New Friends

Over the past few days volunteering at the elementary school, I met a wonderful little girl, Jennifer. My after school group was assigned to help out with the kindergarten class. However, Jennifer was in second grade. She was in the classroom because she was helping out her grandmother, Miss. Cruz. The first day I decided to help her with her homework. After that we just clicked. For the next three days volunteering in the classroom we were side by side. Everyday we were so excited to see each other. We drew pictures for each other, I helped her with her homework, and she even helped me with my Spanish.  One of the drawings she drew for me said, BFF (Best Friends forever). I am so impressed with myself of how much I impacted her life. On the last day she was so upset that I was leaving. When we were saying our goodbyes, she fake cried, but then when her mom came to pick her up she burst out in tears. Her mom said, “¿Que pasó? (What happened?), “ and Jennifer responded with “She’s leaving.” Her grandmother came up to me on the last day and told me that the night before Jennifer was crying to her mother asking her if she could have my phone number. So I gave her my phone number and email address and I got her home address. Hopefully we can keep in touch because she made my week tens times better and I won’t forget the powerful impact I had on her and all of the other kids.  

~Fran Wanetick