forest foundation

What a Day

Sometimes I can't believe that I actually get paid to the work that I do. Today I picked up Margie, one of the UC Berkeley students I work with, around 1:30 p.m. and we headed over to the elementary school in Richmond where she works on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We talked a bit on the way over, which I enjoyed. I've known Margie since before she started high school, much less college. We were at Camp Tawonga together for a summer or two.

We got a tad lost as I always seem to when heading over to Chavez elementary and then we headed into the trailer in the school's back parking lot where Diego Garcia has his office. Diego, the head of the Healthy Start afterschool program through which Margie works, grew up in Richmond himslelf and has a wonderful track record of successful work in schools with "at-risk youth."

We shook hands and chatted for a bit and then I follow Margie to Ms. Vasquez's classroom where she normally begins her afternoons. As soon as I entered the classroom one young boy, Valdomar, asked my bluntly - "What's your name!" I repeated the question right back to him with a little bit of attitude. "Blabbermouth" he muttered as he walked over to a table to take his homework out.

Once I got situated and put my things down I headed over to the one table where there was not an adult. Margie told me to be patient and that the students would ask me for help when they needed it. Sure enough, Valdomar was staring at his blank page of math problems and then staring right back at me. Minutes later we were drawing 28 different candy bars on a piece of scratch paper and drawing lines to the four friends of his we were dividing them amongst and trying to create a concrete example of a simple division problem.

Valdomar soon grew tired of his math and wandered off. I snapped a few pictures of Margie and then we all headed out on to the playground. I got beat up at tetherball (I don't think we played regulation rules) by a 3rd grader and then wandered over to the soccer field where Margie was already trudging around in her Ugz boots. Valdomar was the goalie and I was the primary defender and we played a great game.

Before I knew it it was 5:30 and I was saying goodbye to Margie as I dropped her off at her dorm room. Margie and I had had a lot of fun and it was so clear that we had made a big difference for all the people we came into contact with that day. Is that work? I don't know - it certainly doesn't feel like it.

Things are going great up here in the Bay Area. Look for more info about Margie's "Art Makes You Smart" program in the coming Flash (3/17).

posted by forest foundation @ 11:34 PM