Yesterday, I went with my social work intern on a home visit, which was part if her learning goals. It was an informational home visit where we sought the opinions of the parent about the program, program topics, and her daughter’s transition to high school. It was a great visit.
Emma* has been in my program for the last three years. I have been fortunate to be able to see her grow into a compassionate leader and bright young woman. What was particularly meaningful to me was at the end of the visit. Emma went to her room to grab things we had done over the years in Jump Start.
One of my rules I share with my girls (especially after an activity) is: I don’t want to see you throw out what you have worked on. If you don’t want to keep it, then you can throw it out later when I’m not around. So when Emma began showing me her Superwoman drawing from her 6th grade year, her scrapbooking and “I am” poem from 7th grade, and her roadmap from this year, I was surprised. As I say, my heart began to smile.
So often program managers create activities and projects for our youth and they end up just throwing it out. When you have spent a couple hours planning an activity, that’s the last thing that you want. Also, at times I often wonder how much my program’s two hours once a week means to the girls. How much is it really impacting them? Seeing that Emma kept all her projects for the last three years was encouraging to say the least. Those little activities meant enough to her that she kept them. She even put some of them on her bedroom door.
When I have doubts again about the impact of my program or that one hour activity about goal setting, I will remember how Emma kept her things from Jump Start. If it impacts just one girl, then its all worth it!
*Name of the participant has been changed.
Being the Change 