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