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?