Tales from a High School Sophomore

Today, I found myself again in the Community Based Learning class, and it was a great improvement over weeks past. I originally tended to be a bit more reserved in interacting with others in that class, finding myself as more of a passive observer than an active participant. This changed in the week previous, as I was able to use my skills to assist students in forming their own blogs, and making edits to their work. Again, I found myself doing this kind of work, and it was nice to be able to dive right back into it. The students seem to be very comfortable with my presence, which is nice, as I have only been able to visit a few times, and have wondered if I have made any sort of impact.
Again, I was not only able to complete this task, but connect with students as well. Especially one student, who was busy scraping her nail polish design off of her phone case(the students at Winooski are allowed to have their phones in class), and I asked her if she had designed it herself. That opened up a whole discussion, where she told me about her habit of taking clothing and turning it into something else, such as turning a pair of jeans into a purse. Every time I would have no one to work with, she would come up with some other thing to tell me, like her trick or treating habits, how much she hates basketball, and how she knows she will be friends with someone if she initially hates them(which is related to her hatred of basketball). This girl is very funny, and I greatly enjoyed my conversations with her, even if they were not the most topical.
Afterwards, I was talking to one of the teachers of the class about my experience, and I highlighted my conversation with the girl. He was impressed that she was so congenial in our discussion, as though she normally is very outgoing, she had been having a tough day and was not in a good mood at the beginning of class. This was strange for me to hear, as I had no idea that she was feeling bad before. It is possible that other factors caused her to be in a better mood, but I like to think that I at least played some part. It is nice to know that even just one conversation can change around a person's entire day, and to know that I have the power to do that is a wonderful bit of knowledge.