What an Improvement!

I have three partner children; however, since the sessions before Christmas, I have only had Marcus. The issue was not that my partner children were no longer involved in Jumpstart but that my children just get picked up earlier. I did not know what to do because I did not want to question parents and make them feel uncomfortable or make them feel like they needed to change their life schedule for Jumpstart. I stuck it out for the next several sessions, but I was still working with Marcus. One Friday session, I saw another one of my partner children. I was so happy to see her, but before “Welcome” time started, she was out the door. I spoke with her family member and told them I missed Liah in our Jumpstart sessions. I explained how well she had improved in learning the letter sounds and the corresponding letters. Liah and her guardian were so happy. Liah hugged me, giggled, and waved goodbye. I was almost satisfied but something else needed to be done.

 I decided to write a letter to the families of my partner children that I had consistently not seen since December. In my letter, I spoke highly of my children; I wrote about their accomplishments and I asked if they were reading their books I sent home to them from Christmas. On Wednesday I put my letters into their boxes and by Friday I had all my partner children attending again. My partner children worked so well together and we had an amazing session. All my children were so interested in the book that I noticed other children watching us in amazement. I guess my group distracted a lot of the other groups because they were just as excited as I was. When Liah left, I spoke with her mother and asked if she received the letter I left in Liah’s cubby.  Her mother responded and said that Liah made her read my letter over and over again. She told me Liah should know the letter word for word now. I was so happy that I was able to work with all three of my partner children again and that the parents were partners with me in ensuring I could help their children during our sessions from now on.

Tasheka Nelson

My Most Memorable Moment So Far This Year

As a second year corps member, I have personally seen countless achievements by the children in Jumpstart. So far this year, Jumpstart has given me many opportunities and millions of unforgettable memories. My most memorable moment so far this year would definitely be when one of my partner children’s moms emailed me. This email made my day! She told me how thankful she was for having me in her son’s life and how she has already seen an improvement with him. She was also ecstatic to say that her son always talks about families and that he never spoke about families before we worked together. Since I am able to email back and forth with his mother, I get to hear about all of the things I helped her son learn. This truly makes me feel amazing. I love working with children and watching them grow and learn. It is especially rewarding to get positive feedback on my work. It really proves to me that I am doing a great and meaningful service for these children. It makes me so blissful to know that I am touching the lives of these children through songs, reading, poems, and play, and that their parents recognize their child’s growth.

Lynndsay Holden

It was fate!!

There are times when the impulsive side of me completely takes over. The feelings in the pit of my stomach cannot be ignored or subdued and often times lead me in one direction. The first time I even heard the words Jumpstart at our first year seminar, my gut basically screamed at me. When the speakers spoke about how the corps members spend a significant amount of time helping the children who really need it, they might as well have been talking directly to me. Throughout my life, I have always jumped at the opportunity to help and this time was no different. It seemed as if Jumpstart chose me. The next day when my freshman class started picking classes, I signed up for Jumpstart with Hilary. If I could go back and change my decision, I wouldn’t. Seeing these children, who I have come to care so very much about, grow and learn every moment I’m with them makes me feel like I’ve made the right decision. Those children and their laughter and excitement are what get me out of bed every morning. I know that I’m helping, in some way, and I feel like I was meant to be here.  I’m not one to mess with fate.

Kris

An achievement of my partner child

At the beginning of the year, one of my partner children had a hard time paying attention during welcome and reading. She would get out of her seat at our assigned table and sit with other groups. During reading, she would look around the room at what other students were taking part in. I began to worry that she was never going to get a beneficial experience at welcome. I decided to give each of my children a sticker at the end of welcome and reading to reward them for their acceptable behavior. All three children responded to this system very well. The child that started off the year running around and not paying attention was now sitting in her seat and making comments about the books we were reading! One day, she even noticed that her name, and the child’s name next to hers, “both had two a's in them!” I was so proud and this semester she has really taken hold of paying attention and getting everything she can out of reading and welcome.

Kayla Sharpe

Why Jumpstart?

               There are many different reasons why people join Jumpstart. I think it is safe to say that everyone in Jumpstart loves working with children, but there must also be something else because anyone who has been a part of Jumpstart can tell you it’s a huge commitment and becomes a large part of your daily life. I have heard a number of different reasons from my fellow team members. Some reasons are similar, but I have found for the most part that these reasons are very individualized to the person and also very heartfelt.

            I had a lot of reasons why I choose to join Jumpstart as a sophomore who wasn’t a member her freshman year. My freshman year I had HGD field placement. The first semester my placement was at Project Hope, one of the Jumpstart sites. Often while I was there, there would also be a few members of the Project Hope Jumpstart team doing their C.A.T. Right away I found out that I loved working with this age group. Each week the children were changing, growing, and learning so much. It was amazing to witness it. Since it was field placement, I was only required to spend three hours a week in the preschool. Field placement became the highlight of my week, so three hours a week wasn’t cutting it: I knew I wanted more time with the children. I became a tiny bit jealous that the Jumpstart members got to spend so much more time with the children. To make my jealousy worse, two of my best friends were both part of Jumpstart. They would always talk about their partner children. You could see how close of a bond they were able to form with the children only a few months into school. Over the year I not only heard about the influence they were having on their children, but I saw the influence their children were having on them. It was amazing to see how much doing Jumpstart had impacted their lives.

As if that wasn’t enough motivation to join, I thought about my own early experiences with school. Since the first day of preschool I have always had a really hard time in school. I remember that learning anything seemed to take me so much longer than most of the other children. I remembered how frustrating it was trying to write my name. Unfortunately, I was a shy and quiet child in a large classroom with only two teachers. While I was struggling to keep up, they were struggling to keep children from climbing up the walls. My struggles with learning continued as I moved forward into kindergarten; I was already behind most of my classmates. In third grade I still had a kindergarten reading level. I hated school; it was embarrassing that I was so far behind everyone else. By the end of third grade I was diagnosed with a learning disability. Although most of my difficulties in school were caused by a learning disability, I wondered what my school experience would have been like if had been ready for kindergarten. That’s one of the reasons I think Jumpstart is so important. The individual attention the children get from the program is what really makes the program a success. Many children would not get the attention they need, if it wasn’t for their Jumpstart corps member. In being a part of Jumpstart I hoped that I would able to make at least one child’s first steps into learning and education a positive experience.

            I believe it is important for you to think back on how you originally came to join Jumpstart every once in a while, especially when Jumpstart is losing a bit of its positive feeling: when you can’t seem to be on the same page as your partner child, or the time commitment seems to overwhelming, or when your team is going through a struggle. Maybe even share your reasons with a fellow teammate or a friend. Although our reasons for joining Jumpstart may be different, they all are equally important and I hope that you will find that reflecting on why you choose to be a part of Jumpstart will help pull you through the tough times and help you to see what really matters.

Jenn V

Let the Game Begin

A few months ago my team and I were brainstorming ideas for team bonding when one member volunteered her house for a BBQ. Even though it was the middle of November, the BBQ still worked out perfectly. We took the T and arrived at her house around 1pm. While we waited for the final preparations of the food, we all watched T.V. When the food was finally ready we sat around the table and ate to our heart’s desire. The food was very delicious thanks to our team member, her brother, and her mom. After we filled our bellies, we played a game: Apples to Apples. I have never played this game before, so I was a bit skeptical about playing. However, as I observed and listened to the rules I got the hang of it and ended up having beginner's luck by being the one with the most green cards! We left around 4, since a team member had to be back for an event, and even on the train ride back to school, we continued to laugh about the inside jokes we made while playing the game.

Heather MacDonald