Thanks for the Memories

Working with 1st graders is a lot of fun, but you can imagine all the crazy yet funny things they have to say. During the first week of my internship, the kids had made paper dolls of their mom or a significant woman in their life. Before the kids started working on their dolls, one of this kid had asked me a question. He asked me if I had any kids, and I thought that was pretty funny. I obviously replied with no and he then asked me a follow up question which was “Why?” I told him that I was too young to have kids.

I think little moments like these are what makes my day because the kids always have a lot to say. There was a moment that same week when a kid (who isn’t in the class that I’m working with) had asked me a question. I was walking outside heading to the workroom with my fellow intern Valeria when a kid had asked me if I was Filipino. I said, “Yes, how’d you know?” He replied with, “You look Filipino.” Honestly, I’ve always felt as if I don’t really look like my ethnicity, so when that kid had asked me, I thought it was nice how he was able to identify me as a Filipino seeing as he was also Filipino himself. I’ve had a few conversations over the course of these 3 weeks that I know I’ll remember. This week I had interviewed my mentor as well as the student teacher that works in my classroom. From those interviews, I felt as if I was able to learn a lot about them and what kind of experiences they both went through to get where they are now. While interviewing them, I had learned that they both didn’t want to initially be a teacher at first, and that it took some time for them to realize that teaching was passion of theirs and pursue that career. Hearing that gave me reassurance and helped me realize that it’s okay if I go into college undecided. Since junior year is coming to an end, I’ve been more stressed than ever worrying about applying to colleges and deciding what I want to major in. As I’ve talked to the staff members here, they tend to usually ask what I’m interested in majoring in and I reply with, “I’m not too sure yet.” Not once have one of them said, “You should decide soon since you’re almost graduating from high school.” They always say, “Oh, you have plenty of time still left to decide.” Although it feels like I don’t have a lot of time to make a decision, I’m glad to know that the staff at this school are supportive and very reassuring.