There is something to be said for having a group of first graders defend your beauty to the class.  Last week, we split our kids into girls and boys, and one day the girls had a spa day, which included a contest of which group could best make over the interns.  Out came the hair accessories—the feathers, the fuzzy clips, the flowers, the fifteen different rubber bands—along with some possibly bootlegged makeup.  With some guidance from house pastor Amanda Cofer, ten first grade girls tugged on my hair and unleashed the blush, all the while debating ideas without any real definitive plan.  The result?  Barbie.

Though their construction was complete, their work was not.  They had to convince the judges that I, their creation, was the prettiest.  Thus came the part that got me—they continued to shout “Miss Emily is the prettiest!  Pick her!  She looks so much better!  Pick Miss Emily!”  What earnest faces, what heartfelt cries!  And while I do not want to come off as someone so insecure with her looks that she’ll even take the encouragement from innocent yet clueless first graders, it had been a rough week, and honestly, I had not been feeling all that beautiful to anyone. 

While I didn’t win the contest (Miss Trista did, with a very cute Hawaiian theme and chant), the day proved once again that we serve a God who is so in tune with our most mundane, trivial needs, that he is willing to provide new breath from even the most unlikely of sources, the smiles of a darling group of little girls. 

Emily Westerhof

PT Intern 2010

Texas A&M

So, when I first got here I was not sure what to expect. I felt like the week of training was all about the bad things that could go wrong while we were here and how to handle the problem children and full of all this other complicated advice.  All of this was important in case something happened, but it gave me the impression that these kids were going to be more than I could handle. I soon found out after the first day, that they were just like any other children I had ever worked with and they quickly stole my heart. Of course they can be difficult at times, but they are not any more troublesome than other children and many times they are the ones that touch you the most.

It is about to be week 4, and I already want to cry when I think about having to leave them. When we are learning about things in afternoon enrichment or Bible lesson, I am amazed at how smart these kids are. They bring up topics that I never dreamed they would know about such as Martin Luther King and the things he has done. The potential they have is the biggest thing that has hit me, and it makes every day worth it. I hope that the things we are doing each day and the time we are spending with them will help them to see their potential in life and aim for high goals. I often wonders how much encouragement they receive  at home to go to college or pursue their dreams, but that is why we are here. My goal is to make the most of every opportunity, every day to build relationships with these children and touch their lives as they have touched mine.

Trista Fenton

PT Intern 2010

Kansas State University

This past week at my site, Walnut Hill, we dubbed our week’s theme as “Let’s Go on a Cruise!” Throughout the course of the week, we went to four different stops. Monday we stopped at Jamaica, Tuesday we went through the Mediterranean, Wednesday we sailed back to Cozumel, Mexico and Thursday we ended up in icy Alaska! The kids had a blast learning about all of the different stops and experiencing tid-bits of culture along the way. One of the most memorable experiences from this week came early on during Monday’s afternoon enrichment session. My teammate, Trista Fenton and I led, what I referred to as, the “How-To” station—and on Monday, we learned how to bobsled. You might be wondering what bobsledding has to do with Jamaica. Well, if you’ve ever seen the 1993 Film “Cool Runnings,” you know that the first Jamaican bobsled team entered the Olympics in Alberta, Canada in 1988. Surprisingly enough, they were the underdogs. (Who would have thought, right?) Never having practiced on ice until their team reached the Olympics in Canada, their bobsled team made history as the underdogs that year. They didn’t win—they actually crashed and had to carry their bobsled across the finish line as a team, but they were respected and honored for their teamwork, sportsmanship, and inspiring story. A bunch of dudes from Jamaica bobsledding on ice—who would have thought of it? Yet somehow, it made a beautiful story.

I work with so many students everyday who are the complete opposite of me. They have been through different experiences than I have, and often have different mindsets and opinions than I do. Sometimes my kids have no idea where I am coming from, and sometimes I have no idea where they are coming from either. More often than not, we make up a beautiful mess. But, at the same time, our mess works. We grow and learn from one another every single day. We make our opposite qualities compliment each other and we gain respect from just being around one another. There are days that we crash and clash, but we always end up crossing the finish line together. There is never a day that I walk away from Walnut Hill not excited to come back the next.

Our own bobsledding experience at Walnut Hill was a hit! Trista and I first taught the kids how to bobsled by splitting them up into teams of four. We assigned a team part to each of them (Driver, Braker, Skeleton, Manager). Then, we taught them their individual parts and how to ride in a bobsled. Walnut Hill allowed us to borrow their projector, too, so at the very end, we surprised the kids with a bobsledding PS3 clip from YouTube. The clip lasted about 2 minutes and made the kids feel as though they were really on a bobsledding track. To enhance the experience, Trista and I brought fans to make some winter wind and we also sprayed them with spray bottles to imitate snow and ice. They had so much fun and were still talking about it on Friday! That’s a PT accomplishment for sure!

Molly Komlofske

PT Intern 2010

Southwestern College

Two weeks have already come and gone with Project Transformation, and I cannot believe how much information I have learned in such a short period of time. My first week of Project Transformation was spent at Southern Methodist University going through summer intern training in which I received so much information about the youth that we would soon be interacting with. Training week was very helpful, especially because I got to meet my team of 10 interns for the summer, and I got to meet the wonderful people at my site church, Walnut Hill United Methodist Church. Since training, we have already had one full week of day camp, and my eyes are already being opened to what God has in store for our kids. For example, on the first day when we had our bible lesson, our youth were asking a lot of questions about who God was. Since that day, the youth have kept their questions coming, and I can tell that they are all very genuine about learning more about exactly who God is, and how much He loves them. Overall, I am very excited for this summer because I know that there are endless possibilities for our students to be transformed, and I know that through helping our kids get to know more about God, God will begin to transform me in my faith.

Hannah Escalante

PT Intern 2010

Olivet Nazarene University

Entering my first week as the Site Coordinator at Walnut Hill/Christ’s Foundry was a little daunting at first. Last summer, I was a youth intern at Walnut Hill/Christ’s Foundry and rarely got to forge strong relationships with the elementary kids at our site. However, the youngest bunch at our site this summer quickly showed me that this summer would be different in that regard.

On Wednesday morning (only the third day of summer programming), I went to observe how the first graders were doing in arts and crafts. The first graders are referred to collectively as “the stars.” I sat down and watched the little boys and girls make masks. As I talked to the little boys and girls, they told me that I was now a member of their “best friends club.” So, now, every time I see the first graders, someone tells me, “We’re best friends!” Of course I reply with “Yes, we are!”

Relationships are at the heart of what Project Transformation does. It amazes me that the first graders could think so highly of me in only three days! As I reflected on the impact that this special group of children had on my first week, I realized that we all could take some lessons from children in learning how to share God’s unconditional love with everyone. The kindness that “the stars” show me each day shows me the impact that any small gesture can have on a person’s day. If nothing else, it warms my heart to know that I have some of the sweetest “best friends” for the next eight weeks!

Cordell Simmons

Site Coordinator—Walnut Hill/Christ’s Foundry

University of Arkansas School of Law