Dangerous Minds

I started my 2nd year internship yesterday. I think I've mentioned before that I will be working with kids at a elementary school in a very rough and impoverished neighborhood on the south side of Sac. The only way to describe these kids and their attitudes is by comparing them to the high school kids from the movie "Dangerous Minds". They are mini versions of the children/young adults in that movie.
It's a K-6 school with about 150 out of 400 running though my program at any given time. (Here's a link if you're really interested in what I'll be doing ;-) http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/envrnmnt/css/cs1lk24.htm
Its basically providing the kids and families at this school with seervices from local social service agencies such as medical care, dental, housing if homeless, family and individual counseling that goes beyond the school counseling we will do, clothing...and the list can go on and on..
Now I've been there to do my initial interview and paperwork but I had never interacted with the staff or the children one on one. Yesterday was the first day I was thrown into the mix.
The majority of the school population is African American, then the remaining kids are white or bi cultural. Stepping onto the playground I already knew that it was going to be a challenge to get these kids to warm up to me, this preppy looking white girl...
My supervisor and I walked through the sea of kids, along the way she points out the ones that I will more than likely see flowing through the program along with the ones that she thought would be good fits for me to have in my "one on one" program (which is basically low to high need counseling depending on the child) All of a sudden we hear a teacher scream out "we've got a runner!" It was a 7 year old boy that comes from the Receiving Home. He had jumped the fence and took off running from the school into the streets of south sac. With two male teachers running after him, and Jessica and I fallowing in a car, he was finally cornered and taken back to the school. This was my introduction to the school. lol
We return to our walk through the yard as if what just happened was a common occurrence. Jessica points out this one young girl, a 6th grader and we walk over. As we walked over to her my supervisor dropped a little of this girls history on me. She has been in and out of foster care, mother is very verbally abusive and often strung out, she was caught drinking last week in the school bathroom, very tough exterior, can be very aggressive and disrespectful (basically every thing you would expect from a child that doesnt have a stable supportive environment to go home to) My supervisor told her "I'd like you to meet someone, she'll be with us for the year and her name is Ms. Jenn" She just glared at me. I said "hi "Name" how's it goin. And with the biggest attitude imaginable and an extremely annoyed tone she said "hi" and stood there with her hands on her hips lookin all around except at me. Jessica my supervisor, walked away during this time to handle a issue on the yard. So I took the opportunity to try and work this girl a bit. She's one of the "shot callers" in the school, so my thought is if I can get her to open up a bit , I might have a chance with the others.(in theory)
So I ask her what she was planning on doing this weekend. It was silent for a minute but then she said "I don't know."It was obvious she did not want to be standing there talking to me. Not wanting to let it end at that I said "aww come on, you're not gonna hang out with friends or watch tv or anything like that?" She starts twisting her dirty white shirt then breaks the silence again by saying with an attitude "I've got a game tomorrow" further probing helped me to discover that she was a cheerleader in community sponsored league. They haveno real uniforms for them and the cheer instructor was just a parent trying to keep these girls out of trouble . Working this I asked her to show me a cheer, telling her there was no way I could do that because I was never coordinated enough to cheer ;-) It worked! She started to giggle and get all shy. I probed a little more and got her to show me some moves. I razzed her a bit saying "come on girl, I know you can do it with a little more attitude" She started swingin her hips, and clapping her hands, and before I knew it she was smiling and laughing.
For a brief moment I broke that girls shell. I saw her later that day when the buses came to take kids home. One her way out she swung by me and said "Bye Ms Jenn" Jessica looked at me with her eyes wide and mouth open and said "wow, she said bye to you one your first day!"
Now I'm not by any means going to expect that on a daily basis, but it left me feeling hopeful that I might be able to make a difference with some of these kids.
Through out the day as parents approached my supervisor I heard her ask "So where/how can I reach you next week" to talk about their child and the families needs for that week. SOOOO many times the response was " I dont know where we'll be next week" That was so hard for me to hear. So many of these kids are homeless or drifting from place to place. No wonder they're hardened and "behaviorally challenged."
When I got home I found it hard to not think about those kids and some of the situations they're in. I even had dreams about them. Thats definitely something I'm going to have to learn to control or it will drive me crazy.
I think a large percentage of my classmates would dread being in the placement that I have. By no means is it cushy or glamorous. I'm in a portable, in a tiny office of my own with bad air conditioning and an extremely challenging population to work with but I found myself walking away after my day was over feeling extremely grateful for being placed there. I know that I'm going to learn so much there and really feel that it is going to challenge and change me as a person. I feel that that environment is what social work is all about.
I'm sure there will be plenty of posts regarding my placement throughout the year ;-) I'm gonna need blogger support! lol