Today is one of the first days of lasts for me. Today is the last day I’ll be going to the after school program I participate in Chinatown. You’ve heard me mention it before and you’ve seen the adorable photos of my students. I thought today would be a great day to tell you a little more about the program to give you a taste of a possible volunteer opportunity at Wellesley.
The program, Chinatown Afterschool, is a joint community service teaching program between Harvard and Wellesley. It was organized by the Philips Brooks House Association of Harvard which is a philanthropic organization that offers volunteer programs to the Harvard community and several to the Wellesley community as well. The program itself runs Monday through Thursday from 4-6pm at the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, CCBA for short, which is located in Boston’s Chinatown.
A typical day at Chinatown Afterschool goes a little something like this: at 2:45 I load up a minivan or zip car with Wellesley counselors and we drive to Boston which usually takes 30-45 minutes depending on traffic. We blast the radio or sleep (except for me of course) on the way in. Program starts at 3:45 pm. I personally teach kindergarten this year, but kindergarten through 5th grade is offered at the program. For the first hour of program we work on homework with the kids. We act as an important resource for the students because many of their parents do not speak English so if they have a question on their homework, it’s up to us to try to help them. After an hour of homework time we switch to project time. During project time the counselors plan an enriching project that goes along with a particular theme. For example, the theme for the week might be the ocean or animals. Projects can be informational, crafts, games, anything that will engage the students and teach them something new. The parents come to pick up their kids at 6 and the Wellesley counselors pile back into the van (and sometimes stop for bubble tea) to make it back to Wellesley by 7pm.
So why did I join Chinatown Afterschool? During my first year I was weary about getting involved in too many activities on campus. At the end of the year, however, I realized that something was missing from my life. I’d always been involved in volunteer activities back at home but I hadn’t yet gotten involved in anything similar here. One of the girls who lived on my hall had been raving about this after school program she taught in Chinatown. I looked into it a bit more, applied and was accepted. It was a great decision for me because I got to get off campus at least once a week and explore a new part of Boston, I made friends from both Wellesley and Harvard, I was able to explore the career field of teaching and I participated in an activity that made me feel like I was giving back a little. Some of my favorite memories from the program have been the field trips that we’ve taken the kids on. We take them iceskating once a year and last year we took our second grade class to the Boston Children’s Museum where I think I might have had more fun than the kids! This is only one of the many Wellesley organizations that you can get involved in. There are so many other teaching oriented, community service organizations or interest organizations to get involved in too.
And now for my place of the week: We will be continuing with our series on the lake at Wellesley. This week’s set of photos include some shots from the forest and the lake from the trail that goes around the lake.