Service!

Service seems to only revolve around helping others and doing something good in the community. But no one really mentions that by doing this you grow, learn and mature as a person. The past year or so of CAS I have grown so much and have discovered things I didn’t know about myself. For example, the fact that I love children and children love me. So as time goes by I involve myself in more and more activities that children participate in. The first 2 weeks of camp I worked at Discover La Paz Adventure Camp, just like last year. I worked as an assistant and had t ns the safety and fun for kids ages 4 to 12. This experience was a great learning opportunity for both me and my colleague Ashley. We gain a lot of knowledge in understanding how a kid’s brain works and how we as teachers can meet all their needs. We also learned how to have patience and teach something in different ways. This service consisted of helping with the kids and providing activities for them to do. We had to find ways to entertain the kids and teach them about Costa Rica and La Paz. During these two weeks, we did activities like CGLO where we mixed kids from all ages and we played games, read books, drew, made Costa Rica typical food and even made slime. We also went on a field trip with the kids to a goat cheese farm and learned how to make the cheese as well as learning about sustainable practices. They also learned about birds, monkeys, iguanas, and plants. We then took them to the beach and did a beach clean up with them. After these kids were separated in groups where all teachers had to entertain them with a fun activity. The activity I did with them was the water relay, which they loved and enjoyed. We also went on a field trip to Langosta beach, where the kids had options of surfing, paddle boarding and horseback ride. I had to be all over the place, taking care of the kids and making sure they were all safe. On the last week, we went to a farm, where we again divided the kids into groups and we dd activities like horseback riding, milking cows, making typical food, and ox carts. I enjoyed this field trip a lot because I got to spend a lot of time with my group and we had so much fun together. Every day I would come home exhausted but always anxious for the next day to come and to continue to grow and learn from such wonderful teachers and kids.

As I have mentioned in previous entries,  love children. Therefore, I enjoy spending time with them, playing with them, reading to them and drawing with them. Although kids can be tough sometimes decided to use that and learn more about how to treat them and what to do in certain situations. Love this experience because instead of staying home and doing nothing I get up in the morning, meet with teachers and help children learn. I have learned so much about teaching in such a short period of time, and I know that it can be helpful in the future. This year at camp I got to see kids from last year and they were so excited to see me too.  Love that I am a small part of the growth of these children because in the end they are our future and I have no doubt that these kids will become strong assets to the world. 

Furthermore, regarding our projects, we are officially done with the yearbook, we got them to school and to the rest of the student body and they were all so so happy with the yearbook. Am extremely happy to be done with this project and this means we can dedicate all our time to the Boston project now. In break Ashley and I have met with the parents and girls Nayeli and Alison and have already started the visa process. The meeting went incredibly well and the families are all so happy to form part of this project. We are happy to be on a roll and hope to continue the progress as steady as it is going. We have also been in contact with Abby about the project and the next steps with it.