Alex Friedman- Post #3

I can’t believe how fast the summer is going!  I hope everyone is having a great experience so far.  I couldn’t be happier at the Exceptional Foundation- it’s been so much fun.  Now, after completing three full weeks of camp, I feel like I know the participants really well.  There’s been a pretty consistent group throughout the summer, but there are still new faces each week.  I served as a floater (worked in all three rooms) during the first week, but now I have been consistently in  “Willow House.”  I love it! 

The highlight of this last week was definitely the Color Run.  Every Wednesday from 10:30 to noon is Messy Day.  Typically, it’s on the playground area and we do water fights, water balloons, and sprinklers.  However, this past week was a special Messy Day; we got the actual powder from the Color Run events.  The kids were a little apprehensive at first, but I knew it would they’d love it. I actually just did the Color Run in Memphis a couple weekends ago, so I showed the participants some pictures before we started.  It turned out to be a huge success.  We set up an obstacle course around a section of the parking lot and gave each participant a couple bags of colored powder.  They were terrified at first, but once they started throwing it at each other, they wouldn’t stop for almost two hours!  It was so awesome to see all the participants of all ages get a little competitive and bond with each other during the activity.

This last week did present some challenges that I had not yet experienced.  There were a lot more behavioral issues this week.  I figured this was because the participants are getting a little more comfortable in the environment, so they are misbehaving and not listening as well.  Also, now that participants have been around each other more, it’s very evident which ones bother each other and instigate problems.  In Willow House, there have been a few consistent offenders that have caused me to write incident reports.  For example, an older girl pushed a younger boy from behind at the bowling alley, and in turn, he used bad language in front of the entire group.  Those two had consistent problems throughout the day.  It was really interesting to observe their interactions.  Individually, they are both really pleasant to be around, but somehow when they’re together it produces conflict.  I have noticed that almost all of the participants have a certain factor that throws them completely off track and causes either over stimulation or them to become worked up.   We’ve tried our best to separate the participants who have these negative influences on each other, but it’s also really important to teach them the importance of coping and finding solutions.  Finding that balance has been a little difficult.  I don’t want to put anyone in an environment that induces stress, but I also don’t want to teach them to run away from uncomfortable or challenging experiences, because the purpose of this camp is to enrich their lives by improving their social skills. 

Furthermore, another challenge has been balancing the line between serving as an authority member towards the older participants, while maintaining a level of respect.  I have worked at similar camps and organizations the last few years, but always with younger kids; with younger participants, it’s a lot easier to maintain a certain level of authority and control.  However, at the EFWT, with older participants, I have made a strong effort to maintain a high amount of respect and awareness for participants older than me.  I never want them to perceive my actions as condescending.  I have tried to reconcile these concerns by making a conscious effort of giving the older participants a little more responsibility or freedom in choice.  So far it has not been a huge problem, so I hope it will continue to move smoothly.

Respect toward the communities we serve is a very important aspect of service.  In general, I feel that that specific concept is sometimes lost.  For example, I have heard people complete service work and discuss how they felt so bad, and they can’t imagine how tough life might be for those populations.  The awareness and realizations are important, however those people receiving help don’t want to feel pitied; they want to be respected as people too.  This has been so evident in my work.  I try to treat the participants, especially the ones around my age, just like I would treat my friends.  A couple of them have even made a point to thank me, and one even told me that no one ever treats her normally, and how it was so nice to be treated just like an average twenty five year old for once.  This has been very encouraging to me, and it’s made me realize that no one wants to receive over-compensated treatment or pity; rather, they want to be treated with respect and like any one else would be treated. 

SIDE NOTE: I'm not sure how I forgot to include this, but another crucial part of the week was the fact that I am now a certified EFWT van driver.  Yes, I drive the fifteen passenger van full of participants to the different sites.