I went into the session already grouchy, with little desire to be there. In fact, I debated not going at all. Last week's session really left a sour taste in my mouth. I had been frustrated for two weeks prior, and last week topped it off. Fortunately, I won't let myself give up so easily. Begrudgingly, I went.
I got there about 10 minutes early, as per usual for the volunteers, to find a handful of girls there already and getting their snacks out. The other volunteers weren't there (I later found out they got stuck in traffic) and the advisor wasn't there (we find out about 5 minutes after the program started that she was sick) and the volunteer coordinator (the advisor's boss, essentially) had no idea what was going on. An entire pitcher of lemonade got knocked over and one of the girls slipped in the puddle. Without the advisor, we had no activity planned and had to completely wing it. Luckily, though, the program has a binder with the theme for each week and two options for activities.
 |
| This picture really stumped them. |
The theme this week was about beauty, inside and out, and what it means to be beautiful. One thing we focused on was a "celebrities without makeup" game. We had pictures of female celebrities without makeup and the girls had to guess who they were. We had "after" pictures of the celebrities all glammed up to show them after the guesses. Many of the girls were really surprised and didn't even recognize all the stars. Beyonce and Lady Gaga really stumped them. We also had the girls get together in small groups to focus on themselves. Each girl got two sheets of paper and had to finish the sentence "I'm beautiful because..." on each square. I suggested having one sentence for inner beauty, or their personality as I had to explain it to them (I'm sure your kidneys are beautiful, but I mean your personality), and one for their outer beauty. They seemed to enjoy this activity and it elicited a lot of productive conversation amongst them. It was really interesting to see them give themselves compliments, and what they thought was positive about themselves.
The executive decision was made by the volunteer coordinator to have us keep the same small groups for the duration of the program. I couldn't have gotten better news. The five girls in my group actually listen, want to participate, are fun to talk to, and don't get super obnoxious. If I got stuck with the sassies, I'm not sure how much longer I could have done it.
Our physical activity of the night was a kind of gym game. Each small group got a sheet of paper with different exercises on it that the group had to complete together: 4 laps around the track, hula hoop for 1 minute, jump rope for one minute, 25 jumping jacks, 10 push-ups, 25 sit ups and to come up with a group name and cheer. My girls came up with the Pretty Purple Pandas. The gym games were actually really fun and the group as a whole actually participated. A rough start ended up being one of the most successful sessions so far.
No comments:
Post a Comment