Field Trip! Job Shadow Day With the Class of 2018 at the Willow Creek Care Center

Seven years. Seems like yesterday when I walked into two Kindergarten classes at St Emily School and presented the JA "Ourselves" program to the students. They were engaging and got along well with each other. I had them again in first grade and then second grade in 2012. It was at that point that I decided I would try to do whatever I could to stay with the group through eighth grade graduation. Just two years left now; "home stretch" and we've just completed the "America Works" program - looking forward to doing "Global Marketplace" - one of my favorite JA offerings.

But wait! For several years, all of the students at St Emily have participated in an annual Fall Food Drive coordinated by the Mount Prospect (IL) Fire Department. The school often leads the way in collections. St Emily has also hosted the Greater Chicago Food Depository's "Producemobile", which provides fresh fruits and vegetables to people in need across Cook County. Well it so happens that in addition to Junior Achievement, my other volunteer passion is serving in the Intake Area at the Willow Creek Care Center on Tuesday mornings, which includes one of the largest food pantries in the state as well as in the US. In 2015, the Care Center's full choice food pantry provided 4.3 million pounds of food as a result of 44,918 grocery visits. So I thought it would be a wonderful opportunity for the students to be able to see how food that they collect as part of the food drive is distributed. Since the 60 or so volunteer roles are essentially "unpaid jobs", why not do this in conjunction with a JA Job Shadow format!

The first step in making that happen was to check with both the school and the Care Center staff to see if it was possible. St Emily is a Blue Ribbon school whose faculty and staff promote altruistic activities as a part of the variety of educational and life experiences that students receive at the school. When I spoke with both the principal and the teachers about the idea, they were instantly on board. My volunteer co-leaders were entirely supportive and received positive feedback when they shared the news of the visit with the volunteer team. The only concern expressed by staff was whether or not we could manage a group of 25 sixth graders - ordinarily this type of group would be limited to 10-15 volunteers at once. This was entirely understandable, so to address that and to help make the event go smoother, I drafted a "start to finish" agenda for the day that included eight different volunteer roles for the students in six areas of the Care Center. I also put together eight different job descriptions as a part of the learning and mentoring experience for JA Job Shadow. The Care Center staff supported and approved it.



St Emily Class of 2018

So on Tuesday April 26, 2016 twenty-five St Emily students from the "Class of 2018" and their two teachers came over to the Care Center to take a tour and learn about what is done there, then pair up with our Tuesday Morning volunteer team to help greet, process, bag and deliver food and children's clothing to our guests. We began with a half hour tour - I gave them an overview and history of the Care Center, which began some three decades ago with church members sharing food out of trunks of their automobiles among others in need in the congregation. Maryanne on the Care Center staff provided some logistical support for me, which included producing replica name tags for the students to use. For many Care Center volunteers, putting on ones nametag is a special part of the preparation of volunteering there - hard to explain it, but once one has it on, one feels ready to serve.



After the overview that I did in the Link between the church and the Care Center, we ventured downstairs to where the Dental / Eye Care office is and where Legal Services are offered on Tuesday. Then onto the Kid Zone - the Care Center's nursery where three of the students would be volunteering. Onward we went, through the Market Plaza (waiting area), Grocery Store, warehouse, Clothing area and the CARS ministry. At our last meeting in their classroom, I had tried to explain to the students just how large and multi-faceted the Care Center is - but no amount of explanation can bring home the magnitude of what and how much goes on there. The kids were pretty amazed.



We concluded the tour and gathered outside of the volunteer breakroom where we began to distribute the student volunteers to the various areas they were assigned to work in. The students assigned to Kid Zone were shuttled off to their assignment as were the four students assigned to the Intake area who would rotate between four different tasks there. Our warehouse leader set four more students up with the task of bagging boxes of fresh green beans that the Care Center received.

One of the biggest tasks at the Care Center is bagging our guests groceries and running the carts filled with food out to our guests cars for loading. Seven student baggers and three runners were happy to assist us and did a fine job of ensuring the food was properly bagged and carefully placed into each vehicle.

The children's clothing area receives a huge variety of new and gently used clothes on an ongoing basis. It all must be cleaned sorted and prepared for display in the Clothing Store. St Emily students learned about and assisted with this during their visit.

In 2015, the Clothing Store hosted some 3,800 visits with a total of 39,500 items sold. This year in conjunction with two scheduled job fairs, the Clothing Store will be offering adult clothing to job fair participants that is suitable for wearing to interviews.

Of course, while all of this was going on in the "back of the house", students were out front as well assisting with hosting and paging guests who were waiting to go into the grocery store.


At the end of the morning, we concluded the volunteer exercise and retreated to the Hospitality Room for pizza. When we finished, we debriefed and the students took time to talk about their experience and how it compared to what their expectations might have been. They had gained a better understanding of the variety of people that experience hunger and food shortages in our communities. They also learned about a different dimension of service projects that they could consider as they mature and seek to help others The students saw firsthand how many volunteers and staff people that it takes to run the Care Center on a single shift. They also saw the impact and some of the end results of their annual food drives at school.

For all those reasons above and then some, I am happy and grateful to have had the chance to share this opportunity with my JA students of seven years. While our churches are different, it is clear that our messages about community service and outreach are practically the same. Our volunteers at the Care Center were genuinely happy to have the students around. I think for a lot of us, it put a positive "twist" into our serve that day. Through the JA program, the students learned that even though these are not paid positions, volunteers work is a type of "job" as well, with specific needs and requirements that must be met. For me, this was yet another time where I have been able to bring together two or more of the organizations that I support and serve and provide a positive experience to their constituents. Everyone who participated benefitted from this event and for that I am very grateful.

Return to Forest View

Well, it's been awhile since I have posted to this blog, so sharing another JA adventure was long overdue. The past two years I have been actively seeking employment in the non-profit sector, so I have scaled back on my JA classes as I would not want to find myself having to discontinue a class while in the midst of presenting lessons. So in 2013, most of my JA efforts were centered on two classrooms at St Emily's:

* The 7th grade where we also Skype with students at the mission where I have volunteered.

* The 3rd grade - my fourth year with that classroom that I hope to continue with through their graduation from 8th grade... five more years to go!

But recently I was extended an opportunity to present the "Our Families" curriculum to some 22 first grade students in Mrs. Gandhi's classroom at Forest View Elementary in Mount Prospect, IL. Most of the JA classes I have presented have been at schools in Mount Prospect, be they private or public. Looking back at my records, Forest View was one of the first schools that I ever taught JA at, so back I go, some 110 JA classes later to talk about families, jobs, needs and wants.

In my opinion, Mount Prospect is the definition of a present day Chicago suburb. A middle class town with nicely kept homes and neighborhoods. The children in this classroom were probably the most ethnically diverse group of students I have ever had. With the exception of Australia and Antarctica, the heritage and roots of these children extended across every continent on the globe. Outstanding to see the camaraderie and enthusiasm among the students - our world could learn so much from them.

The "Our Families" program curriculum has been changed a bit, so this class was my first opportunity for this old dog to learn some new tricks. My presentation time was allotted at just over 2 hours, which I suspected might be tough to do all five lessons within that time. So I set out to do four thoroughly, and I'm happy to say that it was a good decision.   

There were many exciting moments during my visit, but one exercise was particularly interesting. This is a new addition to the curriculum - I called one child up to the front of the classroom and held up a job card behind them that they could not see. The other students are asked to provide clues about the job and the student standing in front of me tries to guess what job it is. It's an interesting exercise as it "requires" students to think in a descriptive manner. However, the clues one may hope to hear versus the clues that students often share can be two different things. Let's say I'm holding up a "Firefighter" job card...

Clues that one would hope to hear include:

> This person saves lives

> This person wears a helmet

> They drive a red truck

Clues that students typically shared were:

> The word starts with an "F"

> There are 11 letters in the word

> This is a compound word (kudos to the student for applying their grammar knowledge!)

I must confess that on this job, the students in Mrs Gandhi's class actually did pretty well - but on the other occupations, clues were more of the latter type than the former. And yes, there was one "compound word" response, though it wasn't exactly correct. Nonetheless, all the students seemed to enjoy this exercise.

Well, I've saved the best for last. One of the key messages within the "Our Families" program is distinguishing the difference between "Wants" and "Needs". Lesson 2 digs into this concept and the new curriculum has added a "Drop Me a Note" piece that asks the student to fill out a template note written to someone they know (often a parent or sibling), describing something they want or need and why they want it. The bottom includes verbiage stating that the student can work a job to earn what they need or want - then the student writes in their name.

As a JA presenter, one always hopes to see "Needs" written in on a note like this as then it is evident that the students understand the different priorities. But the way this note is set up, it's more prone to generate "Wants" and this class was no exception...  X-Boxes, scooters, bicycles, other toys, etc. Of course, every class has a student who is an "exception" and Jenice was the "exception" in this class. In hindsight, I wish I had taken a photo of her note to share here, but in its absence, I've tried to recreate it below:

____________________________________________________________

(Today's date)        1-24-14

Dear       mommy

Hello! I really want or need (a)       hug

I want this because       I love you

I can work a job to earn what I want. Is there a job I could do for you?

Please write back soon. Thank you.

(Your name)         Jenice

____________________________________________________________

I don't think there's any job that Jenice can do that will earn her what she wants - I bet her mom showers her with them!

Between Classes...

While presenting JA classes, I often arrive at the school a few minutes ahead of time or in the case of St Emily's, have two or more classes the same day with some time between each. There are a couple of church pews and a few chairs adjacent to the office at St Emily, so if the time is short, I typically sit in one of them and go over some of the upcoming lesson plans. During this time students often pass by for numerous reasons - two occasions in the past couple weeks were bloggable - hence the stories below.

The first episode is about two twin girls in the Pre-K class at the school. Both of them tend to walk on their toes and the front of their feet, so the Phys Ed teacher at the school spends two days a week with them to correct their habit. This involves both of them walking around with their socks on - he tapes some kind of metal cap to their heels and tells them they need to make sure they hear the click when they walk; they walk on the stone tile hallway floors. He leads them around the school running several small "errands" while they follow him. What is so much fun about this is listening to the banter between the girls and the teacher. They're constantly talking, asking him questions and making observations. My favorite comment was when they were following him past the front door and he said "I don't hear any clicking", to which both replied in unison, "We're on the carpet!" I told the Phys Ed teacher that their adventures are worthy of videotaping.

The most recent episode involved a first grade student, Nathan, who went to the office to get a lunch that day. While he was waiting he talked to me a bit, as I had finished their JA lessons about 3 weeks earlier. Next to where I was sitting was a three-panel display that one of the older students had done about their grandmother's immigration to the US from Germany in 1956. At the bottom of the center panel, there was a cut out map of Germany opposite a drawing of the United States. Between the two were some drawn waves and a ship akin to that of the Pilgrims - not the type that one would have sailed on 55 years ago. Nathan took a look at the illustration, then with a deadpan expression on his face asked me, "did the Mayflower come from Germany?"  Quite an observation from a first grader!

They Never Cease to be Amazing...

Yesterday I had two first grade classes at St Emily that provided some "blogworthy" moments, so I thought I would share them.

Teaching Junior Achievement to students in K-2 is pretty special. In these grades, children seem to have the most "discovery" moments - thinking and saying things where you can practically see the light bulb go on as they respond to questions and thoughts that are put out to them. I am grateful for having the opportunity to teach JA to these children as it is pretty special to be part of a moment when they respond with brilliance, share a thought that shows "kid logic", or just say something cute or thoughtful.

This was my second visit to see these first graders and the lesson was about "needs and wants". In my opinion, this is one of the core presentations in the JA program, as it introduces the difference between core necessities that are vital to life versus things that are nice or even good to have, but could be done without. The students at this school have historically done pretty well learning this concept, so I went into the class with good expectations.

Most of this lesson involves showing the students illustrations of meals, toys, homes, pets and clothing and asking them to hold up one of two cards that they are given, a "Need" card and a "Want" card. For this class, I decided to verbally teach the needs and wants concepts myself first, then use the cards to reinforce the concept. So I wrote the words "needs" and "wants" on the board, and began to discuss them, starting with needs first. There are three needs and after I asked the students in the first class to tell me what they thought they were, food and clothes were quickly on their list. Of course, "air" and "water" were choices as well, but I explain to them that everyone has access to air, so we don't include that and that water is already included in food. So at this point I'm waiting for the third answer, expecting "house", "home" or "a place to live" which is the typical response for the third category, but not the most inclusive one. So one of the girls in the class raised her hand and I called on her. "Shelter?" she said. It was a first! I've done about a dozen of these classes before and have never had a student reply with the actual correct answer. I gave her huge kudos - for most first grade students, shelter is a word that they have yet to encounter. Our discussion continued and I left that classroom confident that the children fully understood the concept of "needs and wants".

Enter the second classroom. It's fun when you enter the younger grades class as it's common with the students that know you from previous JA classes to hear a respectful and quiet "yay" across the room since the kids know JA is about to start. We started in the same way that I stared the other class, talking about needs and wants. After determining what the three needs are, we moved on to talking about wants. Toys, games, even ice cream (which we included because even though it's a food, it's not a food we really need!) all came up in the discussion. We had about five responses, so I asked for one more when a girl raised her hand. "A sister!" she said. What a cool thought - it's answers like that which make JA so much fun to present.

Like the previous class, this one proceeded quite well - the students at this school are fantastic to work with. AS I was winding down, one of the boys in the class said, "Mr Wick, weren't you supposed to have someone with you today?". That really surprised me, it's unbelievable how much students that age take in and remember. The student was referring to one of my Baja mission partners who will be helping me teach JA at the school there this March. I had just asked the teachers at St Emily last week via email if she could join me in their classrooms to observe. But she was sick and could not come. I had never told the students about her joining me, so the teacher must have mentioned it to the class. It surprised me that a student would think to ask me about her. You just never know what is going through their minds!

The speaker at my church, Willow Creek, this past weekend was the CEO of Compassion International, Dr. Wess Stafford. His talk was about regularly giving people (especially children) just one minute of your time as that minute can make a huge impact in their lives. I am fortunate to be able to give these students many minutes of my time through Junior Achievement.

Beyond Global Connections - A Couple of Special JA / IMPULSA Volunteers

Delivering the Global Connections program was a highlight of my third trip to the FFHM mission in Baja, but delivering the JA program for the second time there would not have been possible without the support of Michelle and Noemie - two people who also ventured to Baja while my Willow Creek team was there. Teaching JA is all about the kids, but sometimes it's the people you meet along the way that make the program special too. Here's how we crossed paths...

As noted in a previous blog post, the first time I delivered JA to the FFHM students in 2010 I was blessed with two talented people in Lara and Alex to help me teach the programs. Lara presented the 1st and 2nd grade programs and Alex supported both of us in the classroom by helping with questions, taking pictures and really connecting with the kids. Their involvement was critical to the success of the first JA /IMPULSA classes at Instituto Oasis.

Since the formula worked well the first time and it was necessary to have a second volunteer present JA / IMPULSA to two grade levels due to schedule and time restraints, I decided to pursue two new assistants since neither Lara or Alex were going on the April, 2011 trip. So I touched base with Diane, the Willow Creek leader for this journey to see who else on our team spoke Spanish. Unfortunately, I was the only bilingual traveler on the trip - no one else spoke Spanish. So I asked for (and was granted) permission to contact the FFHM volunteer coordinator directly to see if any volunteers from other teams joining us in April had any bilingual participants.

So I contacted Janice, at FFHM headquarters in San Clemente CA to see what I could do as she coordinates the visiting volunteers. The Baja mission was the first location in the FFHM group; it was founded in the mid-sixties. Since then they have added other missions in Oaxaca and Morelia, Mexico and a student home in Tijuana for those who pursue higher education after their years in one of the missions. More information about FFHM is available at www.ffhm.org . 

Janice told me that she was aware of two bilingual volunteers that would be at the mission during my visit in April. One was Michelle, a volunteer with the Benita International team who knew some Spanish. Benita International supports an orphanage in Romania as well as FFHM; more information on Benita is available at www.benitaproject.com . The other Spanish speaking volunteer was Noemie, a pediatric nurse from Quebec, Canada who was coming to Mexico that week on her own. I was told that Noemie's Spanish was very proficient. I received their contact information and proceeded to send them emails asking for their help.

My vision was to have Noemie teach the 1st and 2nd grade students while Michelle served as the support person in our classrooms. I thought that it would be better to have the person with the highest proficiency in Spanish teach the classes. I emailed both of them to ask for their help and explained what I was looking for but didn't really elaborate on who I had in mind for the specific roles. Well, I received their replies - Michelle was eager to teach in the classroom and Noemie wanted to serve in the support role. Totally the opposite of what I had envisioned, but I was thankful to have their help, so I forged ahead with the "new plan" in place.

Two third graders team up to write a JA newspaper article.

Well, it couldn't have worked out better! To prepare Michelle for the classroom, I asked IMPULSA in Mexico if they could send me extra volunteer guides for grades 1 and 2. Unfortunately, their response was a little slow and I needed to get Michelle the material so she could see what she had gotten herself into. So I ended up scanning them and downloading the material into Google Documents, which proved to be critical in her being able to prepare in advance. She came back with numerous questions which I addressed before we arrived in Baja. Of course, the classroom material was all at the mission in Mexico, so some of her questions would be resolved once we arrived. Her enthusiasm was spectacular - I couldn't have asked for a better person to teach IMPULSA in grades one and two!

Michelle shares JA with children at the clinic.

As with Michelle, my only communication with Noemie was via email and our first in-person meeting was upon our arrival at the mission. I was a little frustrated that I didn't have an "Alex" like I had the first time I presented JA in 2010 - a young person of Mexican descent who the kids associated with really well. I was confident that Noemie would do OK, especially with her Spanish proficiency, but not having an "Alex" that could relate to the kids was unfortunate. Well, while Noemie's profile didn't line up with that of Alex's, I came to find out that she had spent several months at the orphanage in the past couple of years, much of that serving as a houseparent for the children at the mission. The kids all knew her and loved her - I couldn't believe it - I had my "Alex(is)"!!!

Noemie and I stop for a pose
with the third grade students.

The week went remarkably well. Noemie provided all the support we needed. On Monday afternoon after teaching her first JA/IMPULSA, Michelle asked me if she could share the  program with the children at the mission's clinic. Many of these children live in the nearby community and some even attend the Instituto Oasis school, though they were in the grades I taught and had not seen the material that Michelle was doing. What a great opportunity to share the IMPULSA to yet more children! Michelle did a fantastic job.  

As with my first JA experience at Instituto Oasis, the students seemed to enjoy the classes and learn from them. On my last day of classes on Friday, I was running behind with the fourth grade class and ran over to the next classroom to tell the teacher that I would be about 10 minutes late. The teacher was not in the classroom, and the eight students were all working on a project that they had been given. I told the students I would be there shortly and they said "OK" and went right back to work. One would have thought that it was a college setting. These students have been fantastic to teach and share the JA program with in their classrooms.

So the second year of JA/IMPULSA at Instituto Oasis was truly a success - but I couldn't have done it without the help of these two great ladies - thanks so much to Michelle and Noemie for their wonderful support in the classrooms in April, 2011!

Introducing JA Students in Mexico and the USA - Creating the Global Connections Program

Front of T shirt that was designed by a St Emily

student. The students also contributed some

extra money to pay for T shirts for the 6th grade

students at Instituto Oasis.

(The previous blog post offers some background on starting the JA / IMPULSA program at the FFHM Mission in Mexico and is best read before reading this post)  

While teaching JA to the seventh grade class at St. Emily in Spring, 2010, I mentioned my upcoming June trip to FFHM mission in Baja, Mexico in June to one of the teachers. I told her that I thought it might be a nice idea to try to connect her students with the students at the mission. Her response to me, "Go for it." With that encouragement, the wheels started turning.

My first priority at the school at the mission was to successfully deliver Junior Achievement for the first time to grades 1-6 at Instituto Oasis (the name of the grade school at FFHM mission). As the week came to an end, I could see that the staff at the mission was happy with the program, and overall it had gone well. So I decided to ask Marie (the school's English teacher and my liaison) about her opinion in trying to connect students at Instituto Oasis with students at St. Emily.   

Her initial response to my inquiry was less than enthusiastic, and after some conversation I could understand her point of view. She said that pen pal communications had been tried before and typically resulted in a lot of translation, which usually ended up on her plate. Communications were also inconsistent and spotty and ended up lacking a meaningful purpose as a result. I left thinking that there still had to be a good way to connect the students, but also took to heart Marie's thoughts on the process and the value of initiating such a link. 

I dwelt on this through the summer, then sometime in September I saw a random piece about Skype. I had heard of this product before, though I was not a user. But the ability to call and see others on video at little or no cost got me to thinking that this might be an excellent medium for connecting the students. I began to investigate and discovered that St Emily already had a Skype account and was familiar with its use. I also followed up with FFHM - they had Skype access as well and told me they might be able to project the video onto a screen in the school's library. Sounded doable, but I wasn't sure of the quality of the projection so I put that in my task list.

With the medium of communication established, I set out to resolve the content and translation issues. I did a little research and discovered that some grade school classrooms had used Skype to communicate before. But I noticed that it was typically within a country's borders and there was also an absence of substance in the encounters. Students would wave to each other, sing songs or sometime read books over Skype, but the overall academic value in these sessions was pretty minimal. One thing I have learned from my experience in schools (mostly through JA) - classroom time is precious and needs to be used wisely. 

So I decided to create a curriculum that included questions that the students could ask each other as a means of learning more about their lives and experiences. I opted to put together two sessions in which the children asked questions about their own lives, family and friends, activities in their town and viewpoints of each others countries. Since both schools are private and Christian based, I included a section on their faith. Teachers gave the students the questions in advance, then reviewed their responses and selected students in their classroom to answer the questions via Skype. I was supposed to receive the responses at least 24 hours in advance (mainly for translation purposes), but the timing didn't always work out. We still managed to survive though.

We did a trial run from St Emily that included the two St Emily teachers, a JA staffperson and Theresa, one of the Baja trip leaders that I traveled with on previous visits to Baja. We sat in front of the computer monitor and spoke to the 6th graders at Instituto to tell them what to expect. The session also gave them an opportunity to ask questions. All went well and I had given the St Emily students an overview the week earlier. We were set to go - Global Connections (the name I gave to the program) was live! And, to resolve the projection screen resolution issue, I sent the school in Mexico a 40" flatscreen TV.

St Emily student responds to a Global Connections program

question. The screen behind the student is the video of the

students at Instituto Oasis at FFHM as seen by the 7th grade

class at St Emily.

While Global Connections can work as a stand alone program, it is a nice complement to the JA - Global Marketplace Program.Both the classes at St Emily and Instituto Oasis receive this class from me, so this was a good fit. The day of the sessions we would connect and I moderated the session. I assisted with translating at St Emily and Marie translated at Instituto Oasis. The Skype communications were to be two Global Connections classes, one JA Global Marketplace class that I would deliver from Mexico during my trip with the Willow Creek team. Then as a followup to the Global Marketplace class, but not part of the ordinary JA curriculum, I had the students market a product to each other. So overall, the students connected four times via Skype.

Making a JA Global Marketplace lesson presentation to the 6th
grade students at Instituto Oasis. The monitor behind me is used
for the Skype communication to the students at St. Emily.  

While the whole thing took a lot of work to pull together, it was entirely fulfilling and the students loved it. A few of the memorable moments of the Skype sessions included:

• The St Emily students applauding the students in Mexico as they gave their responses to the questions during the first session. It was fantastic how warm and outgoing they were. 
• One of the questions I included in the "Faith" section was, "If you could ask God a question, what would it be?" The girl who responded from Instituto Oasis said, "Why am I at an orphanage and don't have parents and live with my family?" This response received a sad sigh from the St Emily students
• As I was leaving the Sunday evening church service shortly after arriving at the mission, one of the 6th grade students who knew me from Skype ran up and said, "Roberto, televisión!
• Before I left the mission, I coached the students a little on their marketing presentation and also did a follow up Skype session with just their class to make sure they were comfortable with it. When we did the presentation, the St Emily students put a commercial together as well that was fun and enjoyably corny. Marie told me later that the students in Mexico loved it and were asking, "where's our commercial?" Something to work on for our next Skype sessions! 
• The reaction from the St Emily students when they heard that the students in Mexico had sent them Macademia Nuts (from the orchard at the FFHM mission), which was the product the Instituto Oasis students used in their marketing presentation. Next time I'll keep the Skype session open as we distribute them - another lesson learned.

After we completed the marketing project via Skype, each

St. Emily student received a sample bag of macademia nuts

along with a note and a photo of one of the 6th grade students.

• Theresa led another team in June to FFHM and helped me to secure a baggos game for the students in Mexico, which was the item that St Emily students had marketed to them. Some of Theresa's team showed the 6th grade how to play the game when they were there - they also showed other students as well. It was a big hit.

Students at Instituto Oasis school at FFHM play the Baggos game

that the 7th grade students marketed to them as part of the Global

Connections program. This photo was taken in June when the second

volunteer team from Willow Creek went to the mission and delivered

 the game to the students at the school. 

Most of all, I am happy that both classroom had the opportunity to meet and learn about each other directly firsthand. So many of our opinions nowadays are based upon perceptions from the media and what we hear from others. Hopefully this experience will open the eyes and hearts of both of these classrooms and serve as a stepping stone to better understanding of their peers across the border.

The headline picture on my blog shows me with the teachers and seventh grade students at St Emily - most of us sporting our Global Connections t-shirts that was designed by one of the St Emily students.          

Bringing JA to Students at FFHM Mission, Baja California, Mexico

In 2009, I decided to try something new and join about a dozen other people on a Willow Creek Community Church short term mission trip to the Foundation for His Ministry mission in Vicente Guerrero, Baja California Mexico. Our team flew into San Diego on a Saturday, rented a couple of cargo-type vans and drove the 200 or so miles south through Baja on Sunday morning. Roughly 80 children from infants to age eighteen reside at the facility, which also provides numerous social services throughout the area. On the property, there is a school for students in grades 1-6 serving the children of the staff at the mission as well as those who live there. It was a memorable and fulfilling week, and shortly after my departure I began thinking, "hmmm, I wonder if I could bring Junior Achievement to that school?" 

The school at the mission is in a fairly new building, but the classrooms themselves are pretty spartan. The students start around 9:00AM each morning and go until 12:30PM; there is a half an hour break at 10:30AM. The students seem to work more independently there than in American schools - whether or not that is a good thing is up for discussion. In the afternoon, some students opt to take elective classes.

Whenever starting a project such as this, one has to consider where to start. I decided to begin on the JA front to check and see if I could get the material. From my days at HSBC, I knew some people at the worldwide office in Colorado Springs, so I connected with them. They in turn hooked me up with JA in Mexico, known as IMPULSA there. Ultimately, I worked with the Director (President) of IMPULSA and his key staff person in  Mexicali to confirm that they would be able to send me materials for all six grades for about $500 plus shipping. Volunteers in the US receive the material for free, but there is a cost attached to create it, and it is often paid for by corporations or other donations. So in addition to volunteering to do the classes at FFHM, I was essentially serving as their "corporate sponsor" as well. 

Upon confirmation that I could receive the material, I inquired with the organization to see if I could deliver the programs at the school. Fortunately, the school's administrator knew of Junior Achievement and was more than happy to have the program at her school. My primary contact at the school was (and to date still is) Marie, who serves as the school's English teacher. Working with Marie, I developed a plan and set up a schedule for delivering all the JA programs to each of the six grades at the school. Since the students are in session from 9-12;30, with a 1/2 hour recess break, I determined that I would need another bilingual assistant to deliver lessons to two of the six grades. Marie also noted that the students may view it as unusual for two Spanish speaking Americans to present classes that include numerous discussions on life and culture in Mexico. I totally understood what she was saying; I would have a difficult time having someone from Mexico come and tell me about life in the United States, so certainly the reverse holds true as well. So somehow, I needed to overcome that obstacle.

My team had a couple of bilingual volunteers so I decided to enlist their assistance. Lara, who had just finished her junior year at Purdue with a minor in Spanish would be my Grade 1 and 2 teacher and Alex, who was completing his junior year in high school would provide classroom support to both of us. Alex's family is from Mexico and he is a first generation American who speaks a lot of Spanish in his household. He helped to give both Lara and I the "credibility" that we lacked as native Americans in a Mexican class - the kids loved him and he was a tremendous help floating from classroom to classroom.     

The kids did great and seemed to learn a lot. Lara covered the first and second grade classes in the morning before the break while I presented to the fifth and sixth grade students. After the recess, I returned to present JA to the third and fourth grades. Afternoons were spent preparing lessons and materials for the following day. The prep for these classes took longer than what I ordinarily spend in the US, but since this was the first time I had presented Junior Achievement in Spanish from a Spanish text, it was to be expected.  

As the week progressed, the students seemed to get more and more involved in the lessons and concepts. For most all of them, it was the first time they had discussed careers, personal finance and business in school. Some of the students had to make presentations to the class on topics we talked about - they did quite well. As the week came to a close, I felt that the children had experienced both fun and gained some good knowledge, but still was not entirely sure. Then on the last day after handing out the certificates that the students receive on completing the program, one of the fifth graders asked, "When are you coming back?" Those five words were all the confirmation I needed. JA would be back at FFHM next year and I would present the program along with other volunteers once again in 2010. Little did I realize that that time what I would end up taking on. More to follow in my next blog about JA and "Global Connections" at FFHM.   

If "Boomtowns" of the 1800's Only Had This Kind of Store... Well, Maybe They Did!

This story is from just a couple of days ago while I was delivering one of the "America Works" lessons to a sixth grade class of 19 students who are a pretty sharp group. They're attentive, ask good questions, interact well and typically respond with perceptive answers to questions I may ask them.

In this component, I am going over the experiences that miners and prospectors had when venturing out west to seek their fortune in gold or silver. Throughout the course, I often ask the class to compare or parallel the life of the prospecting entrepreneur in the 1850's versus what an innovator may experience today. Most of them know that life back then was much harder than it is today, but many have yet to fully understand that so many things we use and have today weren't even in existence back then. In this classroom adventure, a student's response actually sheds some light on how some retailers have actually been around for years... only the names have changed.

We were discussing how boomtowns came together during the 1800's and the types of businesses (only the ones on the "up and up" of course!) that were within them. Stables, hotels, banks and general merchandise to name a few. We talked about the gold that they were seeking and I spoke briefly about how radically the price of the metal has changed in recent years - in some cases enough to make it worthwhile to open up mines that were closed many years ago. I told them that while it may be nice to make items out of pure gold, often it is alloyed with other metals to add durability. The discussion led to my next question.

"So where do you think that prospectors sold their gold?" I asked, looking for an answer of "Assay Office". Since this is not a type of shop that students have likely ever heard about, I wasn't anticipating a correct answer. A few students shared their ideas, one boy said a jeweler, which was a pretty well thought observation. The class was running out of replies, but one student was sitting there looking very pensive and sheepishly raised his hand. I called on him and he paused a little, "ummm, uh.... Cash for Gold?"

"No" I said with a slight smile on my face, "It was actually called an Assay Office. Cash for Gold stores didn't exist back then, but in many respects they do today what Assay Offices did in the 1800's. Not a bad answer!" 


It's all in the marketing I guess!

Arlington Park's Backstretch, Kids on Track, JA and Hector

There is a part of Arlington Park Racetrack seldom seen by those who visit the facility. It is the Backstretch area where racehorses are kept, stabled, exercised and cleaned by scores of employees who perform these thankless tasks at Arlington during the summer season and at Hawthorne during most of the rest of the year. During their summer employment, workers and their families live in concrete block style 12'x12' dormitory type rooms, the buildings somewhat reminiscent of old, spartan motor inn lodging.

Most of the families who live here are Hispanic and for many, Spanish is their only language. There are some who may say that these people are "taking jobs away from Americans", however frankly, I know of very few Americans who would find these jobs and living circumstances acceptable. But that's another soapbox. This story is about "Kids on Track", JA, and one of the students, Hector

The "Kids on Track" (KOT) program is supported by School District 214 and is essentially a summer camp for the children of the Backstretch employees. Educationally, these children are some of the neediest you will find in the Chicago area. KOT provides these kids with summertime activities that they otherwise would never receive. These are high-energy children that come from loving families that give them very little educational stimulation, likely because the parents have had little if any schooling themselves. In fact, I am sure in many cases the parents are learning things like English and other basics from some of their children.In the summer of 2011, 236 children ages 3-13 participated in KOT from Thursday - Sunday. For about 4-5 years now, JA has been included in the KOT offerings; I have delivered the "Ourselves" and "Our Families" programs for the past three summers now, mostly to children ages four and five. While these programs are usually shared with five and six year olds, there is a good chance that the "campers" will receive them again if they return to KOT, or in a grade school in Cicero, IL where Morton College students present JA. For these children, reinforcement and repetition is good and necessary. 

During my three summers of involvement, I have spent about two hours in the morning, one day per week for five weeks. I enter through a non-descript gate to the west of the track; the security guards know to allow JA volunteers to pass. Since my students are among the youngest, my classes are held in a 30'x30' multi-purpose room adjacent to a small cafeteria used by employees, trainers and jockeys. Older students usually receive JA in an outdoor setting, which comes with distractions such as traffic noise from nearby Route 53 and Mother Nature.  

I usually have 40-50 students in two groups of 20-25 each. They come walking in linked by a soft plastic chain that they hold in their hands. They are accompanied by 1-2 counselors and often 1-2 HS or college student volunteers. Sometimes they will sit on the floor (typically on a carpet) to hear a story and other times I move them to small tables and chairs to do exercises. The first two and a half weeks they receive the "Ourselves" program, followed by "Our Families" in the last half - the third week is the transition week from one to the other. The first group receives two lessons in the first hour, then the second group follows, receiving the same two lessons as the other students had. My challenge is that I am teaching an English text by speaking mostly Spanish (I am bi-lingual) to children whose learning levels are sub-par, all in a camp atmosphere that totally lacks the discipline of a normal classroom.

I remember well my first year with the KOT program and JA. My last day there I was thinking how relieving it was to be finishing up. This was one of my most frustrating JA experiences I had ever had - the kids just didn't seem to be grasping much and maybe the curriculum was too far over their heads to be useful. Some of the children connected with me, but many were aloof - and so be it, given the circumstances. Some of them overtime became more willing to come up and show me what they had done with their exercises, and I always gave them the positive reinforcement they wanted - and is so needed with these children. One of those who shared their work with me was Hector - in a way that I would never have imagined.

Hector was around 5 years old and over the course of the five weeks became progressively more sociable with me. When the children are doing exercises related to their learning, I usually walk around and answer their questions or often help them lift stickers off their sheets to put on the JA material. At this age, it's good to complement them often and look for the positive elements in their work. Hector was one of the students I assisted and during the last lesson he was using stickers to develop his own community map - much like the floor map that the whole class had just looked at and participated in putting together. Hector finished a little ahead of the other students and came up to me and said "Here", extending the map to me with his hand. He had finished putting the stickers on the map, but since the others weren't ready, I told him if he wanted he could color it a little too. So he returned to his desk.

A few minutes passed and he returned to me with his exercise, having done a few more things to it. He shared it with me again and I looked at it, then handed it back and told him he had done a nice job. He said in broken English, "no, you" to which I replied (in Spanish) that it was his to take home to show his family. He responded again in somewhat broken English, "No, you. I want you to remember me!" I gratefully accepted and said thank you. It was all I could do not to break down.

That one "magic moment" changed my whole perspective on that summer with JA at KOT. And I have returned each summer since.    

Adventures with the Class of 2018 - Chapter One

This class is the reason why I should have started this blog earlier. So my story that follows will make up for a little lost time not yet discussed with my readers about previous lessons with the current second grade students at St. Emily in Mt Prospect, IL and take things to current times.

My experience with them in Kindergarten almost two years ago planted the seed that makes me want to teach JA to this group of students until their eighth grade graduation in 2018. I have not told that to these students yet, as I have several years to go and (hopefully) future commitments, some of which may interfere with this goal. But accomplishing this and continuing my Global Connections program (to be discussed in a future blog) at this school are two JA priorities with me in the coming school years.

Let me go back to Spring of 2010 when I first had these students in two separate Kindergarten classes; about 15 in each class. I remember immediately noticing how well the children networked and got along with each other in both classrooms. They were interested in what I taught them - this was most evident when each lesson started. With the JA curriculum in kindergarten ("Ourselves" - 5 lessons of about 30 minutes in duration), the volunteer begins by reading a story and sharing pictures from a large storybook that is included in the JA kit that the volunteer uses. After the story, there is a short activity that the students participate in - typically related to the story and reinforcing the learning elements. At this level, children are learning about trading/exchanging one item for another and then how money can be used and saved to obtain things we need. Good basics to begin learning at that age!

With so many JA classes there often comes a "magic moment" when you know that somehow you have connected with the kids. This can be a remark, an action, something that is said sometimes long after the JA lessons have been presented. At this age, just a sign of deep thought, reflection, learning or appreciation is special because they are so young to expect anything more.

Well, the first "magic moment" with this group came on the last day when I delivered the last lesson called "Dylan and the New Playground". I arrived that morning and sat down in the chair next to the carpet where all the students sit to listen to stories. That day as with previous days, most of the children sat right up to the edge of the carpet - barely an inch to move my feet. I begin by reading the paragraph on each page, followed by sharing the illustration on the page. In this story, the students at the school join together to raise money to build a new playground by reading with their friends and family and getting "paid" for each page they read. On the third page, there is a picture of Dylan riding home in the car with his mother, explaining what the students plan to do to build a new place to play. As with previous stories, I showed the kids the picture on the page - here is the exchange between two girls in the class sitting right in front of me:

First Girl (pointing at Dylan) - "He's sitting in the front seat!"
Second Girl - "Oh, he's not supposed to be sitting there"
First Girl - "No, he shouldn't be sitting there at all!"
Second Girl (looking straight at me, dead serious expression) - "My parents let me sit in the front seat once. But it was just around the block."

The myriad of thoughts and emotions that went through my mind at that point were unreal. And even though that "magic moment" was not directly related to the "moral of the story" I knew at that point that I had connected with those kids - they were interested and eager to learn.

Now as for relevant learning with these students - flash forward to October 26th - my first class with the second graders of the "Class of 2018" and my third year with these students, now numbering 28 in only one classroom. As I enter, several students say "Hello, Mr.Wick!" and some are whispering "Junior Achievement!" with a good deal of excitement. I greeted them and said, "This is my third year with you. Do you remember what we learned in Kindergarten about ourselves?" "We learned about money", said one boy. Another girl chimed in "we got savings banks!" "Very good" I acknowledged  "... and  who remembers what we talked about last year?"  "Wants and needs" said another student immediately.

Nice to start this class with another "magic moment."  I'm certain there will be many more with the "Class of 2018".