It’s been a busy week of early mornings and many hours spent at Girl’s Inc., training and revising our lesson plans. The first two days were a bit slow with logistics, but the next couple of days were more interesting as we were able to work hands-on with creating our lesson plans and implementing the necessary changes to adapt to the students’ needs. There is so much to prepare, but our team is very efficient and focused to achieve the goals we set out to reach. Things are starting to come together for camp, and I am really looking forward to working with the entire team in the coming weeks.
The Girl’s Inc. staff are incredible people—they are so energizing, welcoming, and positive. They bring a great aura and promote an encouraging attitude in the workspace. I feel motivated just being around them. I think that we have an amazing group of people to work with in the weeks to come and I cannot wait for the students to participate in our classes and enjoy camp. I think it will be a great and especially fun experience for them!
We’ve inputted so many hours this week towards our lessons that it seems like we have stayed here for longer than a week, but it’s only been 7 days. We have visited around the area, and it is really beautiful here. There have been many photoshoots—twice we saw pregnancy shoots and one just married—and the weather has been mostly generous to us with warm sunshine and a cool breeze to combat the severe heat. However, the beauty of all it puts the environment where the girls at Girl’s Inc. come from into perspective. It makes me want to invest more of myself to give them the support, care, and encouragement during our interactions.
Nevertheless, I am very excited for the following weeks—meeting the girls (tomorrow is their Family Fun Fest!), and seeing more of southern California. I have never really gotten the chance to visit this area other than Disneyland, and I think this is a great opportunity for me to learn more about the culture and history of other cities in SoCal since California is so vast.