“Hey Ms., I finally got the answer right!” The joyful glint in a child’s eye when they feel a little smarter, a little more worth it, and just more accomplished within themselves, is absolutely an indescribable experience to partake in. At the Si Se Puede Learning Center, I get the opportunity almost daily to impact a child’s life in this manner. The center is an after school program dedicated to encouraging students to participate in more productive ways of life. Whether it us helping them with their homework, doing a science experiment with them, or even just playing tag at recess, I know the I am helping to keep these children from making destructive decisions.
As amazing as the center is, it has almost been a wake up call for me. While using the bathroom one day, I heard a couple of kids outside talking and speaking vulgarities. As I listened to their free spirited ignorance ringing throughout the hall, outside the bathroom door, I had what I call, my epiphany on the potty. These five to ten year olds use vocabulary way beyond their comprehension and maturity. At first I was appalled and sickened to hear children talk like that; I was about ready to go and yell at them. Then, it dawned on me, these, still immensely young, children do not sense the wrong in their language because of how society is today. It use to be that a child’s behind would have been whooped for even thinking a bad word, but now, fifty years later, it is completely acceptable to cuss like a sailor.
At first I volunteered just because I needed the hours, however, now I have actually purpose to it. My goal is to help instill morals into children again. Children need to have morals they believe in, even when there is not an adult in the room, morals that will help sculpt these precious childrens’ minds into ones that will one day help society rather than hinder it. It is absolutely heart wrenching to witness a child’s mind being corrupted in a daily basis. My only comfort is that the kindergartners still tattle tale when a fellow classmate exclaims, “Shut up!” It is my passion to volunteer at the center because I know I am working towards a cause. And it is one of the most important causes, children keeping their innocence, so they will never feel embarrassed to say, “Yeah! I got the answer right!”