Gratitude for Service

Author: Madeline Milligan

With 2019 beginning, it is crazy for me to think that I will soon be done with my last semester at college.  Looking back, I’m really grateful that UNCSA has given me so many skills and tools throughout my four years here, including what it means to be a teacher through ArtistCorps. 

I started off by volunteering for ArtistCorps during my third year and fell in love with the work.  When I was available, I spent my mornings with pre-k students exposing them to phonetic sounds to later help with reading comprehension.  Waking up and getting to see such bright, shining faces that were excited to learn was rejuvenating to me. When Rebecca and Debby e-mailed me over the summer about interviewing for a part-time position, I immediately said yes.

Getting to make this experience a part of my senior year at school has been incredible.  It’s especially been interesting for me to be on the other side of the student-teacher relationship.  For most of my life, my identity has been a ‘student,’ but having the chance to teach these kids and discover that teaching is based on how the individual learns has been such a revelation to me.  I’ve really enjoyed getting to spend my time with these kids, and learn what they need and how to best set up a learning environment for them to succeed. 

A huge issue that my team has come across when working with our pre-k classes this semester is a language barrier.  Most of the kids we see are bilingual in Spanish and English, but for some of the kids, their Spanish is stronger than their English.   My team has had to find solutions for this, such as reaching out to volunteers who can come teach with us and translate the material. I’ve also found it helpful to brush up on my Spanish skills.  I took four years of Spanish in high school, and taking the time outside of class to work on phrases to better connect and understand these kids has made so much of a difference.

I am so grateful that working with these kids is one of my jobs.  I learn so much from them every day.  I’m happy to get to see that I can share what I was taught at school and have it be something that can support and uplift the community around me.  I hope that for my last semester at school and with ArtistCorps, that I may continue to grow as a person, student, teacher, and artist.