This past week was the first week of camp and actually working with the girls. It started off great; the first day was great and fun. I helped teach my first stem class and the girls loved it. Melissa and I taught them about the physics behind zip lining. Then we had them separate into groups and try to creat ziplines that carried a marble down and released the marble to land on a target. The girls had so many different ideas. By the end of the week their designs were even more creative. Every group was able to complete the task; well, every group except for one but they kept trying to do it until the end of the class time.
I also helped a girls inc facilitator during her girls inc class in which she taught a 7th grade group mind + body. We talked about different topics each day. We went over body image, stress, the food groups, and bullying. By the end I got to know some of the girls and I was really happy with the group. They all participated and were for the most part respectful. On Thursday Genna, the girls inc facilitator, had the girls say “if you knew me you would know…” and the girls would finish it off. They all had some pretty traumatic experiences and it was a great activity.
This week has had its difficulties though. It has been quite tiring, as I expected. But there has also been some incidents of disrespect from the girls, and it is usually from a certain class. Also, there was an autistic girl that we had in a class that had an incident, she ended up leaving the camp. I wish I would have done something more, but I realize there’s nothing I can really do.
Anyways, on Friday we ended the week by going on a field trip with girls inc to knotts berry farm, it was great. I love rollercoasters and it was fun seeing the girls around. We went on a roller coaster with some of the girls too.
Overall, this week was informative, exhausting, and fun.