History Program Blothpick

I'm back from working in VA, and am now experiencing some blothpick. What am I missing about this program? Not supervising a dozen college age RA's, that's for sure. Some of them were great, while others had a proclivity for ignoring instructions they didn't feel like following. This created a bit of tension and unpleasantness after I had to speak to the program director, who had to speak to certain uncooperative individuals. So I'm not looking with nostalgia upon having to move my Iron Fist against some college students. What is hard is being removed from some really cool high schoolers.

You see, in case you didn't know, I love high school students. Why else would I have chosen a career as a teacher? It's not that I have always loved teenagers. But somehow God is really good at qualifying you for what He calls you to do. In my case, the calling is teaching high school. Since He knew it wouldn't work well to have me among students for hours on end if I could only pretend to like teenagers, He has given me what might be considered an extraordinary amount of--certainly unnatural--love for those lost souls in the young adult category. Some are definitely harder to love than others. But I feel like I've been blessed with a measure of grace that has allowed me to see teenagers a little bit like God does.

Anyway, I digress. With this love in mind, it might make more sense why I feel free to describe
some of the following students as I do. Although there were 62 in our care, some of them stand out more than others. I will not use their names in the interest of confidentiality.

First there was J. J reminds me of Lindsay a little. (You can pick and choose which of the following characteristics they both have.) J has dirty blond hair, and is very friendly. She cracks me up with her intensity and flightiness, sometimes displaying both at the same time. She told me she was from PA, near Philly, but she couldn't tell me for sure in which direction from Philly she lived. I think that's hilarious. J thought she lived to the southwest of the city, but corrected herself to me later after consulting with an RA who is from Philly. J is actually from northwest of Philly. She is also brilliant, although in a flighty sort of way. She puts off doing her work to socialize, then drinks caffeine around midnight or so so she can get her work done without falling asleep. She just finished her sophomore year in high school, and agonizes over having scored "only a 4" on her AP Euro exam. She explained her elaborate note taking process to me, which includes highlighting in about six different colors according to type of info. She took AP Bio as a freshman. Next year she is taking five AP courses. She wants to be a pediatrician, and thinks she'll live in the Midwest because they get paid a little more out there. But she doesn't come off as greedy. She wants to donate her time as a doctor to needy children in other parts of the world, but thinks her parents won't be happy with the idea after putting her through eight years of college.

Ok, being a little less descriptive. There's also H. She is a huge Red Sox fan from MA. She is also going into her junior year. She was often around with a guyfriend she made quite quickly. Both of them hung out a lot with a couple of other guys who seemed quite content with not doing a lot of work. But I think H usually did her work anyway, despite their influence. Also a blond, she suggested to me at the end of the program that she should hang out with me sometime in the town where I teach, since we're so close geographically. "Yeah sure H, just give me a ring. I chill all the time with high schoolers." Fortunately she doesn't have my cell number, so even if I had said this there's little chance of it happening...

Then there's Milwaukee, or Beast as some came to affectionately call him. A short, spectacled boy who looks like he's in 8th grade, he won the hearts of about half the ladies in the program, including the RA's. He's actually going to be a senior. The last night he blew everyone away with his beautiful tenor voice in a rendition of Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory, which he sang with three other guys. (So DJ, there's hope for you. All you have to do is work on that tenor voice.)

Then there is T-Bone. Dark hair, medium height, not obese, but shows signs of retaining a little baby fat. A Yankees fan from NJ, his accent and pleasant demeanor was enough to grant him a temporary reprieve for his iniquity regarding choice of team. One night he and a couple of other students cooked their own dinner, then allowed us RA's to have the leftovers. They made meatsauce from scratch! Quite impressive. His culinary ability and subsequent generosity also helped to mitigate tensions that might otherwise arisen over baseball issues.

D is from upstate NY, in the Albany area. Has brown hair, which she usually wore in two braids. Wore a hat with the college name on it which she's giving to her boyfriend at home, but was "breaking it in" first. D attempted to teach me to dance a series of steps to some sort of country music song. Given my two left feet, her attempts were only somewhat successful. But she seemed to appreciate my demonstration of dancing a hornpipe. (And many of the students loved it when I danced the Shipoopi for them.) D won my approval for liking Les Mis music, and allowing me to listen to some of it on her ipod during a van trip.

G is from Richmond, but she's entering her fourth and senior year at a boarding school in NJ. Intelligent and pleasant, her vocabulary far surpasses what I knew at her age, if not now! Uses words like "docent" and "evince" in her writing. Despite what I'm sure is a great education she's getting, I feel sorry for her. Can't imagine living away from parents during those formative years, not getting to develop a relationship with them in the same way as being at home...

Ox is from SC, but goes to an all boys boarding school in TN. An excellent story teller, he is always ready to spin some sort of tale about his experiences, and make it sound funny. Uses his hands and sometimes his whole body to talk. Has some sort of speech impediment I think, which keeps him from pronouncing his r's. Doesn't quite sound like a Bostonian, however. Rather than the "paahk" Bostonians say instead of "park," Ox pronounces it more like "pawk." His enthusiasm and utter lack of self-conciousness over how he sounds endears him to me, though I can't help but smiling inwardly on occasion as he talks.

I could go on for awhile, but you get the idea. As head RA--and Iron Fist--I was able to have quality interaction with a lot of students. I'll miss them.