Getting In Touch With My Kid Side
Since I have been involved with Hackstudio it has given me insight into values of life and has expanded my perception of personal fulfilment. Through my experiences with both dod’s I have accomplished, I have further discovered myself and completely owe it to Hackstudio for guiding me through this journey. As I continue to be a part of this community I realize that I am ready to give back and act as a greater source of support for other participants. I intend to take on the role of a mentor and increase my engagement with the community around me. My relationship with kids has never been very strong and I am hoping to break the barriers that have detoured me from connecting with them. The ability to become more personable with kids will enhance future interactions and ultimately will uncover a part of myself that to date has been kept suppressed. Over the summer I will be working as a sailing instructor and the skills I intend to acquire will help me better communicate with the campers and allow me to establish more meaningful relationships with them. Beyond that I hope to continue making a genuine impact on kids and act as leading figure for them to follow.
Without any thought I chose a group to join and began connecting with a few middle school students in an effort to gain deeper relations with them. I spoke with Tyler, Sam, Aiden and Jayden, all of which I made meaningful connections with. Aiden was working on an advanced tic-tac-toe board game which was interesting because just recently I had thought about different ways to make the game more exciting and was able to give him a few ideas I had. Jayden was making a portfolio for photos of her modeling, I also learned that she enjoyed painting, drawing and sewing too. Throughout the whole time I was there I primarily talked to Tyler and Sam, Tyler was in the process of working on a comic book and Sam was practicing drawing through developing his skills in drawing buildings. As someone who used to enjoy making short comics and enjoys to draw I was able to relate well with both of them about their projects. After about fifteen minutes of talking with them, I could feel a barrier lifted and we all began talking not as a high schooler and fifth graders but as three people simply fascinated in what the next person had to say. In that moment I was able to tap into a younger me, it was really freeing and allowed me to step down on to their level, further breaking any tension that stood between us. We talked about school, people, and shared our opinions about various thoughts and ideas. It was a very engaging and meaningful experience, one that I was not only able to learn more about them but also a lot about myself.