Yasmin Espinosa

Espinosay@knights.ucf.edu

January 26,2010

BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB

I decided to volunteer, and work with students from the Boys and Girls club, of Parkway Middle School in Kissimmee, Florida.

I choice to volunteer, and work with students with Autism and PMH (profoundly mentally handicapped).

This is a positive place for kids.

ABOUT MYSELF

My interest is to be a teacher that can help all kinds of kids no matter there background, there capacity of learning or the disabilities that they have.

My experience working with these students helped open my eyes to the way these kids are treated and how hard it is for them in the real world. Helping these students with simple homework that they didn’t understand and even after I explained it to them and show them how you do it they still didn’t understand it, this interested me in wanting to keep helping them.

PARTICIPANT DEMOGRAPHICS Out of the four students that I worked with - 2 were Hispanic - 2 were Caucasian.- 2 of the Hispanic and 1 of the Caucasian students were

Autistic.- 1 of the Caucasian students has PMH(Profoundly mentally

handicapped).- The chart shows the knowledge of intelligence out of the four

students.- The first Hispanic name was Jordan. He is 11 years old.

- The second Hispanic name was

Nelson. He is 13 years old.

- The first Caucasian name was

Jordan. He is 12 years old.

- The second Caucasian with PMH name was

Justin. He is 11 years old.

ENGAGEMENT ACTIVITY The types of activities that I did with the students

were helping them with there homework, going to different activities with them such as playing basketball or any sports outside with them, going to the computer lab with so they can continue homework or play games on the computer, I also went with them to the game room which has a ping bong table a pool table. A foosball table, and like playing cards.

I volunteered at the school on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. I went for three months.

Their was four students that I focused on while I volunteered their. These students are special needs students three of them are autistic and one of them has PMH. I wasn’t allowed to take pictures of them because their parents wouldn’t allow it, but I did take pictures of myself.

MY EXPERIENCE How this experience effected me by teaching me how

to look through the students lives. Seeing the struggle they go through with their school work and everyday lives. For the students not being able to choice how they want to grow and what they would like to retain in their brain.

What had the most impact on me is one student his name is Jordan, this one student opened my eyes and he made me feel sorry for him at the beginning, but at the end he didn’t want me to feel sorry for him he just wanted to be treated like all the other kids and not be picked on. Jordan has autism and he is the kind of kid that is very smart and wants everyone to be his friend.

What I would take away from this experience is being grateful and thankful for having the opportunity to help these students and giving me a different outlook in life.

Here are a few pictures to show what Boys and Girls club is really about……

Making kids happy. Letting kids feel safe. Having a positive place for kids to go to.