Once a week after school I know I can count on actually doing something fun and productive with my afternoon at RYP. It’s a perfect excuse to put off some homework for a few extra hours, and it’s a great way to make new friends. We, the student volunteers, meet in Mr. Pomplon’s office as quickly as we can after the announcements and then all head down to the Blazer bus for our trip. It’s only about a twenty minute ride to Moravia Park Elementary, where we work with the kids, and we always make sure that the bus ride is as exciting as it can be. When we get to the school, the children are just getting out of their classes, so we are always greeted with the somewhat confused looks of all the students when they see our uniforms. Occasionally an adorable little girl will compliment all of us… other times we are asked if we’re all twins. As we file into the school, Mr Pomplon stops at the front desk to sign us in, and then we head up to the cafeteria where the RYP afterschool program meets. The kids are always so excited to see us and always remember us because of our easily identifiable uniforms. From there we sign in, choosing to work either with the boys or the girls for that day, and then immediately find a familiar face, or else a new buddy to sit next to. Within a few minutes, one of the teachers will ask the girls to line up to head to their classroom down the hall.

Depending on which group I’m working with, I will either stay in the cafeteria or go to the other classroom to begin working with some of the students on their homework. Sometimes this is quite the difficult task. As a senior in high school, I should be able to understand elementary school English or math, but that is not always the case. Then, to make this even more challenging, once I figure out how to do the problems, I have to explain it to a little girl or boy who does not necessarily understand English very well. I can remember one time last year I was helping a little girl named Noor with her English homework, and the directions were to write 5 sentences about a robot. Sounds simple, right? Well, how about if your student does not know what a robot is. A new problem: how exactly do you describe what a robot is well enough for someone who does not know, to write 5 sentences about it. Thankfully, with a lot of patience on my part as well as Noor’s, we were able to successfully complete the assignment.

Once we finish with homework, depending on the amount of time left, we do some kind of fun learning activities with the students, whether that be working on their writing skills on the whiteboards, or practicing math drills on flashcards. Then finally, if the weather is nice enough, it’s every student’s favorite time, when we get to go outside and play. The girls will usually stick to the playground playing games like house or tag. The boys almost always initiate an extremely fun to watch, but very competitive game of keep-away soccer, in which no specific teams are ever actually established, and no boundaries are ever really set. We all play outside until it is time to have the kids line up and load onto the bus. This happens to be my favorite part of our whole time at RYP because after the kids all find their seats on the bus, the windows are immediately opened, and little hands are flying up and out for high-fives, and you can hear little voices yelling about how much fun they had, how excited they are to return tomorrow, or how much they will miss you until next week when you come again.

Sadly after this, it is time for all of us to return to NDP. The bus ride back is always entertaining because it’s a time for everyone to share their stories of the afternoon. Every one of us always has such an amazing time with the kids. Simply put: the kids that we work with are difficult to leave and impossible to forget.