08/31/09

How can I explain the events that occurred today? We are out of the styrofoam cups that we use to serve the kids lemonade. Therefore, we had to use the plastic cups. The problem was that half of them were dirty. With the limited amount of time to do all my usual preparations and wash the dishes in the sink, I was barely able to get stuff prepared before the kids before they arrived. I continually have been telling the kids to sit up straight on the couches and not to sit on the arms. It seems as if they are now starting to listen to me about that even though they still had some issues in that area today.

I decided today that I would throw together a chess tournament in Powerhour. Everything went quite well despite having trouble to keep the noise down. The winner was awarded ten extra points and the runner-up was awarded five extra points. The only kid that gave me a problem was one that was told by his grandmother that he had to participate in Powerhour. He was not happy about being in there and refused to do any homework. He told me first that he did not nring any homework. Later he told me that his teacher did not assign any homework. He also refused to do the worksheets that I had for the kids. Therefore, he had to play chess. He did not know how to play chess so I tried as hard as I could to walk him through it.

As you can probably tell, it was a very stressful day. I consulted with one of the other staff members afterwards. He stated "and you want to become a school counselor?" Of course I want to be a school counselor. I have no reason not to. I understand that there is a lot of stress and pressure involved with the job, but I've always had a longing to want to help people reach their goals. I want to help them out in grade school where it all starts. I feel that if I do not go down this career path, there will a few more children that will not advance to the next grade. There could also be a few more teenagers who end up dropping oit of high school. If I don't gain experience from this internship (which I am), then how am I going to be able to help those kids?

08/28/09

I can honestly say that the kids did not give me very many problems today. Not once did I see one of them sitting down in time out. As usual on Fridays, they were given a free day. Some of the kids requested to play the gamecube. They haed to sign their names on a sheet and play in fifteen minute intervals. Whoever was next on the list got to have a turn and played whatever game they wanted to play. I only allowed each kid a maximum of two times to play, but not back-to-back. I wanted to allow anyone who wanted a chance to play a turn.

08/26/09

I didn't have much trouble today with the kids. There were just a few minor issues. They kept wanting to sit on the arm of the couches and put their feet on the couches. I explained that if they keep doing that, the couches will get torn up. Second, a kid that was doing Powerhour with me was getting a book down off of the shelf and thought he saw a cell phone up there. I had to explain to him several times that it's not important and he needed to sit down and work on his homework, play chess, or work on the activity sheets that I had for them to do.

He and another kid ended up going into the gym to play kickball. Neither one of them received points for the day. I did not have any trouble out of the kids for the rest of the day. The rest of the kids in Powerhour were a little rowdy, but they were not too bad. It was a pretty easy day for the most part.

08/24/09

It was kind of a laid back day for me. I didn't really have to do much. I went through my normal routine of preparing the sncaks for the kids. I also learned how to use the copy machine. I had chosen some educational activities such as brainteasers and word searches for them to do if they finished their homework and wanted to play chess. On the down side, none of the kids wanted to participate in Powerhour. I had decided then just to go to art class to help supervise the kids and make sure they behave.

I also had to take some disciplinary action today. I heard one of the kids say "what the f." She didn't say the whole word, but people know what is meant by that and it is still just as bad. One of the rules in the policies and procedures manual, which I finished reading tonight, is that members are not allowed to use profanity. She got about ten minutes in time out. During the night time when the teenagers and volunteers (people aged 18 and older) were playing basketball a confrontation almost escalated into a fight. I was going to get in the middle of it and break it up, but one of the volunteers did so before I got there. The guy who started the confrontation left the facility shortly after.

As I said before, I finished reading the policies and procedures manual tonight. There are several procedures that the manual covers. One is the raising and lowering of the American flag. A second is having a fire drill every third Friday each month. This is something that my supervisor is in the process of putting together. A third is a drill for severe weather. You want the kids to know where to go and what to do in case there is some type of severe weather warning.

08/22/09

I did a little bit of physical labor today. As soon as I got there, I was asked to make a chart on the whiteboard in the rock climbing room. The purpose is to have a more organized method of keeping record of the kids' times from climbing the rock wall. The lines for the chart were made with tape. The second thing I was asked to do was to hang up some of the poters that had fallen down in the game room. Third, I sorted out all of the chess pieces to see how many sets we had. Fourth, I had to help put in some of the seats into the van that had been taken out.

During my shift there were a total of three teenagers that came in and used the facilities. Two of them played basketball while I was working on my list of things to do. I got to spend time with the other teenager who had just turned fourteen years old and got moved up to the next age group. We played pool, carpet ball, ping pong, basketball, and chess. I had a good tim getting to know him and I think he appreciated the fact that I was willing to spend time with him.

The last thing that I had to do for tonight, but did not have enough time to finish, was to read the manual with the Boys and Girls Club's poicies and procedures. Basically what it covers is what rules and guidelines you need to follow. Some of the most commonly listed rules in all organization manuals are the rules about wardrobe. One thing that I found interesting is that it has to tell staff members not to take any members home with them. I guess that there really are weird people who work for this organization who would do that.

08/21/09

It was a relatively easy day today. When I arrived at the youth center, where the club is located, I had a nice discussion with my supervisor. We discussed some possible activities for the day. I was instructed to pick three movies for the kids to watch. They had to choose one. I chose Monsters Inc., Shrek 2, and A Night at the Museum. The kids chose to watch "A Night at the Museum." Since some of them were occupied with watching the movie, my work was pretty easy for the day.

I was also given some insight on what to be aware of as far as the home lives of some of our kids. My supervisor told me abou one instance where a kid had fell and split the back of his head open. He did not want anyone to call his father to take him to the hospital because he was afraid that his father would get angry with him. My supervisor suspects that there might be something wrong happening in his home. Another thing to add is that the kid's mother is in jail.

I also brought something up mto my supervisor. There is a little girl that goes to my church who, in my opinion, has an irresponsible mother. It seems as if she has to call her mother every day that I work to come pick her up. I'm not sure about the other days, but it wouldn't surprise me. There has also been another instance that has occured in her family involving her mother, but I will not go into details about that.

08/19/09

It was kind of like all the rest of the days today. The thing that I figured out just now is that this is almost a routine job. You come in and prepare the snacks and drinks, serve them to the kids when they arrive, take the kids to the program of their choosing for the day, and allow them to have free time until it's time to let the teenagers use the facilities. It's not a challenge to run the , programs, but it is a challenge to get the kids to understand the importance of why we abide by certain rules of each program.

I have rules for the Powerhour program that I think are important to follow so that the kids can focus and do their best on their homework or whatever educational activity they are working on. If you are working on homework, the only person that anyone is allowed to talk to is me or one of the mentors and it has to be while receiving help on their homework. If you are playing Chess, you may whisper, but you have to keep it to a minimum. I abide by these rules so that the people doing homework do not get distracted. The two boys who were with me did not receive points today due to that. They kept getting up and running around. I also had to tell them several times to be quiet.

I also had a meeting with my supervisor at about my last hour today. The incidences that I had with the kids were discussed and he gave me a few pointers. We also discussed what will be happening in the upcoming days. I may get to attend Heritage Weekend in Lanesville and work a booth for them. In October we will begin having our drug prevention program called R.O.C.K. It is proven to be a successful program. It includes a short lecture and some games every day. Finally, in order to make things go smoother in Powerhour, I will choose certain activities out of some books for the kids to do after they finish their homework or get bored from playing Chess.

08/17/09

Today was a semi-hectic day, but it was still fun for me. If I had to estimate, I'd say that there were about 30 kids there today. My supervisor had the day off. The executive director, the other two other staff members, and I watched the kids. After giving them their snack, we broke off into three groups. One group attended Powerhour with me. Another attended Triple Play in the gym with the executive director. Another attended an art class with one of the other staff members.

I had about three kids in my group today. They all had math homework and one also had homework in spelling. I'm pretty good at math, but the problem is that there is some math that I have not done for a very long time. That includes finding the LCM. I tried as hard as I could to help the girl who was studying this particular topic, but I just couldn't help her. The only thing that I could really do was to encourage her to keep trying. The youth mentors are supposed to help out, but sometimes they get lazy. One person can only do so much. The other girl had algebra homework in which I had no problem helping her. The kids were given free time for the rest of the day.

08/14/09

It was kind of a stressful day today. They do not have any of the special programs on Fridays. They get to play around in one of the three staffed areas. The kids were all wound up. I made hot dogs and heated up a leftover pizza in the microwave. We decided not to allow them to have their snacks until all the kids arrived because there was a very limited amount of pizza. Therefore, all the kids got impatient. I figured that today was the day that I needed to start taking charge.

There were a few instances where I had to give discipline to the kids. In one instance, a kid did not follow my instruction to hang her whoola hoop up when there was a dodgeball game going on. She threw the whoola hoop instead. I was unable to explain to her at the time why I wanted her to sit in time out. I just sat her out for the game. Later I was able to give her an explanation. It is my first week and I am still a little bit nervous. In another instance, a kid had gotten out of line for a game and went back into the same spot. I told him he had to go to the back of the line. He would not move, so he earned a time out. I did not want to give them time outs. I want to establish good friendships with the kids, but at the same time, I want them to respect me.

08/12/09

Today was a fun day at the Boys and Girls Club. As soon as I arrived, I helped prepare the snacks and made lemonade for the kids. They were allowed to consume one serving of chips and as many drinks as they wanted. The other intern, Tyler, did not follow up on that rule with one of the kids. I tried to take the chips back from the kid, but Tyler gave him permission and I didn't want to argue in front of the kids. I almost had to put the kid in time out later because he attempted to take more chips. I was able to experience first hand what it was like to want to discipline a child. If I catch him trying to do it again, he will get a time out.

I also started out in the Powerhour program today. There were five kids total that chose to do their homework today. Most of them actually seemed like they were pretty intelligent. They have been placed in some advanced math courses. There was only one instance where a girl was stuck on a math problem and asked for my health. The one thing that my supervisor mentioned that I did not think of was to check their homework when they were finished. He said some of them like to guess if they do not know the answer just so they can get done and go play. Each kid receives points for participating in one of the programs offered from 3:30-4:30. With these points they can purchase things at their store.

Afterwards, I learned how to play Doctor. It is a Dodgeball game where each team has a designated person called a doctor. The object is to hit him or her with a dodgeball. If he or she is hit, their team loses. If another team member gets hit with a ball, they have to take a knee until the doctor tags them. Then they are back in the game. During the game, one of the kids got elbowed in the eye. I took him to the snack room, gave him an ice pack with a towel wrapped around it, and stayed in there to make sure he was going to be okay. He ended up being okay. These things tend to happen sometimes. I think he really appreciated that I took the time out to take care of him.

08/10/09

It was my first day on the job for my internship. I have to admit that I really enjoyed working with the children and getting to know the staff members. There were a number of activities that I was trained to help out with. This was also the first day that they had to begin operating on a new schedule that is more organized than the previous schedule. They were allowing different kids to come and go into different programs as they please. Now, as soon as they are picked up from school and dropped off at the facility, they are required to come into the snack room and wait there until all the kids arrive. They are allowed to have one serving of whatever snack is served that day. One of the things that they try to get the kids in the habit of doing is controlling their portion sizes.

After all the kids arrived and received their snack and a drink, my supervisor announced to them the new schedule. They had to choose between going to the game room, playing dodgeball in the gym, or going to an art class to learn how to work with clay. Nobody chose the art class. I went back and forth between the game room and gym so I could learn the different rules for the games in case a disagreement occurs between the kids over how to play a game. One of programs that I am going to be helping with most of the time is Powerhour which includes helping the kids with their homework and playing chess. Therefore, I had to learn how to play chess. I haven't really got the hang of it yet. The last thing that I was taught was how to enter data into their system in order to keep record of their attendance. Basically each kid is assigned a membership number. That number is what is entered into the system. There is a little more to it than that, but it takes a while to explain.

The last activity for the day was to attend a board meeting. Not all of the board members attended, but there were enough to hold a meeting. I was introduced to the members by the Executive Director Jennifer Best, who I am well acquainted with. I learned a lot about upcoming events that are going to be taking place. For example, normally they hold a dance once a month, but due to the low attendance that they have had the past few months, they are only going to hold them around major holidays. They are experiencing difficulties with getting people to donate money to the organization. The Vice President stated that board members need to influance people to donate by telling people what that money is used for and what the organization has done for their kids.

First Day Is Tomorrow

I am really nervous and really excited at the same time. I will do my best. No matter what happens, I will not give up.