Funny How Things Work Out

South Dakota was one of the best experiences I've had in quite a while. Everything about it just went so smoothly, I think that's what I l iked most about it. Any problems that we encountered- and we did encounter quite a few- were handled before the group could get into crisis mode. Basically, it was smooth sailling all week long. The kids were managable simply because they were in a classroom setting, which I think motivated them to learn, at least somewhat. We all worked together as a team and we really reached out to the community which is, I think, the true reason why we go out.

When you think about it, how much are we really doing out there? Groups go out all the time. And a week's worth of tutoring really isn't going to get a little kid too far. So I think as much as setting up a learning camp is fun and helpful in the short term, what we're really doing out there is forming bonds and relationships, breaking down the boundaries that had been put up in the past. If we can change at least one person's opinion of us, I think that we've done our job well.

I think what solidified this for me was when we saw Zach at the pow-wow we attended on Friday night. Zach was a cousin of a teenager on the reservation that we knew really well, Brandon. Brandon and Zach would come to our camp everyday to help out with the kids and maintain order in the camp. They also formed "relations" with some of the girls that came out. Zach fell madly in love with one of the girls who came out my second year, but she already had a boyfriend back home and I think she was just using him. We didn't hear from him for quite a while, and we heard that he had gotten involved in gangs and whatnot. So we're at the pow-wow and there is a man sitting in the group next to us that we think we recognize. He has tiny baby and he is dancing with it around the circle. We are about to leave when we realize who it is. It's really amazing how things resurface and get better.

I have one more thing I want to talk about. I've been rolling around in my mind what I want to do with my life and what I want to major in. I thought I wanted to study Psychology but that fizzled, so I started concentrating on History. Something just didn't feel right though, mainly because I didn't see a lot of concrete career options coming from it. When I saw that Katie, a good friend of mine who has been going on the trip longer than I have, is going to do Teach For America and the inspirational ways that she worked with the kids, I realized that what I really want to do is teach. I love kids, I love working with them, and as much as it would be trying, I also know it would be extremely rewarding. So I'm switching my major to Education, with a possible minor in history, and I think I'm going to concetrate on Special Ed. I think that working with kids one on one is what I really want to do.

Well, that's it folks. More later!