This week I started my volunteer hours at a local elementary school in a high risk area. I live in a county that doe not fall under the category urban but many of the children live in a low socioeconomic area that mirrors an inter-city setting. I was assigned to our kindergarten class of 15 students with the ages varying from 5-7 years. The students were very hyperactive and the teacher was implementing interventions to calm them down. She told me one student was new and was disruptive plus his cousin was in the class who was disruptive. I was asked to work with a 5 year old student whose mother only took him to school 2 days per week and he was so far behind. He needs a lot of one on one and the teacher cannot give that to him all the time. As I worked with him it was apparent that he could only repeat the alphabet to the letter F and could not identify most letters. By the end of the day he did not want me to leave. During quiet time he asked me if he could lay his head on my shoulder. I was a little taken aback but soon it was recreation time. The teacher told me that she does not think he gets too much love at home. Also during the course of the day many of the other students gave me hugs and joined my mini study group. As I was leaving I received more hugs and was asked when I would be coming back. There is so much more for me to observe and learn and I am going to continue my journey with these students. I know I will learn so much from them.
Robin Pollard
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