Experiences in Diversity:

• His Kids Weekend at Camp Luther

His Kids camp at Camp Luther was an incredible experience which gave me the opportunity to work as a buddy for a camper with disabilities. Throughout the weekend, I had the opportunity of working with a camper who had aspergers. During my time at camp, I was involved in helping with many different actiivities such as kickball, archery, scavenger hunt, movie night, pumpkin carving, and more camp related games. My experience with my camper at His Kids Camp will help me when I am in the classroom. As a teacher, I will have a range of students who I will need to connect with. By having different learned strategies and experience I am now able to connect with more people.

• Poverty Simulation

I was able to go through the simulation as a freshman where I learned how life comes at people quickly. When a family does not have money they can be forced to decide between necessities such as having food or paying their rent. Getting an education is not always a priority for these families just trying to support themselves financially. As a junior I was able to be the cop who helped keep people in the simulation from mainly stealing and selling items illegally. This taught me how people become desperate to make ends meet often leaving children to fend for themselves. Children do not understand how important an education is to them when they are very young and having parents always gone because of work can lead them into falling behind in their schooling. As a future teacher I need to understand that all kids come from different backgrounds and families that may have other priorities than an education. With that in mind, I will need to work even harder to hold students accountable for doing their work but also to help students own their education.

• People’s City Mission

The People’s City Mission is the homeless shelter in Lincoln, NE that has an evening program where guests come in and lead a lesson, make crafts, and play games both a group and individual setting. The experience I have gained from this program will benefit me in the classroom because of the interactions I have had with these incredible kids. This experience is humbling as I am able to put myself in their shoes and help them enjoy their evenings. Seeing the daily struggle these kids are going through when they are not at school will allow me to recall in the future that each student has a different background. This will help me be patient, understanding, and helpful to students with these more challenging home lives.

• Summer Camp (Camp Erie)

I have been a summer camp counselor for 6 years (2013-2018). I have been blessed with the opportunity to work with many different kids and counselors. Occasionally the camp will get a child that has lower functioning skills and being able to see improvement from the beginning of the summer to the end is quite impressive. There was one kid that was born prematurely and came to camp before he was five years old. When we were changing clothes in the locker room after swim time he just stood there with a blank stare. This camper could not put his shirt on by himself but by the end of the summer he was pretty much able to do everything by himself. After a year of school coming into summer camp the following summer, that same camper was one of the first ones out of locker room. Seeing week to week and year to year improvement has definitely been the most rewarding part of my job. I have learned that some kids take longer to develop skills but if you keep working with them they develop the tools necessary to succeed.