The past two days have been a blast. I've been all over the place including CYHQ, my school NHCS, and a gym I just joined. Yesterday was a blast because it was just the eleven of us. Throughout the day, we played lots of ice breaker games, which helped break it up. We made our binders full of resources and stuff we need to know about the school, which was fun. Megan, Angella, Sam and I struggled a little bit at sorting papers and punching holes, but it ended up all getting done. Leave it to me to mess up something so simple as hole punching. In the afternoon, Erica went over all of the stuff we'll be doing with the kids, from enrichments to course coaching. We're going to receive individual training on a lot of it, but yesterday was a good overview of what to expect. It's nice because now that we've gotten past the team building, we are focusing on what we're actually going to be doing and I'm getting so excited.
Today was even more exciting because it was the first day we would actually be going to the school. First, Danielle told us that she was treating us to breakfast at the "best breakfast place in Boston." It was delicious, so hopefully that won't be my last time going there. I had a spanish omelet, but everyone's breakfast (or lunch for Erica) looked so good. Afterwards, we walked to school. I felt like such a little kid with my backpack and lunch box walking to school. Once we arrived, Erica gave us a tour of the school and we met a ton of teachers. The school is amazing!! All of the walls are painted different colors and everything is just picture perfect. Because it's a charter school, they can kind of do what they want and receive a lot of outside funding to do that. They have a "Kid Lab" where the middle schoolers dessemble and reassemble appliances such as broken microwaves and tvs. They also have a pet turtle in there plus a ton of art supplies. It kind of just looks like a room of stuff exploded every where. It's so cool! In the afternoon, we were doing community mapping, where we went to different businesses in the community to spread the word about City Year. It was fun because I was with Pat and Angella. When we got back, we practiced PT as a team because next week, we're going to have to do it in front of PT crew in order to earn our boots.
After the day was over, Rachel, Sam, Pat and I all joined the gym "near" our school. It was nice to go to the gym and just be able to do something for myself after a long day, but it ended up being a mile and a half walk back to the T. I hope that's not how it's always going to be, otherwise my motivation for going is going to significantly drop. Anyways, we're back at the school tomorrow and I'm so excited! I can't wait for the kids to come!
I was talking to my uncle last night about the past three weeks and I think this quote sums up my journey here. It was a huge risk coming here. I only knew one person, Michelle, who lives a half an hour away. I moved in with room mates I didn't know to a city I barely knew, but I knew that it would be worth it. I love City Year and have become so passionate about fixing the national dropout crisis. I think for me, I had a choice to stay at home where things were safe or to take a risk and move somewhere new. I will be the first to tell you it was hard at first, but now that I've adjusted, it's easy to see why that struggle was and still is worth it.
"Ships in the harbor are safe, but that's not what ships are built for." -John Shedd
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