One of our favorite moments of the day was visiting the Holocaust memorials in Miami. After the physical part of our day was over, before we went out to enjoy our night, we went to see the memorial. It was really moving. Many of the members of the group have been to Holocaust memorials in other parts of the world, but the one in Miami was impacting in a different way. It was a visual representation of the 6 million Jews who perished in ghettos and camps during World War II. The visual representation of the people truly invoked strong emotions. It almost seemed as if the statues were going to move. They were extremely realistic. And to see so many names on the wall was just insane.
The rest of our trip so far has been about creating a positive environment and keeping a good energy and the visiting. So far, we have enjoyed everything, but our favorite part has been working with the children. Getting to actually meet the people in the community that we were working for was motivating and a lot of fun. Even in such a short time, a lot of the kids bonded with the Hillel students.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Miami, Day 1
We started our day by having breakfast as a group downstairs in the hotel. Then we loaded up the buses and went on a forty- minute drive to the Senior Care Program, where we spent the morning with senior citizens. When i say 40 minutes I mean it was supposed to be 40 minutes... But after a medical glitches and quick pit stop at the local family clinic we were finally on our way. Once we got to the Senior Center the students and clients got an instrument and we all introduced ourselves through a name game. A lady who was 104 years old even sang to us. Then we sang karaoke for them including songs like "I Will Survive" which in hindsight may have been a bit off-color for the centogenarians in the audience. We also had time to share our stories with the elderly, despite the language barrier of Spanish and English. Then we went to a local park and ate lunch with a side of tanning! Then we drove to visit an after-school program in Liberty City. There, we heard Alison Austin, the CEO, talk about The Freedom School and the importance of giving back to society and helping the impoverished communities. Then we learned a little "harambee" and the"good job" cheer that we sang with the students. If nothing else, the afternoon offered further proof that white jewish kids got no rhythm but a lot of chutzpah. After a fun afternoon, we got on the bus to University of Miami Hillel and had some excellent Kosher pizza for dinner. We heard stories from the "Faces of the Homeless" program, a branch of AmeriCorps. Three people shared their personal accounts of being homeless and how they rose above it to become strong members of society. Then we separated into our respective schools to reflect on our day and what we thought about poverty, giving back, and volunteering. It was overall an emotional and inspiring day full of fun and laughter!
Aimee Epstein
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Reflections
Yesterday we started off the day by going to Nora Sterry Elementary School in inner city Los Angeles. We split up into small groups and began our projects for the week as we tried to better the schools playground area. Within these groups some painted, sandpapered wood, or knocked down an old wood fence. My group, The VanGoughs, started painting the word "Welcome" in many different languages as an entrance mural for the school.
After eating a brief lunch we moved to Palms Elementary School to assist them in their after school program. We enjoyed helping students with their homework, playing outside sports and talking with them and learning about their backgrounds. I connected with a young girl who wanted to play a different game. We got a huge group of students and volunteers together and played a big game of kickball. The students were so enthusiastic about the game and were commenting on how they have never played so long because it was never this fun. They all were so positive and happy to be playing. What I loved was the fact that they all had really great attitudes even though the team I was on was losing badly.
Other volunteers learned things from the elementary school students such as step dance moves and new games. After spending a few hours at the school we went to have another great dinner at Hillel where we had some yummy tacos. We also had a guest speaker who talked about public education in the state of California. We then broke into campus groups and the Michigan State students had a great discussion reflecting on our great experiences so far. We had a great time working with the kids and doing service and we cannot wait to finish our projects and play with the kids more this week!
-Taylor Lederman
After eating a brief lunch we moved to Palms Elementary School to assist them in their after school program. We enjoyed helping students with their homework, playing outside sports and talking with them and learning about their backgrounds. I connected with a young girl who wanted to play a different game. We got a huge group of students and volunteers together and played a big game of kickball. The students were so enthusiastic about the game and were commenting on how they have never played so long because it was never this fun. They all were so positive and happy to be playing. What I loved was the fact that they all had really great attitudes even though the team I was on was losing badly.
Other volunteers learned things from the elementary school students such as step dance moves and new games. After spending a few hours at the school we went to have another great dinner at Hillel where we had some yummy tacos. We also had a guest speaker who talked about public education in the state of California. We then broke into campus groups and the Michigan State students had a great discussion reflecting on our great experiences so far. We had a great time working with the kids and doing service and we cannot wait to finish our projects and play with the kids more this week!
-Taylor Lederman
Day 3 Reflections
After a night of reflection our team of volunteers came back to the schools with more enthusiasm, lingering questions, and excitement to start another great day of service. We arrived at the work sites determined to integrate our freshly defined knowledge of what kind of impact we’d like to make and better ways to accomplish our goals.
The day began with our now ritual physical training, surplus water, and sunscreen. The biggest obstacle of our day could have easily been the harsh California heat, rising to around 75 degrees. Although, there was some physical and mental exhaustion the team was able to overcome it with positive attitudes, teamwork, and great conversation. Many of us were able to become a little closer to the city year staff and got a really great inside look on the great organization that planned our trip. As we came closer to finishing the second half of our day we finally able to see some finished products of our hard work. It’s only our second day working on our projects, but they already look great and we feel so proud of our hard work.
The afternoon spent with the kids in the after school program gave us a really fun break. Many of the kids remembered our names and faces and couldn’t wait for us to start playing games with them. It’s really exciting to see all of the relationships that have already formed between the kids and the volunteers, but also scary to think of only having one more day together.
As we filled on the bus to head back there was a lot of excitement for the upcoming night in Santa Monica. We all enjoyed shopping, good meals, and some therapeutic beach time. As a group we all had a great time star gazing, feeling the ocean, and getting to know each other better. To wrap the night up, a few of us grabbed some food at IN IN OUT, the most popular fast food chain in Cali, and made aware of the seriousness of Jay- walking. It’s been an amazing time with a nice mix of service and sightseeing, and I look forward to another great day tomorrow.
-Emily Berlin
The day began with our now ritual physical training, surplus water, and sunscreen. The biggest obstacle of our day could have easily been the harsh California heat, rising to around 75 degrees. Although, there was some physical and mental exhaustion the team was able to overcome it with positive attitudes, teamwork, and great conversation. Many of us were able to become a little closer to the city year staff and got a really great inside look on the great organization that planned our trip. As we came closer to finishing the second half of our day we finally able to see some finished products of our hard work. It’s only our second day working on our projects, but they already look great and we feel so proud of our hard work.
The afternoon spent with the kids in the after school program gave us a really fun break. Many of the kids remembered our names and faces and couldn’t wait for us to start playing games with them. It’s really exciting to see all of the relationships that have already formed between the kids and the volunteers, but also scary to think of only having one more day together.
As we filled on the bus to head back there was a lot of excitement for the upcoming night in Santa Monica. We all enjoyed shopping, good meals, and some therapeutic beach time. As a group we all had a great time star gazing, feeling the ocean, and getting to know each other better. To wrap the night up, a few of us grabbed some food at IN IN OUT, the most popular fast food chain in Cali, and made aware of the seriousness of Jay- walking. It’s been an amazing time with a nice mix of service and sightseeing, and I look forward to another great day tomorrow.
-Emily Berlin
What's Next?
Terrified…Lost…Enthusiastic…Motivated...These are only a few emotions that can begin to describe how some of us ASB’ers are feeling. This trip has been taken to a whole new level, and it’s safe to say I think some of us are even at a loss of words. As I’m sitting here reflecting upon this overall experience, and our last day with the children at Palms Elementary school, I really am having trouble…It’s difficult to verbalize all of the thoughts and emotions encompassing my brain. I have never, since the day I’ve wanted to be an educator, experienced the emotions I felt yesterday. Some often say that “goodbye” isn’t forever, and with these children I’d like to say it isn’t for me. But as we hugged our kids, turned our backs from names being screamed, and wiped the streaming tears off of our cheek, one can’t help but feel that forever, is forever. I know, along with each and every person on this trip, that the service we have done for these children, and this community the past week, has left an imprint. Some of those kids did not want to say bye to us, and probably couldn’t fathom the fact that we would never be back again. But the question is, what do we do now? We’ve volunteered with these inner-city schools for 4 days, and made a world of a difference. Now, the future is in our hands. We’ve seen how poorly run these schools are, and the lacking beauty of the school’s appearance. From the picnic tables we worked our butts off to create, to the beautiful murals we painted on the walls, these schools have already been transformed. As we sat there on Thursday saying goodbye to the kids, and stood there Friday looking out to all of the beautiful work we created, there were no words. That final day of service almost made me feel like I was hit by a truck; I was lost and confused, yet extremely motivated and FIRED UP! It’s our job as not only future educators, but humans in this world, to create what’s next to come. Together, we need to do something that will make a difference for forever. After all, ASBers, haven’t we learned that together is better than alone?
-Lucy Keller
-Lucy Keller
Final Touches
Today started out just like every other workday of our trip. Unfortunately it was our last day at Nora Sterry elementary school. We started off with PT with our amazing city year crew. We then split up into our work groups and began to finish all of the projects we started at the beginning of the week. My group was fortunate enough to work on the project we started on our first day. We finished putting together the reading benches, re-stained the picnic tables and painted checkerboards onto them for the kids. We then were able to walk around and see all of the amazing projects that we as a group were able to accomplish in such a little amount of time.
Then, during lunch we had a closing ceremony that wrapped up the entire week. City year and Hillel leaders spoke and thanked the entire 100 college students for the work they put in this week. Also, the principal of Nora Sterry spoke to us about how appreciative she, her staff and all of her kids were for what we did to improve their school. We then were apart of the kid’s fire drill towards the end lunch. There, some of the kids came up to the microphone and spoke to us and thank us for the work that we did. It was great to see how their smiles and hear how happy they were that we did this for them.
At the end of the day we headed back to the hotel to get ready for Shabbat. We met up in the lobby of the hotel and headed to Hillel with everyone for services and dinner. We were able to choose between services or discussions that were being held over topics that related to our work this week. During dinner, we were able to meet tons of Jewish students from UCLA and talk to them about our experiences over the past week. After dinner we split up into different groups and had a boundary breaking activity where we learned a lot about other people on the trip. This was a very good way to end the night and close off the week as we entered into Shabbat.
-Jenna Pickman
Then, during lunch we had a closing ceremony that wrapped up the entire week. City year and Hillel leaders spoke and thanked the entire 100 college students for the work they put in this week. Also, the principal of Nora Sterry spoke to us about how appreciative she, her staff and all of her kids were for what we did to improve their school. We then were apart of the kid’s fire drill towards the end lunch. There, some of the kids came up to the microphone and spoke to us and thank us for the work that we did. It was great to see how their smiles and hear how happy they were that we did this for them.
At the end of the day we headed back to the hotel to get ready for Shabbat. We met up in the lobby of the hotel and headed to Hillel with everyone for services and dinner. We were able to choose between services or discussions that were being held over topics that related to our work this week. During dinner, we were able to meet tons of Jewish students from UCLA and talk to them about our experiences over the past week. After dinner we split up into different groups and had a boundary breaking activity where we learned a lot about other people on the trip. This was a very good way to end the night and close off the week as we entered into Shabbat.
-Jenna Pickman
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