Week 26: Service Projecting

Painting Douglas Park Fieldhouse on Saturday!  My mom and sister joined us <3

Working hard on that fruit dream :-)

Team Service Day - making food at a woman's shelter!

This is the longest this student has gone without yelling or running around the room

This week was full of: filming the Camp City Year music video, two service days, breakfast with our IJ team, CCY, VDIE and EOC meetings, inviting a junior to eat lunch and motivate some of my freshmen, meeting with the Youth Officer at the local police department to discuss ways to partner, and leading classes with a sub (actually, 3 different subs came and swapped places within a two-hour period...?)

Quotes of the Week:
"...I probably won't go to college though.  If I have to go to Junior College first, I just won't go.... My nephew is 13... yeah I talk to him a lot.  I tell him not to mess up, like I did.  Now all my friends are going off to college except me...." - S, a junior.  He recently got a tattoo down his arm for his sister who died (his nephew's mom).

"I'm mean."  - N, a freshmen, responding to "tell me something about you I don't know."  

"Grades come first, man!" - M, a freshmen, when his friends were bugging him for staying after school to finish a paper.  He's been transforming so much this year - I'm so proud!

"I was at my friends house and I stepped outside and heard 'pop! pop!' from a gun shooting off, so I ran back inside for a while... finally I ran to the bus..." - N, a junior, in a light-hearted, casual conversation with friends about weekend activities.

"I've visited some colleges but I have to find one that lets babies in the dorms... I walk a mile to school every day, walk home, check on my grandpa, then go to work until 10 or 11... it's easier to motivate yourself than to wait for other people to motivate you." - Y, a junior, speaking to my freshmen.  She even motivates me!

Me:  What do you do in your free time?
S, a Junior:  Mmm, sometimes I write down words to practice, I need a lot of help in spelling, too...

"City Year and us!  Beautiful young people and so dedicated to what they do.  A very diverse group with great goals for their future..." - My Mom, on facebook <3

Excerpts from Letter From Your Future Self assignment: 
"A couple of friends have lost contact due to me becoming a famous rapper." 
"The crazy thing was that you had a choice to go into the MLB or NLF."  
"The thing you have to keep doing to be successful is think you are the stuff to be the stuff."
"I’m trying my best to remember what I have always stated, that education is the key and I’m gone always stay on top as I follow my dreams."  

Joys:  Starting to read with S, a junior, who needs a lot of help (our first spontaneous lesson was the sound that t-i-on makes); an absurd community meeting; introducing my mom and sister to everyone; finding out that I'll be a Team Leader next year for City Year!