A Day in the Life
of an after-school intern
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3:00
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Walk in through the maroon doors on 11th St. And Avenue D. Another wonderful day at school - remind yourself to not take it out on the kids. After being greeted by cheerful hellos and smiling faces, decide it won't be so hard. |
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3:15
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Stomach grumbles. Very hungry. Send one of the junior interns out to get you a soda from one of the bodegas. Make a mental note to pay attention during the summer sessions discussions on Health and Fitness. You might learn a thing or two. |
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3:45
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Full on soda, walk into the classroom to see what the kids brought for snack and chat with a couple of them. Ask about homework loads, how their families are doing. A three minute conversation one day leads to a another one the next day. You can learn a lot in a few minutes. |
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4:10
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Explain to one of the kids that he has to read, it's very important that he practice and "expand his mind." Remind him what a good reader he is anyway, he read a whole book to you just the other day and he didn't need any help at all, he sounded out the words just fine. Recommend a book to him and offer to read it with him. |
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4:30
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Sharpen pencils. Ask the girl who you are sharpening the pencil for if she is planning to be there in the summer. Remind her to use capital letters at the beginning of her sentences and to read the sentence out loud. If it doesn't sound right, it probably isn't. |
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4:50
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Wander into the game room to watch Lou-Box set up for Group Club. Marvel at the way he has been able to come up with a myriad of games using only two milk crates, bean bags, an old skateboard, a bunch of tennis balls and wooden boards with holes cut in them. The kids always love the games. |
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5:10
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Watch some of the kids play on the computers. Most of the other kids are in Group Club; a few stragglers stay in the Classroom to finish homework or play on the computers. Zone out as one of the girls makes a sign in bright fuschia. |
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5:45
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Wander into Miss Arlene's office, where she is busy making phone calls, arranging things for future dates, talking to parents, calling her daughters. When she's free, chat about how things have been going that day; fights that broke out, kids that didn't want to read or write, kids that are doing better, kids that are going to summer school, kids that passed. |
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5:55
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Almost there. Start moving desks back where they are supposed to be. From the shouts coming from the Game Room, you know the kids are having fun. Joke with your fellow intern about how glad you'll be to get out of there, half meaning it, half not. Things always get slow during the last half hour. |
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6:00
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The Game Room door flies open; a throng of children race out to grab their bookbags and leave the center. Some leave without even saying goodbye, others make the effort to give hugs and kisses, waving cheerfully as they run out the maroon metal door, dragging their bookbags behind them. Shout that you'll see them tomorrow, that they had better come, as you gather up your own stuff to vacate the area. |
DISCLAIMER
I guess this isn't every intern's experience, and of course, this doesn't happen every day. Some days there are fights that have to be broken, attitudes that need to be squashed, kids that need to be hugged. Some days we come in and we have problems with the kids. Sometimes we come in with attitudes towards our fellow interns or our boss. But we all come in, and we all try to do our best and give our all to these kids for them and for God.
It's not about us and the baggage we have on our shoulders. We have to learn to leave all that at the door and at the altar so that for three hours a day, we can maybe take on some of the kids' baggage, let them have fun and learn and not have to worry so much, as many of them do.
We try to have the kids live up to our unofficial motto, "Always have fun," so lovingly written on the back of some of the kids tee shirts last summer in green marker. They complain about any work we give them, but as they grow accustomed to it and the idea that we're not doing this to bother them, the complaining dies down and the books get read, the summaries get written and they run off to the Game Room, carefree for another hour.
Though the activities each day may vary, the goal is the same: To reach out to the kids, take them in and lift their spirits as much as they do ours when they greet us as we walk in.
- By Tristan Brooks
Tristan first volunteered at Xcel in 1996 at the age of 13. She has since graduated high school and enrolled as a creative writing student at The New School in August 2001. After excelling as a college freshman, she took a year off to particpate in The Master's Commission based out of Spokanne, Washington. She will return to college in Fall 2003.
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For more original writings by Xcelers, go here.