I went to Robert Asp this past Thursday for my last day. We had a game day since it was the last day of the semester that we would be there. They asked me to come back again next semester but I am unable to due to basketball. I am thinking about doing it again next year because I had a lot of fun with the girls. It felt good to teach them things about different cultures, races and people in general. Every day it seemed to tie in with something that we were talking about in Principia, and it was cool to see those connections.

Today I am writing from two weeks ago when I went to Robert Asp. I forgot to enter a journal from that day. We finished up on our talk about blacks and whites. We went over predjudice, bias and racist again. We then kind of had a fun day making collages. The girls went through magazines and picked out words and pictures that best described them and glued them all onto a sheet of paper. I also made one and it was actually a lot of fun. This again tied in with our class discussion because we are still talking about racism and white privledge.

On Thursday I was back at Robert Asp for my Empowerment for Girls group. It was a great day and the girls behaved probably the best I have seen them all year. It was kind of interesting because their topic on Thursday was black and white. They did different activities referring to black and white. It was kind of weird since we are talking about that in Principia class. They don't come out and say that they are teaching social justice, but when I look at the things the girls are learning, it can be referred to as social justice. It's really neat that the girls are getting familiar with this topic at such a young age. It's good that they are aware of the problems that are out there between different cultures. They were shown the words...bias, predjudice and racism. They were to first define the words as to what they thought they were and then we talked about the real definition. It was a good day, and it was kind of cool to see how much it related to our class time!

October 28:
Today we were back at Robert Asp over a week break, due to Mid-Sem break. Things are continuing to get better and better every time we go. We really push the respect policy with the girls at the beginning of each time we meet. I work with three other girls that are also from Concordia. The things we do each day are planned for us from the YWCA Girls Empowerment leaders, Kristen and Natasha who are usually with us every week too at Robert Asp. On Thursdsay our topic was to get the girls to realize different cultures and how people are different all over the world. Some of the activities we did were hard for them to understand, but I think they got something out of it. It was a good day!

Today the girls were a lot better then last week at Robert Asp Elementary. Before we got started with our activities, Kristen, who is in charge of the YWCA program, came in and talked to the girls about being respectful and that if they didn't stop things would be taken to the next level and their parents would be called. The talk helped a lot at the beginning of our time period, but then the girls got really talkative when they wern't suppose to be. They once again, lost all three stars so they didn't receive their prizes at the end of the day. Our topic today was stereotyping people and what it is. Overall though, they did a better job.

Today was an interesting day at Robert Asp. The girls were very hyper and dis-respectful. They lost all three of their stars so they didn't get prizes at the end. The topic today was relationships. We discussed what a good healthy friendship was and what an unhealthy friendship was. They got in groups and acted out scenerios of being a good and a bad friend. It was hard to keep their attention but I assumed that not every week would be perfect. Hopefully next week they are more respectful.

Thursday, September 29th was my second time being at Robert Asp with the Empowerment for Girls group. I am pleased to say that on Thursday it was a much better day then last week. They were a lot more respectful towards the mentors and the kept all three of their stars so they got to draw for prizes at the end of class. The topic of the day was self-image and what a good self image was versus a bad self image. The girls looked through magazines and cut out what they thought were good body images and negative body images. We also went through facts and myths about the body. They learned that a "good" body image isn't always being skinny, it's a good body image if you feel good about yourself. It was a much better day, and I am really enjoying working with the girls.

Thursday September 22nd, was my first day and Robert Asp Elementary School. I am a mentor for about twenty girls with self esteem issues. The first day was exciting. I didn't know what to expect since I had never done something like this before. It was interesting to see the different types of girls that were in the classroom at the same time. The girls were very hyper and talkative. They use a 'three star' game type of thing where they start with three stars and everytime they break a rule a star gets taken away. When all three stars are gone they don't receive a prize at the end of the day. On Thursday all three stars were taken away. It was important to set boundaries so they know what we expect out of them and that we aren't joking around. I am very excited for this service project, I think it will be very interesting, fun and rewarding.