Collaboration To Jumpstart Young Children's Success

        One of my key learning experiences was being a corps member in a program called Jumpstart. This is a program where college students work with preschoolers from low-income families in order to provide them with a head start. I worked within a five-person group and we were assigned a preschool for the year where we would be teaching twice a week. This experience was very valuable to me as I got to see the changes I truly made in the children’s lives and accomplish all my goals. All around it made the kids happy and relaxed to see us come into the classroom to teach and at the same time I was getting them caught up and ready for kindergarten.

       One of my biggest passions is getting every single child the education they deserve. This work brought me such joy knowing that I was helping my preschoolers get to a level in their education that would keep them on top of their kindergarten class. Last year my group had trouble working with our two preschool teachers that were in the classroom. The teachers had different teaching styles and had issues working with the children. Through the use of facilitation, my group stepped in and did the best we could to balance out these issues and work with everyone on them in order to provide the best educationally stimulating environment for the children. It really fueled me to provide the absolute best.

Tasks Accomplished:

• Served 600+ hours as an AmeriCorps member in an award-winning network of volunteers who provide individualized attention and positive adult-child relationships to prepare children attending preschool in low-income neighborhoods for school success.

• Collaborated with two teams and worked with 40+ preschoolers to increase adult support in the learning environment.

• Managed project deadlines and monitored milestones through weekly meetings.

• Implemented early childhood curriculum, supported family involvement, promoted children’s language and literacy skills through ongoing relationships

       I gained the leadership competency of self-development. As a leader I am always learning and engaging in self-development opportunities. I have benefited others and myself with being in Jumpstart. I learned how to engage a room of people with various ages and talk to people with all types of backgrounds. I started this program my freshman year and it has since then shaped the person I am. Someone that looks at how something I do can affect others and in what ways makes that the most positive impact.

       I received the chance to work with two dynamic groups over the course of two years as well as three different preschools and created productive relationships in this way. We conducted two weekly meetings and kept in touch all week to keep every separate week organized. Productive relationships had to be made in order to keep things running smoothly. I organized members and implemented different tasks when it came to organizing events. This all went well because of the relationships I had formed with my members and the faculty at the preschools.

Through Jumpstart I earned the leadership competency of nonverbal communication. I of course communicated with my preschoolers verbally but sometimes the students do not exactly know what I am saying unless I use some form of facial expressions and gestures. This helped me to become a better communicator in the classroom with the preschoolers and my own team members. This is an important leadership competency as it helped me build a stronger relationship overall with my students as they could more effectively understand me.  

     This experience overall has made me come out of my shell and put me in a place to better help out my own community. I want to continue helping out my community as much as I can. Whether it be working for a non-profit or reading to children every week. I hope to keep making personal contributions, developing as I look towards my career and to continue building dynamic relationships where I can feel comfortable putting out my full potential. This experience has taught me to pour my heart out in order to get the best result. If I feel passionate about something, I will be highly successful pursuing it since I will put in overtime no matter how long it takes.