Casa Linda kids being silly!
You Are My Hero
2012-2013 Year Round Interns
When We Grow Up…
Throughout the school year, participants in our after-school program studied reading, world cultures, science, sports, nature, and more! By exposing these students to so many different topics, our interns helped them discover passion areas that they might now have known otherwise. These passions could eventually lead to a career! Here, Oak Cliff UMC participants share what they hope to do when they grow up. Be on the look out for these future teachers and police men!! (Click picture to enlarge.)
The New Kids
Mr. Alex at Casa Linda in summer 2012
Colby, a first grader, started coming to the program in January. At the time, he could barely read two words and would just try and guess the answers to his homework. At the same time, Chapel Hill received a new intern who was having some trouble finding his place within the community that had formed. Alex, the intern, started patiently helping Colby with his homework on a daily basis. There were times when Colby would run wild and Alex would softly ask him to sit back down to finish his homework. The two boys formed a bond as Colby could tell that Mr. Alex truly cared for him and wanted to help him learn to read. Mr. Alex started to figure out when Colby needed to take a break from homework and go outside to play basketball. Through hard work and patience, Colby can now read complete sentences and sound out words that he does not know. Continue reading
Intern of the Month: Julie Whitehead
Name: Julie Whitehead
Hometown: Longview, Texas
College: University of North Texas
Major: History
Project Transformation Site: Chapel Hill UMC
Why did you want to serve as an intern at Project Transformation?
I heard about Project Transformation through a class at UNT. I wanted to work with Project Transformation because I loved their mission. I love kids and have a passion for non-profit work.
What is the most important lesson you have learned from working with children and youth?
I have learned that if you take the time to listen and hear out a child’s worries or fears, you can help them through a problem. I have also learned kids are insanely observant and will comment about any change on a person they notice. For example, the time I accidentally dyed my hair purple, I never heard the end of it!
What is your favorite part of the Project Transformation experience?
Seeing the kids at my site improve in all areas! Ones that we had behavior problems with at the beginning slowly transformed. Other kids that had struggles with academics improved immensely! I loved getting to know all the kids at Chapel Hill.
If you could tell one story from your experience at Project Transformation, what story would you tell?
I have seen a huge change in one of our 6th grade girls. She used to argue at the drop of a hat, sass you over everything, and was extremely mean to the other kids. After multiple times of sitting and talking to her and breaking down her walls, she slowly began to change. The last day, we had a ‘field day’ theme, and she paired up with the boy no one wanted to be partners with. She also has begun helping other kids with homework and mentoring them. She has grown so much in this one year…it was great to watch!
Reading Growth!
Chris wearing some awesome face paint on the last day of the after-school program!
This has been at incredible year at Pleasant Mound for seeing growth and development in our After School Program participants. One of our students that has grown the most is Christopher, a 1st grade student and twin sibling to Christiana.
As early as September we began to notice some differences between these two siblings. Christiana picked up reading activities and got through her homework very quickly. Chris was slower, sometimes taking the entire afternoon to complete what seemed like simple homework for a first grade level. We began to talk to Chris and Christiana’s mother, and she said she too had started to notice this at home and asked for our help in trying to be aware of what Chris may be struggling with. After we had Chris and Christiana take their first diagnostic reading test on i-Ready (our internet-based reading program), we noticed a huge gap between the two. Christiana scored at level while Chris was behind. We decided to make it our mission this year to really focus on Chris and his reading and to get him on level by the end of the year.
By December, I was having Chris practice reading with me, and I notice he was mixing up his B’s and D’s. I began to wonder if the problem was dyslexia. I spoke with his mother, and we had Chris tested at school. The result came back that he was not dyslexic but needed more practice than the other first graders with reading at home. Coming back to the program in January, I made it my mission to find activities for Chris to learn B’s and D’s and not to mix them up anymore. In February, we had a huge breakthrough by teaching Chris to learn b and d by looking at his two hands (showing a thumbs up) in front of him. I explained his left hand was a b and his right hand was a d. We drilled this into Chris’s head, and sure enough by early March Chris was able to do this on his own. This was a big success because we learned that Chris needs visual examples in learning how to read. The more visual we can make reading, the faster Chris learns. This realization was huge for Chris’ mother to know and communicate with his teachers. Chris improved so much this year that the interns and I agreed to give away one of our site computers we use for reading enrichment to him and his sister Christiana. When we told their mother we were doing this, she was overjoyed and so happy to have a way for Chris and Christiana to keep learning at home. I am so excited for both Chris and Christian to be enrolled in our summer program and to see how much they will grow and learn by the end of summer.
Hannah Escalante
Site Coordinator
Pleasant Mound UMC
Jorge’s Growth
Whitney (third from left) with fellow Site Coordinators in summer 2012
Jorge Garcia has been coming to Project Transformation’s after school program at Elmwood since 2012 when he was in the 5th grade. For the most part Jorge has always been a quiet kid, rarely saying too much but overall a great participant in the program.
Every week Jorge’s mother would ask us how he was doing in the program and whether or not he was behaving and our reply would always be the same, ” Jorge is wonderful while he’s here, and we’ve never had any problems with him at all.” However, every time we said that his mother would look at us as if she didn’t believe us, but say “okay” and nothing more. Finally, one day when she asked her usual question, we stopped her and asked if there was anything going on that would cause her to continually ask her question about Jorge. With tears in her eyes, she explained that “at school they label Jorge because he is in special education classes because of his ADHD. His teachers treat him like he is dumb and don’t give him a fair chance. As a result, he sometimes acts up in class.” We expressed our sympathy that this was happening at Jorge’s school and reassured her that Jorge is a model student while he is at Project Transformation. She thanked us but still had a troubled look on her face as though she wasn’t sure whether or not we were telling the truth.
A few weeks later we began to give the program participants literacy assessments to see how they had improved in their reading since we first tested them at the beginning of the year. Jorge’s scores went up significantly, and we were excited to show his mother in hopes she would finally believe the good things we had been saying about her son. Once we showed her Jorge’s test scores, she began to cry and thanked us for giving Jorge a chance when it seemed like no one else would.
Jorge, now a 6th grader, has come out of his shell and is very outgoing. He is always willing to help out other children with their homework once he has finished with his, and every intern makes no hesitation to call on him for a leadership role during site, whether it’s helping set up for an activity or even leading the activity by giving out instructions to his peers. “We treat Jorge as if he is a mini intern, because he shows us daily that he is more than capable of handling the responsibilities we give him,” Emma Cepeda, a work study student from SMU, explained to Jorge’s mother. One of our most proud moments was when Jorge got his report card for this last 6 weeks and explained he had gotten a 100 in his History class. “Miss, that’s never happened before!” he said. Jorge was also named Elmwood’s Student of the Month during our last Family Fun Night in February. According to Jorge’s mother, because of the leadership opportunities he has been given at Project Transformation, Jorge now feels confident enough to join in more extracurricular activities and even tutors 3rd graders after school on Tuesdays.
The interns at Elmwood are very proud of Jorge’s progress throughout the time he has spent with Project Transformation and know he will continue to excel, not only in our program but in any avenue he chooses to go in.
Whitney Parson
Site Coordinator
Elmwood UMC
I’ll Take Their Happiness Over My Comfort
Last Wednesday felt like such a long day. By the time I arrived at site, I was pretty tired and wishing that I could lay down for a nap, instead of working with the kids. Nonetheless, I started helping one of our first grade girls with her homework. She seemed a little upset and wasn’t really enjoying her time there like she normally would. I asked her if everything was ok. She told me that everything wasn’t okay; at school, she had been yelled at over and over for things that she didn’t do, and she had had a really tough day. I told her that it was okay to feel upset and apologized on behalf of those who made her day less than ok. She continued doing her homework, a bit more relaxed and to my surprise the rest of the day was just fun for her. She stayed pretty close to me and was able to enjoy the rest of the afternoon.
Later that afternoon, I started working with a new boy who just joined our program and who I hadn’t met yet. I introduced myself to him and made it known that we get things done here at Chapel Hill. He started working on his homework, and I realized that he really needed help and attention on one subject. As tired as I was, I did the best I could to help him. We really got to connect while doing his homework, and he really enjoyed the attention. The best part was that I could tell he genuinely enjoyed it. For the first time in the program, I felt that connection; it’s like he was telling me with his eyes, “Thank you so much! I’ve been needing this help and attention for so long and now you’re here. You understand me.”
My tiredness was nothing compared to the joy in these kids, and I’ll take their happiness over my comfort any day.
Jonathan Cortina
Chapel Hill UMC
Intern of the Month: Brittany Andrews
Congratulations to Brittany Andrews, our February Intern of the Month! Brittany was nominated for Intern of the Month by Whitney, her site coordinator, and Hannah, our reading coordinator. Here is what they had to say about Brittany:
“We feel like Brittany should win Intern of the Month because of how helpful she is at site. She is always the first to step up with a new activity or idea if something runs too short. When Joanna (a fellow intern) has surgery and had to be away from the program, Brittany rallied the kids together and talked about how Miss Joanna was a real hero. She then helped the kids create a hero banner and an “I Love You” video to help in her recovery!
We love how you can see how much she loves the kids at Elmwood and always gives 110% of herself to Project Transformation. You can truly see her impact on the kids every day. She also encourages the kids at Elmwood to share their talents through a daily time called Elmwood Café. We have seen so many kids blossom through this. Brittany is a large part of what helps Elmwood run smoothly every day. Plus, the kids LOVE her!”
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