"After" Take Action Project Blog

I learned a lot while doing this project. For my volunteer time, I volunteered at the Latchkey program at my old elementary school. This was an amazing experience for me. While I didn't do too many huge activities with the children, I did get to sit down and talk with quite a few of them, which was a very interesting experience. Many of them are facing rough times because of their situations at home, and you can tell when you sit down with them that most of them just want someone to talk to. Many of their parents work full time jobs, and they receive money from the government for childcare, so that they can afford to send their kids to Latchkey. I was told by the Latchkey supervisor that they have a lot of single mother households there that greatly benefit from being able to send their children to Latchkey, since a lot of regular daycare's won't accept the assistance that they receive.

When I interviewed Mrs Garza (who runs the Latchkey program at the elementary school that I visited), she told me that she believes that she has made a lasting impression on many of the children who have passed through the program. While their parents work full time, they are mostly left to do things on their own, and when they come to school they don't usually have any of their work done. Mrs. Garza makes sure that the children who are known to not complete their homework because of their home situation get their work done. She will sit with them and help them complete it, and make sure that the child's teacher is aware of the situation that the child is facing at home so that they can be helped as much as possible. Mrs. Garza mentioned that she has had many of these same students come and visit her years later, thanking her for helping them out. She sees these children every morning and night all throughout their elementary school years, so she is able to be a source of stability for them.

Overall, this project convinced me even more that I would like to work in a lower income school district. I feel that this would be a good continuation of the project by being able to provide stability for children who might not have any at home. This also helps women who don't have time between their jobs and their children to help them out in school. This amazing experience just made me realize how real everything we learned in the course was, how it is happening to real people, not just some faraway people in a book.