Champs

This past Monday, October 4th, 2009 and yesterday, October 7th, 2009 I started my observations at the J.M. McDonalds center in Homer. This was my first experience at this complex and I could not believe how big it was. I was extremely impressed by what the complex had to offer. It had an ice rink, a weightlifting gym, a gymnastics gym, a very good sized turf field and a floor hockey/tennis court. This is just what I was able to see. I still need to take a true tour of the complex to see all the other great things it has to offer. As for the experience itself, I was very impressed by the CHAMPS program. Since there was a lack of mentors, I was assigned a child who was new to the program. Like me, it was his first day too. The first thing I did when all the other children arrived was walked around with my student and helped him to introduce himself to every mentor and child. I feel like this helped him get all the nervousness out and gave him some confidence. On top of that, the teacher noticed his braveness and gave him an award in front of the class. I thought it was as good of a start a child can get on a first day at a new program. After all that, I helped him with his multiplication tables because he had no other homework. Next was snack time and then we got to play on the turf. Overall, I think the program is organized nicely and I am looking forward to continuing my experiences there in the coming weeks.