Day 27

Almost my forth week here! I've noticed some substantial changes between this group and the previous one, and I like them.

First off, these kids seem so much more mellow. They are ok with actually being quiet during quiet time. I came across as pretty harsh (one kid started saying yes sir whenever I told the group to do stuff) on day one, so they know to listen to me and take me seriously. It's quite nice.

It feels so nice knowing what to do and how to manage problems. I think this session is going a lot better than last session as far as behavior goes. I know not every RA is so lucky, but I've lucked out pretty well this whole camp. Good kids that are fun to be with and not too challenging to manage.

That being said, other things are really starting to take a toll on the workforce here and are frustrating us RAs.

The new rules basically force us to be constantly walking kids back and forth to class, and lots of us are walking a mile and a half per trip and having to make 4 or 5 trips per day. That wouldn't be too terrible if TAs didn't get paid extra for having to walk kids 500 feet from a nearby parking lot to the classroom. It's annoying a lot of RAs that we walk way more but don't get any compensation, even though we probably spend more quality time and working time with the kids than the TAs. Such is work, I suppose. In the end, there's not much I can do.

Basically, this session has seen a lot of changes for me. New floor, new room, new kids, updated rules. Lots of interesting challenges and fun happenings. The kids are really excited and are having lots of fun in classes.

There was an incident today though at lunch that was...interesting. A student asked me who my favorite person in the world was (I said my dad, for those of you wondering). I then returned the question and asked her who her favorite person was. She responded with, "me!" and then began to brag about herself for 15 minutes about how awesome she thinks she is. Then when I asked another kid who their favorite person was in their life, this girl starts shouting "pick me! pick me!".

I hope she fails her class. It'll be very good at dampening some of that absurd cockiness.


Signing off,
Kevin