OH, THE WONDERS OF WEEK 2!

This week as a whole was a huge success. We got a lot of things right. I feel we've been learning a lot from trial and error during our time at St. Gabriel's (especially during Week 1). As Josh explained in his last post, the innovative card discipline system has been a huge improvement in the way we run things. Also as Josh mentioned, the presence of volunteers this week helped a lot. A youth group from the Mississippi Coast came up and worked at St. Gabriel's the whole week. Three to Six volunteers helped staff our program during the week, so their added presence helped keep decorum during some ordinarily hectic times.

Another huge highlight of this week was the work with the GED program. At St. Gabriel's, the three of us are constantly looking for new ways to help out besides the summer youth program we are conducting. The past two weeks have been filled with orientations for all the different programs (Parent's as Teachers, Library, Computer Lab, etc.). On Tuesday, Mrs. Beverly Johnson spent some time explaining to us all about the Emergency Needs Assistance Program and all the social work/programs that she oversees. I'm sure we'll have plenty to do for Mrs. Johnson when she asks for our help. Sister Rita runs the GED program that meets in the mornings on Tues.-Thurs.; the classes are small but cover essential material needed for those preparing to take the examination to get their GED. Josh, Nina, and I will now be working with program for about an hour every morning from now on. Josh and Nina both agree that this is a very good way to utilize our skills at St. Gabriel's since we can give individualized attention to the students preparing for the test. We all picked one person to work with throughout the week. Math seems to be the most difficult subject. Nina, Josh, and I find it refreshing to work on teaching our GED students high school level math as opposed to our simple elementary/middle school level curriculum we carry out for the Summer Youth Program. We are super excited to keep this up through out the summer.

The rest of our week for the Summer Youth Program went smoothly. On Wednesday the group from the Mississippi Coast helped to conduct an Easter Egg Hunt with prizes. Their activity lasted an hour, so Nina, Josh, and I had to adjust our usual schedule for the day. We kept the kids together rather than divide them up. After journal time, we had the kids do a word search of all the US states West of the Mississippi River. The activity worked very well to our pleasant surprise! It was a good follow up to Nina's geography lesson from last week too. After that we did a resurrection of our Math Bingo activity from Day 1. Once again, we made it work quite well. Last time, Nina ran Math Bingo by herself since Josh and I were doing diagnostic tests. This time, Josh and I were present so it ran more smoothly. The Mississippi Coast group took over afterwards and did their Easter Egg hunt. The kids loved it. They all got prizes (stuffed animals, toys, etc.) too. Later on we all went back to the Wesley House like we did last week. Eddie Willis was nice enough to invite us back for dinner. They are so nice and hospitable. It is wonderful to have made such friends here.

Thursday was solid execution of our now typical routine. I taught Martial Arts again, and it was a hit! Nina continued with her reading activities, and Josh also did his math/social studies lesson plan. That night was great for dinner. Nina taught me how to make Macaroni & Cheese (yes, embarassing...I never really tried to do that...Ha ha). With 9 boxes we fed our whole Robertson gang. Hilary, Alison, and Michael made us a SCRUMPTIOUS Apple Crisp dessert as well. It was great!

Friday was a very relaxing work day at St. Gabriel's. We were supposed to meet with Cheryl Baldwin, one of the coordinators for an organization known as Camp Hope, but it did not work out. Instead we learned about St. Gabriel's Sewing Program from Sister Cleo. Embroidery for the African-style dresses is the next big step in line for the program. They've come a long way with baby steps, but there is still some progress to be made before the actual business dream can be realized. The hope is that the women from Mound Bayou will one day be able to collectively organize their talents and have a cottage industry with the sewing. Later on as we were planning, two boys from our program showed up not knowing there was no class on Friday! Nina and Josh were quick to seize the opportunity to have some good one-on-one time with these kids since the mother could not be reached. Nina and Josh worked on math flash cards with the kids for a while before we all played outside. I feel they learned a lot from working with Nina and Josh for the short time (even though they should have never technically showed up in the first place). Everything worked out. Later that night, most of our Robertson group went to a Mexican restaurant in Cleveland called Guadalajara for dinner. The whole group then rented a movie and watched it at the house courtesy of Matt's XBOX 360. I love Movie Nights with my Robertson friends! During the school year there is nothing I enjoy more. My Robertson buddies in Louisiana/Kentucky right now, Brent and Cameron, know this very well :).

Later today we are thinking about going to Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale. It is a famous club started by Mississippi native Morgan Freeman! It should be exciting.

Everything I've experienced so far already feels SO REWARDING!!! I feel so blessed to have had this opportunity and to experience such a wonderful summer with my best friends.

-Braveen