The most amazing experience I've had in a very long time, not only academically but also personally and spiritually. I had the chance to spend a semester in the resource room at St. Pius X High School with Ms. de Souza and it was really gratifying.
When I first thought about being part of the mentorship program, I wasn't too sure how it would work out and how I was going to fit in, but I can now say that I would do it all over again. I am very grateful to everyone that helped me through this amazing journey which has taught me so many things that will help me through my academic career. I learned a lot of things that can not be taught in a classroom and as a student going through classes it cannot be totally grasped by their perspective either. Sometimes as students, we don't understand what teachers do, and we think that they just want to screw us over, but this semester I learned that most of them look out for us and do what they think will be best for our future.
Being in a classroom from the perspective of a teacher is very different from what I have experience in my regular classes. I learned to be more patient to understand that standing in front of a classroom is not easy no matter how much you know the people that are listening to you or how well you know your subject. I learned to respect the person who is talking in front of a classroom because they really deserve all my respect. I am thankful to Ms. de Souza for teaching me how to be patient, flexible and to let go, she really helped me to be successful in this course, I enjoyed every single minute I spent by her side, because I never stopped learning.
I consider myself very lucky, throughout the semester I got to work one on one with some students that have difficulties in their classes. At the beginning, I wasn't keen about the idea, as I wasn't very patient or good at explaining, but as the weeks rolled by I started to really enjoy working with some of them. It was surprising to me how in just a few weeks I could be so concerned about their lives inside and outside school. The days before I had to leave, many of their classes were doing their CPT's and to be completely honest, the thing that concerned me the most was how they were going without my help and guidance.
The best advice I could give to any high school student is to take this class, you will not regret it! Many people think that it isn't very useful for a University bound student to take mentorship but I totally disagree. Every student should have the social aspect of humanity which you will experience in this class! This class will allow you to do more than just academics. As important as the academic part of school is, I firmly believe that a person can't get anywhere without this interpersonal skills. Being successful in this class takes a lot of effort, it is not a class in which you walk out after the period and can forget about it, you have to leave thinking about the conversations you just had, the problems your pupil just told you about, and how you can ease their way out of it the next day. Patience and perseverance are, in my opinion the most important qualities one has to have or be willing to work on to have an outstanding semester. To anyone taking this class in the future, don't forget to go out of your way to help anyone that needs it and have fun so everyone around you can have fun too.
