Today was our second and final day at Vogal Alcove. We arrived at Vogal Alcove and immediately went to the classrooms that we worked in the day before. The children who were in these classrooms were more receptive to us, due to the fact that we had already built a rapport with them. For example, I worked in a preschool classroom and many more of the students wanted to interact with me during my time there.
Since we got the tour of the facility the day before, we got to see the more of the morning routines in the individual classrooms. This included eating breakfast with the children and doing other movement activities that the students do in the morning. We again got to spent time with the students when they went outside to play.
We were excused from our classrooms by Bryan, the engagement director, and held another debrief about our day. He asked us how are second day went compared to our first and how the children interacted with us. My situation of the children wanting to interact with me more was echoed by my fellow volunteers. Bryan then went on to explain that this is because the students aren’t used to having repeat visitors coming back so quickly so they were excited to see us again.
We discussed this issue further in our reflection time by talking about how the classroom teachers and staff at Vogal Alcove way the only consist things in their life. All of the students that receive services through this great organization are living in shelters. These shelters can be chaotic and very unpredictable, so providing a place where children no that they are safe and are receiving consist love and support.
Overall I am very grateful for coming on this trip and am happy to have spent my spring break doing service here in Dallas. To show our appreciation for Vogal Alcove, we are donating money to them. Since we are donating money to them, we have received a bird house that we will decorate with MSU colors and will be hung on a wall at Vogal Alcove. Since we were not aloud to take pictures of us working in the classroom because of the privacy of the children, here is a picture of our group outside the building.