826 Boston Reflection

     To be honest, when I registered for First-Year Writing with Professor Stockman, I had no idea it was a service learning course, but I was eager and excited to start tutoring. In high school, I spent a lot of my time serving the community in any way possible. My weekends were full of garage sales, car washes, fundraisers, and more. I was also a part of the National Honor Society chapter of my high school. Our chapter had a tutoring system set up and all members were required to tutor once a week for an hour either after school, before school, or during a free period. When I got to college, my involvement in the community came to a halt. I wanted to take my first year to make sure I was happily acclimated academically, socially, and mentally. So, service learning was a great way to jump back into doing service work.

     My first time tutoring was a blast. The staff at 826 Boston was incredibly nice and welcoming. Immediately, the environment felt familiar and right. I met two colorful personalities my first time at 826. Their names were Marcio and Sharmarki. Sharmarki was very open to my help, asking for assistance with his math homework when he needed it. He also loved to talk, and especially to me. He found me interesting and was asking me question after question about my life. To be honest, Marcio was a little bit of a trouble maker. All he wanted to talk about at first was Fortnite and the re-release of the Jordan Concord 11's, which were a pair of shoes he really wanted. He also wanted to print out a picture of the silhouette for the shoes so he could color them in. So, we made a deal with Marcio. During writing time, he had to come up with a story surrounding the shoes, and if he finishes, we would print out a picture of the shoes for him to color in. Sure enough, Marcio started writing his story. He would ask me to read it over, and give him feedback, so that's what I did. He showed his story to Karen, she liked it, and Marcio went home with a printout of his favorite shoes.

     Since that day, every time Marcio or Sharmarki see me, they come over and say hello. Although it was only a day, I feel like I formed a bond with them which was important to me. I want the kids that I tutor to not just view me as a tutor, but as a friend, and a mentor. I feel as though that's the bond that I formed with Marcio and Sharmarki. All in all, although I did not get to commit as much time to 826 as I would have likes due to person reasons, I loved my experience.