School fun time

I wanted to do something that involved working with kids so i decided to look and see if there were any day-cares or after school programs i could help out. I found one in Mountain View, California across the bay. The name of the school is, Monta Loma. Where i once used to go back in 5th grade. They have a after school program there so i decided to go down and check it out. I talked to Connie Sawdey asked ask her if it was alright if i were to help them out in the after shcool program. She said of course and told me what i would be doing. She said just to help them in playing games like, basketball or soccer and to just get along with them and make sure they have fun. Which of course is easy for me because everyone loves me and I'm just that amazing.


I had a lot of fun to be honest it was really nice to teach kids how to play basketball and watch them learn. It was also fun seeing them try to make all the shots and struggle with it. Might seem mean but if you were there you would see that it was quite cute. A boy named, Henry, age 10, really interested me. He was one who i helped most with the sports intermurals and such. You can tell his parents have little influence on him due to the fact that he was very shy and the other children seemed not to notice him at all. Trying to get him involved with everyone else was difficult. So some one on one was a better aproach. He stay at after care at the school for little over two hours. Though the times there dude exceed two hours to me i don't think it would be too much fun to stay at school for two hours. Plus with the other children not recognizing you. I talked to one of the counselors and asked what is up with him and why he has to stay so long. Carrie, the counselor, said  his parents are divorced and his father may not be the best and some days forgets to pick little henry up. Which to me is awful. Parents should always make time for their children no matter what. So i felt bad for Henry. Not to neglect the other children i decided to hang out with Henry for the rest of my time there.


This is a social issue because poor little Henry was a child in need. They this is only an after care and would not seem to have needed children, Henry was one of them. A child you is ignored by other kids and even his own father at times. No child should have to go through that. So yes indeed Henry was a child in need, and i am so very glad to have met that young boy. I am glad i can give him my quality time that he doesn't get from other people who should be given it to him. He is a smart boy and deserves the best and im happy i can at least make one day of his life better. 

School where after car program was held. Monta loma elementary 

Passing the Reading Clinic

On the last day of the Reading Clinic I was so sad to see the children leave but excited to see how far many of them have come.  The children had figured out that there was a party for them outside because some teachers and staff at the school were preparing food, drinks and eating supplies.  If there was going to be any sort of reading that day, the setting up and cooking ruined it.  Most Clinicians had realized that the students weren't going to read because they only had about 15 minutes so basically they had a free period where they could talk to their friends and hang out.  The one lady who yelled at my student for going to the bathroom was there and she was on high alert.  There was a basketball hoop all the way across the Gymnasium and I heard the students ask Mr. Santonastaso if they could play basketball and he said "sure, but be careful."  And they were but this lady yelled "Hey!" so loud that all conversations were ended and seeing what was going on.  She walked over to them, took the basketball from their hands, and demanded an answer for who let them play and when they tried to speak she wouldn't listen.  Then she walked away like nothing happened.

After about 10 minutes had passed, the students were excited because they were ready to receive their diploma for completeing the Reading Clinic.  My student went up towards the end of the line and he was so happy to have completed the Clinic.  Once they received their diplomas they were able to go and take a book of their choosing.  Many students were disappointed that they weren't able to get the one that they wanted but some of the children were very nice and traded.  It took about 15 minutes for about 25 of them to receive their diplomas and once they did, they were so happy to show it off.  Many of them showed it to their parents and the smiles on their faces were huge.

After the ceremony and a brief congratulations to all of the children, we went outside where there was a party with food that had been brought by the parents and faculty.  What really touched my heart was seeing my student eating his food and sitting by himself reading the book he just chose.  Now it was my turn to brag saying "He didn't want to be here, look what I did."  I felt like I had accomplished a lot with him and it was a shame to see him go.  His mother came over and introduced himself and she thanked me tremendously because even at home, she can't get him to stop reading.  She began to tear up because she knew he wouldn't have done well in school if he didn't know how to read well, she also knew of the harassment that he would deal with if he didn't read well.  I told her it was my pleasure working with her son and that he loves books on violent and dangerous animals.  As I was leaving I took one look back and said "I'm coming back next year, for sure."

Me and my student who had just gotten his diploma, because of privacy reasons I had to keep his name anonymous

Helping them to get ready!

Vivian took this photo of her brothers which are also my cousins:)

   Finally come to the last equity post and this time I didn't go back to the math tutor that I used to go because there weren't much people going last time and I think students are pretty much done with their homework and class, and now it's just waiting for the finals to deal with. I looked at vivian's previous post and knew that she volunteered at Walters Junior High for the after school tutoring and homework program, so I decided to go volunteer with her this time. Since I went to Walters for my 7th and 8th grade, I am quite familiar with the stuff over there and because of that, I wasn't worry as much as before.
   On last Friday after school, I went to Walters with Vivian and Ye. Ye joined us because he went to volunteer with me last two times and he felt that same way as me that there won't be much student at the math tutor because it's almost final. We arrived at Walters around three and we walked to the classroom where the homework club was held. By the time we got there, the sun came out as if it knew that we will be there and the kids can go outside to finish their work under the nice weather with the sunshine. The kids went outside and started on their homework or study. My cousin were part of the homework club so I went to them and see if they have any problems or questions. They were fine so I went to some other kids to help them with homework. Some of these kids are preparing themselves for high school after the summer and I talked to them about high school and shared my experience with them. High school is going to be harder and tougher, and it is not like junior high school anymore. After you get into high school, you need to stay focus and keep track with all your work. Also, your grade in high school will affect your future and who you will be. You need to be independent and know how to take care of your own stuff once you get into high school because your teacher can't always help you on your work like junior high. Those kids were really focus when I told them  about my experience and I hope they listen to my advice and do their best in high school.
   After the volunteers that I have been done, I experienced a lot. Not only on the knowledge on helping the students but also working with those kids and share with them about the future. Teaching different grades of kids are so different. Like the elementary kids, there are the hardest to handle among the others. Teaching elementary kids are sometimes really hard because they might not listen to you or they argue with you on what they think should be right. The junior high kids are better and sharing my experience of high school with them were really good. It helps them to be prepared for high school. For high school, the most challenging thing is knowledge because sometimes I don't know how to help them with the problems. For the big part, helping students in the community by tutoring benefit the kids that I helped and also myself. They go to the tutor or after school program maybe it's because of their family can't afford private tutor for them or their parents need to work that they can't take care of their kids on their school work. I hoped that the little stuff I did for the students can really help them and benefit them and the society.

An unfortunate ending

Breast cancer is a very bad issue because it cause a lot of tragic endings to people's lives. There isnt much that we can do to solve this problem but Jesse, Jordan and I are doing all that we can to help this cause. For the last part of the project we baked cupcakes to try and raise money and send it to a bras for a cause foundation. We raised quiet a bit of money and it was a good experience. We had a long day ahead of us and little time to work.

The night before we went to Safeway we gathered at jesses house to make some cupcakes. Nobody had any idea of what to do so we were up for a while trying to figure out how to make cupcakes. None of us had any experience of doing this and jesses mom was not there to help us this time so we had to do this all on our own. We got distracted at time and messed around a lot but in the end we made some really good cupcakes. The next morning we wanted to get a head start on the early morning shoppers so we met at Safeway and we set up our booth. When Jesse went to get the bras we put them on and you could already see the people laughing, pointing, and smiling at us. We made and sold a lot of money and cupcakes early and it went on throughout the day. A lot of the kids were laughing at us and asking us questions like, "why are you guys in bras? They are for girls" we clearly explained why we were wearing the bras. We were making a lot more money than we have before then a group of women came up to us sobbing and crying about the cause. One of them actually had breast cancer unfortunately. She had gotten rid of it but then she got it back again. It was very sad and they donated a lot of money because they said we were truely amazing for helping out this cause. A lot of people actually donated and didn't want cupcakes which really helped out a lot.

This was the best experience that I had because it was heart warming and we made a lot of money to help out this cause of breast cancer. A lot of women are getting this and they are the ones who have been donating the most and we are just trying to help out the cause by giving all the money to a foundation. I really enjoyed working this time and I had a good time. I honestly would love to work there again if I could. I'm hoping that Safeway does this again because I know how big this issue is and I really want to keep helping out and serving the community well.

Respect Your Elders

Just like teens, elders like to go out and have fun. Even with a health condition, they like to go out and socialize with there peers. I went to Bingo night to help set up and escort the elderly to their seat. They were just like us, talking about how they'll win against there friends. Talk some smack, but who doesn't do that? I thought it was so cute that they were having the time of their lives just being able to play bingo, or even be out of their home. I helped clean up after them, or serve them food or drinks if they needed some. It was pretty fun, and you learn a lot from them. This one lady started dancing when one of her favorite songs went on, it was that one song by James Brown..I believe it was I feel good? I'm not sure if that's the name of the song, but she was explaining how they got down. Also  that she feels that today our type of  "dancing" is just too much for her eyes to see. If her parents saw her doing that she'd definitely be locked up till she was 80. Which we had a good laugh about, and I felt like it takes a lot for someone that old to open up to me since most elderly today don't like talking to  what she calls "selfish" children.

 People nowadays don't realize what the elderly had to go through growing up. Its not like our generation where we have all of the new technology to entertain us. They valued their family more than we do today because we're so caught up with these new gadgets. I think us kids now have much more freedom and say in things than they did. People were drafted into war, they didn't have a choice, but life or death. Now we can choose whether we  want to enlist or not. Honestly, feel like the only reason the elderly are mostly bitter is because the youth are so rude to them and don't even pay attention to what they've gone through and sacrificed.

The social issue in this is that some of the elderly who live in care homes today get abused because people don't have the patience and the care that all people need. Just because they aren't able to do things for themselves. Doesn't mean we should treat them like they're not human. What if that was your grandparent and someone would treat them poorly and not help them with their needs? I don't think you'll like the way they would be treated. So, treat them like they're your own. I would definitely love to volunteer and help out again to these wonderful elderly people.

Back to Elementary !

To volunteer I decided to go back to Cabrillo my old school that I use go to, with Daniela and Andy. We had to talk to the principle to see where we were going to volunteeer at. Their is many programs after school for the little kids. When I use to go there, not much help was provided by the school since it was unwealthy. I was glad to see that the school is now doing way better and their is a lot of help to those who need it. The principle was telling us that their was already alot of students volunteering at the school. We didn't want to volunteer anywhere else so we kept trying. Mr.Hudson decided to put us in a room with 3 teachers, but we were going to replace their spot so she can grant us our volunteer hours. She told us when to begin the next day, and explained that she was going to give us a orientation before we start.

As the next day came, we were at the school. Me and Andy were suppose to meet up with Daniela but we couldn't find her. We signed into the office, and went straight to the room to start our volunteering. We were introduced to the teachers and the students. First I thought all the kids were looking at us like creatures, but I sat down with a group of kids that I was going to be working with. After 2 minutes all the kids I was working with started to goof around and they were constantly asking for my help. Finaly Daniela shows up with the principle, and tells us that we missed the orientation but since we are guys she said it was alright. The kids were working on packets, that included coloring specific pictures with the directions of what color to use and how many to color. They had a bit of math and sentences they had to write. They seemed so distracted that they really didn't do much and threw crayons all over the place. I ended up picking the things they threw, and started guiding them to encourage them to do work. Guiding them step by step, showed me a positive response that it got them doing work. They ended up finishing their packets and I just enjoyed making jokes with them.

Working for the first time at the school with the kids was not that cruel, instead I enjoyed helping the kids out and actually encouraged them to keep doing their work. After volunteering the principle told us that the kids were going to start their star testing and they will not be needing us. For the whole next week I did not volunteer anywhere and I told Mr.Speckles. I did not want to volunteer anywhere else, most of the places is doing labor or chores for other people. I rather help out then do something anyone is capable of doing. After the week had passed I went back to the school and decided to keep volunteering there.

This is Harder Than it Looks

For our second volunteer service (four weeks ago; late post is late), Zoë, Auriana and I went back to the Tule Ponds. I think I was more enthusiastic than both of them, as I was the only one that really wanted to come back instead of trying to look for a new place to volunteer at. I enjoyed the work from the week before and wanted to continue helping the environment and people at the establishment.



Us pretending to be sexy--Ignore me, I blinked

The supervisor guy (Brandon) said that because we came later than another group of kids, he didn't really have anything for us to do. He put us on a hill behind the visitor center and told us to dig up the weeds. We were joined by an 8th grader and then another kid a few minutes in, and then Corrina showed up to help us out. We were glad for another friend to talk to during our work, and gladly welcomed her toour mini task force. The work itself wasn't too bad; the lack of shade made it a little worse than it should have been but other than that it was pretty fun.

Different weeds were easier to pull up than others. Corrina and I spent at least 15 minutes trying to get out one particularly stubborn one, and then we kind of just gave up and walked awy and hoped no one would notice. Aside from the tall ones with giant roots, the smaller ones were easy enough. However, other factors impaired my ability to get weeds out as well. One part of the hill was very steep, and I could bately stand up straight without losing my footing. Zoë stayed up on the steep part of the hill and worked on those, something I think she's pretty brave for doing. I tried to dig out a weed from where she was and nearly fell down the hill.

Us after we finished our work

The whole things was fun, but kind of pointless. Brandon himself said, "There's not much for you to do... I guess I'll put you on the hill to get some weeds out." It felt as if all of our hard work was wasted on stuff that didn't really need to be done, but I enjoyed it anyway. It's been good excercise and a way to get out of the hosue and talk to friends on a regular basis. I look dorward to being able to go back to the Tule Ponds, and maybe next time doing something more usefull (and we all know how that turned out--again, late post is late.).