on a normal day and the wind on Friday made this a bit of a failed game because the kids became discouraged rather quickly.  The whole activity ended with a little awards ceremony followed by hot dogs and ice cream sundaes.  The kids seemed to have a great time and so did I, plus I got quite a workout when I had to run back to campus to make it to crew practice since the bus didn’t come!

Until next time…

XOXO Service Girl

Will work for...a catcher's mask!

On Monday I completed my second day volunteering at the Lyn Treece Boys & Girls Club.  I think I am finally getting the hang of the bus system; I get to take the same bus from the same stop at the same time both ways.  I am starting to get in a routine of helping each of the two groups of children do their homework and study for tests from 3 until around 4:30.  Helping some of the children can be very challenging because they struggle with a lot of the work and are not up to grade level.  I would say that ninety percent of the children actually seem to resent the fact that they are being forced to do all their homework before they can play.  The kids resent it but I personally think that the homework time is the best thing that could happen for them because it is pretty obvious that their parents do not encourage let alone force them to do their homework.  I love it when I am able to teach one of the kids how to do something that they didn’t know how to do when they started their homework.  The club is located in what seems to be a run down and poorer section of town where most of the kids seem to be high risk for dropping out of school.  I think that the club could really be beneficial in keeping these kids off the streets when they get into junior high and high school and helping them succeed later in life if they maintain a membership.  I have attracted myself a little shadow that never leaves my side while I am there.  I really try to give her as much time and attention as possible because I get the impression that she doesn’t get much of either at home.  There is another boy that won’t do any of his homework unless I sit there with him forcing him to stay on task and do each problem.  During playtime I had two boys throw basketballs at each other and then throw pool table balls across the room; it was really scary and I wished that I would have had some safety gear but thankfully they stopped when I asked.  The day went well overall and I can’t wait for my next day! 

Until next time...


XOXO Service Girl

Will work for...Anyone?

So I was really excited when I found out on the first day of ENGL 108 that we needed to find a service partner in the community for whom to complete thirty hours of service work.  The first day I went on Boiler Volunteer Network and found a listing for visiting patients at a hospital in Lafayette so I called them.  The lady I talked to was really enthusiastic and said that she would call me back in two days with my interview time.  A week I still had not heard back from her and every time I called no one answered the phone.  I decided to call the Lyn Treece Boys and Girls club on Tuesday morning, and they requested I come to the club to fill out an application and meet the staff later that afternoon.  I went on Google maps to find the bus route to the club since I had never used a public transportation system before.  I went to the Lily bus stop after my Biology lecture to wait for the bus that finally showed up ten minutes late.  I needed to switch from bus 1B to 1A but luckily my bus just became 1A.  The bus left the transfer station ten gradually headed into a poorer section of town where it left me at a bus stop, on the side of a highway by an underpass, to walk the remaining four blocks to the Boys and Girls Club.   After I filled out my application the lady at the front desk told me I could leave and wait for them to call me but then a guy came out of an office and asked me to stay.  He introduced himself as the director and said he would like to talk with me now if I had time.  We talked for about thirty seconds when he said that if I could start this Friday then I was hired!  He showed me around the facility and told me to be there at 3pm on Friday.  I left the club and then walked back to the bus stop I got off at only to find out after waiting twenty minutes for a bus that I had to cross the street in order to catch a bus that was going back to campus!  I finally arrived back on campus two hours after having begun my journey, but I can’t wait until my first day Friday!

Until next time…

XOXO Service Girl