Cyber Vacation. Diane Le

The most significant and memorable aspect of my recent summer vacation was having the privilege of teaching a wonderful group of seventh and eighth graders with my extremely charismatic teaching partner, Mike. I taught at a summer program called Aim High. It is a non-profit organization that takes in students that are less fortunate than others. Every year, students come in from all different types of backgrounds and financial situations. Because we want everyone to have a fair chance, the program is absolutely free. This program is exceptionally dear to me because I was once a student there myself.

The subject was humanities. It is a subject I was never quite familiar with. From what I understand, it is combination of history and English. Luckily, my teaching partner teaches humanities to high school students for a living. Without his help, our classes would not have been as successful as it was. Being on the other side of the classroom environment was definitely a foreign feeling. Instead of sitting down all period, listening to someone lecture, I was up on my feet until the final class, conducting a lesson. This experience really helped me appreciate teachers more, and it made me realize how much I love working with younger kids. In addition, I’m actually considering studying education and getting a teaching credential after high school. However, I’m only keeping it as one of my options. Having the chance to interact with these students on a classroom level but also on a personal level made me realize how much of an impact teachers can have on these students.

Every Friday at Aim High, the whole program participates in what we call “Cultural Day” where students would share a personal artifact and bring in a cultural dish to share with the rest of the community. In addition, there would be specific activities that we do throughout the day that corresponds to the theme of that particular cultural day. For example, the first Friday, we did community service, the second Friday, we had dance and martial arts workshops, and the third Friday, we went on a Scavenger Hunt. There is always a feeling of satisfaction when the kids are excited and actively participating.

Another prominent feature of the program was that the ninth grade students had an Environmental week, where they would do habitat restoration and things of that sort. At the end of the week, they went on an overnight camping trip, which I got to participate in. Aside from enjoying my time with the ninth graders, I got to have precious hours away from city life. It was a treat to be away from my stressful life for a few hours.

Overall, it was an amazing, life-changing experience. At Aim High, we learn the true meaning of community, opportunity, respect, and high expectations and we hope that the students also grasp these values and carry it with them through life.