Anna Shoch After Six Visits

After Sixth Visit:

After my sixth time with the Taft kids it had gotten a lot easier to work with them. I have been able to really get to individually know each of the kids and their strengths and weaknesses. Having the ability to really have a connection with each of the kids makes the experience overall much more enjoyable. They are more accommodating with us because they know that if they misbehave we won't be happy and get angry and if they are good they know they will get to play games and have fun with us. They now are much less timid around us and get excited when they come to Menlo because they are more comfortable.

I have really loved getting to see them grow. For example there is one girl named Jennifer that was very timid at first. She kept to herself and it was very hard to get her to talk to me. Over the past few weeks I have been able to get her to open up to me. I joke around with her and try to talk to her about things she likes to make her more comfortable with me. It feels great to know how far she has come from the beginning when she would slowly walk into class without any enthusiasm, trying to not look at me to where we are now where she runs up and gives me a hug whenever she sees me. I can now really get her to open up about what she doesn't understand in class and with her homework to help her get better. I’m excited to keep working with them and see how much more they will grow.

Anna Shoch Three Visits

For my PACT project I am helping at the Taft Tutoring Program at Menlo. Fourth and fifth grade kids from Taft school come to Menlo once a week. It is a little bit intimidating at first when they show up because the kids are all either running around uncontrollably or look very unhappy to be there. Ever since the beginning of the program, it has gotten easier to control or related to the kids. The reason the kids are mostly in this program is because they are falling behind in their math classes. This is either because they are timid and quiet about not understanding and really don't have much confidence in the subject or because they don't pay attention in class and are not able to understand the material for the homework. When they come to Menlo I get to interact with them and see where they are. Some of the kids actually are great at all the math and just need a little push of confidence, but some kids really struggle. This is a challenge because a lot of the time the kids that are confused convince themselves that they are terrible at math and completely unable to do it, and the fact that the kids that were able to finish their homework are running around and getting to have fun doesn't help very much.

There was one boy named Aiden that especially was having trouble. We could barely get him to sit still and even try one problem. All he wanted to do was play games and hangout with his friends. He was very unmotivated to even try to do his math and kept saying that this was because there was no point and he was terrible at it. I tried many times to get him to work on his homework, but he just wouldn't cooperate. Finally I found a way to get him focused and engaged by making a math tic tac toe game. Since he liked playing games so much he really enjoyed this. Playing interesting math games that I made up for him really made him become so much more confident in himself.

It can be hard to balance the spectrum of the ability of all the kids, but the more we see them and the more I get to make one on one relationships with them, the easier it gets to understand what they are going through and how I can help them improve. I love getting to know them and see their understanding, and enthusiasm grow each visit.

Allison Liddle PACT Sixth Visit

Allison Liddle
21 August 2016 11:00 A.M. - 8:30 P.M.
Pawsitive Connections
Penny Pumphrey
(559)-977-5125

By my sixth visit, I definitely felt apart of the Pawsitive Connections family. I was fortunate enough to become a senior volunteer. This means that I was given more responsibilities. For instance, I am now the admin for one of our social media pages. I also work with some of our junior volunteers. One of the main goals of Pawsitive Connections is to use the healing power of animals to help differently abled individuals. One of the junior volunteers that I am in charge of has autism and needs help focusing. He has as many responsibilities as the other volunteers, he just tends to wander off. One of my jobs is to make sure that he doesn’t lose focus and wander off (his mom told us this could potentially be a problem.) I found that after a few hours working with the dogs, he was focusing a little bit better and was noticeably more attentive to the needs of the dogs than his mom had said he might be. He continues to return every weekend feeling excited and helpful.  Through Pawsitive Connections, I have seen several instances, such as this, that demonstrate how animals can help people. This is why it is so important that they find loving homes and are taken care of well. We receive too many dogs that were a product of maltreatment, abandonment, or failure to neuter or spay the parent dogs. I look forward to continuing to educate others about the importance of spaying and neutering as well as the impact that animals can have on one's’ life. I am looking forward to “super adoption weekend” where several different adoption agencies come together to find loving homes for deserving animals . Also, I am nervous (but mostly excited) to run an entire adoption event without any other supervision in two weeks.

Allison Liddle PACT Third Visit

Allison Liddle
24 July 2016 9:00 A.M. - 5:00 P.M.
Pawsitive Connections
Penny Pumphrey
(559)-977-5125

I had many preconceptions about adoption agencies before becoming a volunteer with Pawsitive Connections.  The biggest of all being that I felt most places wanted good homes for the animals they care for, as one would expect, but were too strict about who can adopt. For example, when I was two my mom wanted to adopt a dog, but since my sister and I were so young, adoption agencies did not want us to adopt because our age made us a liability. I felt, and still feel, that this was extremely unfair because we would provide an amazing home for any animal we decided to rescue, but these agencies were far too strict. So going into my first day, I made adopting out the animals my main priority. However, after my first three visits as a volunteer, I quickly realized why rescue agencies are so skeptical of the people wanting to adopt. As a volunteer, I spent a lot of time with the dogs and formed bonds with them. I knew just how great these dogs were and how happy they would make their future owners. This made adoptions even more difficult because I now felt responsible for the quality of life these dogs would have after being adopted. The volunteers' main job, other than taking care of the dogs, was to talk with potential owners about the dogs. This meant that I had to learn everything about 20 to 30 different dogs at each adoption event. I also had to analyze the people looking to adopt to make sure these dogs go to good homes, which is sad because you would think you shouldn’t be so picky. However, a huge issue today is the mistreatment of animals. In fact, they are making animal abuse a federal crime that can result in prison time. Essentially, my job is to make sure the dog is the right fit for the family and also make sure the family is able to treat the dog well. I now understand why shelters are so picky about who adopts.

Hayden Pegley: Blog after 3rd day

Since I was 4, I’ve volunteered with an organization that offers shelter for homeless families. I wanted to branch out from that organization but keep a focus on homelessness. After doing some research, I found LifeMoves, specifically LifeMoves Summer Adventure. LifeMoves is an organization whose goal is to “break the cycle of homelessness in the Bay Area”, and their Summer Adventure is a summer camp for children from homeless families within the LifeMoves network. For my first week I’m volunteering at LifeMoves’ Haven House in Menlo Park. 

The entirety of my 8:00 AM-3:00 PM day is spent with the kids, so in 3 short days I’ve already gotten to know a couple of the kids very well. I immediately bonded with two 12 year-olds, Christian (Chris) and Junior. From how they interacted, I thought that Junior and Chris must have been best friends for years. It wasn’t until I sat down on a bench with Chris for lunch yesterday that I learned he had moved to Haven House from Florida only two weeks ago. He talked about moving between different apartments every couple of months, and how a job opportunity had brought the family to California. I still can’t believe that he and Junior have only known each other for a week or two; they talk about the health of their families and what they want out of life. I wonder if constantly moving gave Chris an ability to quickly latch on to friends around him.

I worked at another summer camp week, but that camp cost hundreds of dollars to go to. It was fascinating to see the difference in how campers interacted with each other at the two camps. It was hard not to notice how the LifeMoves campers, though fun-loving and energetic like all kids, had a harder time controlling their emotions than the campers at the other camp. At the LifeMoves orientation, the lead volunteering told us that the kids in the camp are likely at least 2 years behind in school and may also lack the emotional and social maturity of other kids their age. I’ve unfortunately seen this to be true. I’m interested to see whether I’ll notice this at First Step, the complex I’m volunteering at next week.

Ellie Lieberman: Blog After Six Visits

After a few days working at Spark, I did notice an emotional reaction within myself. I felt so strongly that all the girls were deserving of more than a week of structure in the summer. I did not feel that a week was enough and after Wednesday, I decided that had to work to continue working with the girls throughout the school year. Not sure yet on what that will be, but I still want to work on it.

Music Video/Presentations of Role Model: Much of the second half of the camp related back to either the all camp music video to 'Shake it Off' by Taylor Swift or the poster making and presentation of each girl's female role model. For the music video, it was really awesome watching each girl come alive when it came to acting and singing. None of them had been exposed to the filming and production of a video, so even though this activity may not have been so academic, I think they learned a lot and specifically about persistance. The video did not succeed immediately but with patience and cooperation from everybody it did. In reflection, this particular activity made me realize how important it is for all schools including Taft to emphasize the arts because they open a window of opportunity many students don't have in the classroom. Similarly, each girl had the chance to research and then present in a video form about their role model. Public speaking in particular was also very frightening for many of the girls.

In conclusion, and through all these activities, I do believe I had an impact through my service. On the basic level, I was able to provide a week of structured activities for 20 low-income girls who would otherwise be sitting at home. But, deeper than that, I think I taught them that girls have just as much potential as boys career-wise and in the future. Whether they were interested in woodworking, science, cooking or basketball, the goal was to show the girls to chase their dreams. I think that by giving them a safe space to talk about their interests with like-minded girls, they were given a good chance.

Ellie Lieberman: Blog After Three Visits

Before my PACT, my perceptions was that many low income students like the ones served through Camp Spark was that many had programs like the Boys and Girls Club or Peninsula Bridge to go to over the summer. I learned immediately from the sign ups for Camp Spark that many low-income students actually lack structure in the summer. Immediately, upon coordination with Claire Oliver, Taft's Director of Community Relations, I learned how grateful many of the students were for the oppertunnity to have a camp to go to over the summer. While the goal was for 16 girls to sign up, there were actually 20 at the camp. But, before we could even get to this point, there was a lot of planning that went into it. Two years prior, I had worked with seniors Ethan Wong, Will Baldwin, Meg Sanford and Alexandra Walker to put on a Camp Spark for 40 students from Taft but the camp was more centered around sports and less on art and science. I decided to shift the vision last spring to make it more centered around girls empowerement. The curriculum this summer consisted of art, science, reading (Frindle) and girls empowerment. Here were some of the most impactful moments of the first three days:

Reading Frindle alound in small groups: When reading with 3-4 girls at a time, I noticed 1) the fear many girls have in a large classroom when it comes to reading aloud 2) the need for them to be in small groups and constantly reading in order to improve their skills. Many of them came into the camp completely opposed to reading even when it was only with a few peers. One girl kept telling me she couldn't read because she forgot her glassses but soon after hearing her friends read, she was comfortable doing the same. After we went around a few times, the girls were able to accept their mistakes and each time they read, they were not only improving, but getting more excited about the task.

Snacktime: Two things also stuck out to me when giving the girls snack and lunch. 1) how they lacked nutrition related education and 2) the fear of when the next meal is gonna be. Many of the girls were strongly opposed to eating vegetables and also were not very open to experiencing new foods. These things can be taught and so I guess it kind of just struck me how valuable a lesson in nutrition would've been. Also, especially with pizza, the girls constantly were asking for another slice. It seemed that at times they were compensating for a lack of food elsewhere which definitely made me understand the importance of a stable food source multiple times a day.

Coke+Mentos: This experiment was very beneficial because not only was it hands-on, but it taught many of the girls lessons that could not have been cemented with a lecture. One of the main takeaways was that the combination of coke and mentos is a physical, not chemical reaction which is something that may go against the common knowledge of the experiment. Funny enough, this takeaway stuck with the students much more than almost any other lesson from the camp. Just goes to show the value of collaboration and hands-on activities.

Mason Jar Decorating: Another activity was decorating mason jars with pictures from magazines. This activity was so enjoyable for counselors and campers alike and it was especially wonderful to see how creative they were with their designs. It was really nice to give them something they could take home with them as a result of the camp.

Girls Empowerment PPT: Many of the girls may have come into camp only thinking they could grow up to be a Disney actress or singer, and some may still want to pursue that path, but through a girls empowerment powerpoint, the goal was th show them many more unique female role models. The slides described everyone from White House Chef, Christeta Commerford to immigration activist, Christina Jimenez and I think succeeded in showing the girls more role models. It was especially rewarding when it came time for them to pick role models they wanted to learn about as many chose ones I had talked about and some wanted to research even more. A girl named Maya even chose to focus on a woodworker which I thought was particularly interesting.