My first job working with kids was at a local charter school. I was in California with my family, at our beach house in Newport, working at a surf shop ( technically my first job) and a family friend was there, and I told all about my choice for college. ( I was 19) and she asked me to come into her place ( the charter school) and interview for her after school program. It worked with my school hours over at mcc so it was perfect.
Got the job and was a staff member for 4 years. It was a great learning experience for me and it definitely helped with my decision to stay in the college of education program once I got there. I had to quit the year entering into the college of education program due to the fact that they said it was best not to be working while studying and my classes and interning was all over the mat.
It wasn’t until the first year of COE That I realized I was wrong to leave because so many other people were working full-time. I missed my kids
Out of those 4 years , I made so many friends. The teachers were wonderful, the front office girls were my go to. They made my days easy. I still wish I could go back, and do something more. Because even though it was a great start in understanding how after school program ran, I learn from the school district later how much more a program can be. I would love to change up and improve things at the charter school if I could.
Course with COVID I’ll have to wait a while.
The kids are the things I miss the most from there. They are the things I miss the most from all the programs I worked. The kids from this program though weren’t that much younger than me. It was a Preschool-8th grade program. My first year I was 19 to my oldest student who was 14. Only 5 years younger.
I bonded more this those kids and as I grew I learned that being older meant I had to mature and take charge, especially since I was the only one left standing after that first year and I had to help train a whole new group of staff after that.
What’s funny now is, I have found some of my kids on Facebook, or rather they found me. At first I felt old, then i cried. They remembered me. I made such an impact in their life , that they wanted to find me.
That’s an achievement I’ll take any day.
I owe a lot to those kids. I should be the one thanking them.
I found pictures off my extra hard drive that I had from back then. And I found pictures of my kiddos. I smiled at them all, and then was sad to delete them after. I can’t keep them. It’s against policy. So if you are reading this kiddos, I didn’t do it easily.
Okay. That’s my charter school little story. Now onto finishing my other 3 blogs .
The TAWL Mom 