Welcome Everyone!
September 19, 2008, 7:18 pm
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Staff
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Staff
Project Transformation now has a blog for interns! We want this blog to be a place where interns can share their experiences with PT supporters and those who want to learn more about our programs. Stay tuned to learn more about the amazing young adults who are serving children and families in the Dallas area.
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Oh Mr. Sandman!
This past week was focused on sleep and why it is important. We also had to plan for our Family Fun Night. The week was hectic, but it was a great success. JaSonda presented the background information and importance of sleep. The kids were engaged and responsive. Wednesday, we followed by teaching them a little background on Native Americans and their beliefs. With this, we all created our own dream catcher. The children got really into this and were excited to go home and hang their dream catcher by their bed. On Thursday, to continue the theme, reward them for all turning in report cards, and to relax before family fun night, we had a SLUMBER PARTY. At this party everyone dressed in their pajamas, made hot chocolate and relaxed to the classic movie, Rudolph the red nosed reindeer. Although there was a lot of sweat and tears put into this past week, it was a great success, and we have great pictures to prove it!
Sheena Logan
It’s the most wonderful time of the year…
This past Thursday we had had our second Family Fun Night at Oak Cliff! The kids worked hard on crafts all week to decorate the room for Christmas, cutting out snowflakes, making feet and handprint reindeer, building snowmen, decorating gingerbread men, and putting together red and green chains. We had almost every family in the program in attendance. University Park UMC provided pizza for dinner, along with a gift for each child. The kids and their families enjoyed decorating Christmas ornaments, making nativity scenes, and decorating sugar cookies. Our staff, families, and volunteers all had a great night together!
Mary Kate Ferguson
PT loves the Mavs!
December 7, 2009, 11:00 pm
Filed under: 2009-2010 Year Round Interns, Wesley Rankin Community Center
Filed under: 2009-2010 Year Round Interns, Wesley Rankin Community Center
The Wesley Rankin youth program attended the Mavs vs. the Golden State Warriors. As you can see, a good time was had by all!
Recently, the Wesely Rankin youth program attended a Dallas Mavericks basketball game. The Rees Jones Foundation gave us 12 tickets to VIP access in the Chief Oil and Gas Company Suite. This was a true blessing and a great experience for our youth at Wesley Rankin. The kids we chose and were able to attend were, Artemio and Christian Arredondo, Jose Juarez, Timothy Rojas, Sol, Ruben, Cecelia, and Marisol Sandoval. These kids had been the most behaved and, we thought them very deserving of this great field trip. The suite was equipped with not only the best seats in the house but all types of food, snacks, and drinks, as well as flat screen TVs. We had such a great time, and it was fun to see the kids engaging with one another and experiencing like Artemio said “the suite life”. I feel this showed the kids that their integrity and positive behaviors yield positive rewards. They were able to utilize their manners and class, while having a great time. Dallas did lose the game, but the smiles on our kids faces were like a big win and celebration for us. Thank You Rees Jones Foundation for a great night!!!
Andrea Bibb
The Wesley Rankin youth program attended the Mavs vs. the Golden State Warriors. As you can see, a good time was had by all!
Tiger!
One of my favorite students, Elijah, is just full of beautiful energy. Unfortunately, sometimes the energy is misplaced into loud outbursts of song, pencil drum beats on the desk, acrobatics off the chairs, etc. As much as I have tried to remind him to let other people concentrate and to sit, it has been difficult to focus his energy. Finally, I came up with a plan last week. The Plan: at the beginning of the day, I would take him outside, talk about what needs to happen, in terms of behavior, and I came up with the concept of having a code word between us, so that when I said the code word, it would trigger him to remember what he is supposed to be doing. So I did just that! I let Elijah pick the code word (tiger!) and we talked about what it would mean when I said it. That day, as the program began I was praying that this would work. Just five minutes in, I saw a whir of a boy pass me—it was Elijah jumping up on the stage to go play the piano. “Tiger!” I said in the direction of his buzzing around—immediately he stopped and his eyes said to me “oh yeah! Our secret code!” we made eye contact and he made the very responsible decision to come and sit down and begin his homework. Success!
Abby Seibel
A way of life
When I moved to Dallas to work with Project Transformation, I didn’t know if I would like the city or not. I didn’t know how many times I would get lost, or how big the city actually was. I had no idea how much traffic there would be every day or how many people of different cultures there were. I knew one thing though: that I would definitely get attached to my kids. However, I had no idea how fast that would happen. This is much more than a job to me; this is a way of life. I love my job, the people I work with, even the paperwork, but nothing compares to getting to see 25 incredible young people everyday. No matter how well my day is going, I can’t wait for three o’clock to roll around. And no matter how tired I might be, I’m always a little sad when 6 o’clock comes. I don’t know how I am going to leave them in August 2010 (or August 2011, depending on what God has in store for me!) Thinking about that already makes me sad. No matter how much I dislike the traffic, or how many times I get lost, at 3 o’clock Monday through Thursday, it’s all worth it.
Jamie Foster
Love and Logic
December 1, 2009, 3:22 pm
Filed under: 2009-2010 Year Round Interns, Leadership Course, Wesley Rankin Community Center
Filed under: 2009-2010 Year Round Interns, Leadership Course, Wesley Rankin Community Center
Two Fridays ago, all of the interns went to The Salesmanship Club for a training called “Love and Logic.” This is an approach to discipline that revolves around giving children more power in their lives, and in the choices they make. One thing this training emphasized was that what every person wants, regardless of age, is to be in charge of his or her own life. Not giving someone a sense of control within their own life will only lead a child to being more frustrated and still pursuing power; thus a continued discipline problem. So, “Love and Logic” teaches us to give choices, both of which you (the discipliner) can live with. For example, “do your homework now or I’ll make you do it!” won’t work because 1) it is unenforceable, and 2) it doesn’t let them make the smart choice. A better way would be “I’ll give you the choice—you can choose to either do your homework now, or read a book now and do your homework during gym time.” Whatever they choose, let them do—even if they choose to wait on their homework. They won’t miss more than a few gym times before they realize it would probably be a good idea to do their homework during homework time. Then they are more in control of their own lives, and taking responsibility for their decisions. Since experiencing this training, I have begun to incorporate Love and Logic with my kids, and it truly does make a difference—plus, the kids actually are learning something through discipline, as opposed to a punishment unrelated to the crime. I can’t say it’s applicable 100% of the time but this training certainly opened my eyes to new angles of discipline.
Abby Seibel
Learing about our Largest Organ
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Your epidermis is showing! This was our theme this week and my kids ate it up. Their favorite facts were the good and bad effects of the sun. On Thursday, we piled into the art room to create some lovely crafts. We made some cool shades and suns with our hands as rays. The decorations and time put into creating the shades were very creative. Blake and Sam, previous summer interns came to volunteer Thursday and the children loved their company!
Sheena Logan
Finding Common Ground
November 6, 2009, 9:09 pm
Filed under: 2009-2010 Year Round Interns, Community Living, Pleasant Mound
Filed under: 2009-2010 Year Round Interns, Community Living, Pleasant Mound
One of the coolest things about PT is that it brings together young adults who come from all different backgrounds. Whether it’s where you grew up, or what you studied in school, or what you believe in- you can be sure we all have interesting things to talk about when we’re together. But it’s always good to find common ground, which we’ve been able to do through our weekly site-coordinator bible study lead by Carrie. It’s nice to have a place where we can come together and share the challenges we face both in and out of work. I know that this is just one more way that I’m going to grow and be stretched during my year with PT, and I’m so looking forward to it.
Emily Mares
Chompers!
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We have learned about a lot of things this semester. However, learning about teeth had to be one of the most fun weeks we have had so far. We talked about how to keep our teeth clean, what to do when we lose a tooth, and even how to prevent bad breath. On Tuesday, the kids made “Tooth Pockets” to keep a tooth in when they lose one. Thursday, we made Apple Smiles out of apples, marshmallows, and peanut butter. We had a LOT of fun with this, and got very creative! Check out our pictures from the week!
Jamie Foster
From Participant to Intern!
Sarai Gonzalez with children at the Oak Cliff UMC program
Sarai Gonzalez with children at the Oak Cliff UMC program
