"Hello Jumpstart! It's time for us to start!"
Coming in as a first-year, I didn't really comprehend the true hold Jumpstart would command over my life. Jumpstart, for the uninitiated, is an Americorps program where you complete 300 hours of service in a under-resourced preschool classroom with a team of 3-5 of your closest random acquaintances. It looks good on paper, and it feels even better in person. You go in, offer some fun Pinterest welcome activities to teach your partner kiddos their name, read some books with excruciatingly specific vocabulary, sing your favorite camp songs, and lead some glorious ridiculousness in Dramatic Play. Along with the preschool territory, there are a couple things that only those who wear the red shirts understand.
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1) Sticky notes. Everywhere.
In the shoes. In the backpack. Falling out of my hair. Sticky notes are everywhere. I've had them fall out into the shower, be stuck on the bottom of my shoe, and have had them flutter slowly to the floor during the middle of an important Human Growth and Development presentation. They invade your private spaces and multiply profusely, until all you can see is sticky notes with words from "snarl" to "pistachio" when you close your eyes.
2) Your Team Leader is your second mother
There aren't enough words in the world to describe how thankful I am for my team leader. She's done everything for me: from picking up my pieces when I've had a rough Read to Reconstruct to teaching me what it means to be a leader, both in the classroom and at our college. She's a cheerleader, best friend, mother, role model, coach, personified warm chocolate chip cookies, all rolled into one. Although my relationship with my TL may be excessively grand, I think we can all relate to having our TLs nag us about eating enough and getting enough sleep and not dating that douchey guy we found on Tinder. Without my TL, I definitely would've drowned in the vast ocean that is both Jumpstart and college.
3) Your friends will get annoyed at all the children's songs you sing
I can't count the number of times I've busted out with "Apples and Bananas" or "Five Green and Speckled Frogs". I think I've been banned from most family gatherings due to my incessant tendency to break out into song whenever an opportunity presents itself. Really, my vast repertoire of songs can conquer any situation. Give me a word, and I'll have a Jumpstart song for it.
4) Time sheets are either your best friend or your worst enemy
Personally, I have a deep passion for time management, but I understand the stigma around timesheets. They're very nit-picky, and if you accidentally list team planning not under Other Service, you're in for an earful. However, I adore watching my hours build up, and seeing the weekly hours needed to complete service dwindle. Unless I didn't really do much that week. Then, I submit my timesheet with a smidge of shame. It happens to the best of us.
5) There is nothing better than the kids tackling you at the end of session
No matter how many tears are shed, Welcomes ripped, Art projects destroyed, or hands bitten, the kids will attack you at the end of session. And even if Read was a hot mess and your classroom management was lacking during Sharing and Goodbye, your kids will still love you. That's the warmest, most chocolate chip-y feeling in the world, knowing that you've impacted these kids in such a positive way.
Hug your partner children a little tighter next session. We only have a few more weeks to go.
