10/20/2017

A lot of opportunities come along when you least expected them. Sometimes, that’s how you find some of your best experiences. That is how I found an outreach opportunity where we got to spend time with kids through K12 in a community library. I found this outreach opportunity, while reading through a list of outreach activities that my STEM EE Scholars program offered us. As soon as I found it I emailed the person in charge. I knew at the second that she replied to me, that I had made a good decision in going to the activity.  I didn’t exactly know who were the other students who were going to be part of the library team. What I had known was that other three students were coming, and the organizer of the outreach, Betty Lise Anderson, was going to give us a ride to the library. Even though I was scared of not knowing anyone, I trusted my courage and passion for the activity, and went on forward deciding to give my best.

The first part of my experience started when I was searching for the place where we were, meeting to leave for the library. The meeting place was under “Dreese Laboratory”, the basements. It was the electronics lab. While I was walking to it, I passed by various labs located in the basement. My curiosity increased by a million, and it made me want to know what they did in the labs, and how I could be part of them if they did interest me. Every sign I passed, I read intensely, until I reached the electronics lab. There each of us met. We were three girls, the teacher (Betty), and a boy. On our way to the library, we got to know each other, and broke our comfort zone, in order to be able to be more comfortable with each other. We learned that each of us had very different goals. Like for example, some wanted to go into medical school,others wanted to be engineers, etc. But what we learned during the activity was that, because each of us had different goals, we each had different important qualities in order to be able to do the activity the most fun with the kids. When we got to the library, I finally noticed the name, “Parsons Branch Library”. There we went inside an activity room, and we prepared to show the kids that were in the library, a stem-based experiment. The experiment was an electrical engineering one. I had never seen it before, but I was super excited to show it to the kids. It was such a cool way to show how if current passes through a coil, it transforms it into a magnet. The experiment is known as the “Jumping Jack”. When each of us had learned how the experiments worked, and how to explain it to each kid, the k12 children in the library entered. However not everyone of them entered at first, and at that moment, one of us spontaneously showed us a new side and amazing qualities. He got so excited and started to cheer the kids into the room. His passion showed through his voice and face. He transmitted a new experience into us, and with those actions, showed us to not be scared of showing what we loved and our passion. Like that, each of us started encouraging the kids, and we began showing the k12 kids the experiment. By the end of the experiment, every single one of the kids, that ranged from second grade to even a college kid, was having fun with their “jumping jacks”!. If you looked at some of them, their eyes shined because of how happy they were, that they had made something so cool. Some of them went to show their friends playing in the computer, and then their friends came and did the experiment too. Others made another to give to their parents. They enjoyed it so much, that curiosity sparks arouse, and they started asking us different questions. The questions ranged from how it worked, what we were studying, or some of them even wanted to explain to us how they thought the experiment worked. At the end of the experiment, we allowed all of them to take the experiment they made home, and that made them even more happy. That feeling is what let me know, that this was going to be remembered as one of the best unforeseen experiences in my life.

I took so many things from this experience, that I can’t mention them all in just this artifact. But I can mention a few. I learned that in order to face a situation, we might not all be the same, but those differences are what allow us to all work together to accomplish a common goal. Second, even though we might have done a small activity or experiment with these kids, the way they were because of that is worth doing a million more like that. Because even the smallest acts of kindness can change the life of someone forever. Third, in order to teach the experiment to the kids (k12), we had to think in a different way in which the experiment would be easier to understand.  In other words, thinking in other perspectives (point of views) sometimes can make you learn something. Lastly, I learned that I don’t have to be scared of showing how passionate or happy I am about something, because sometimes that exact thing that I am scared of doing, can encourage others.

This unexpected experience led me to meet new friends and amazing children that inspire me. I even made a promise to a little girl. I promised her, and the other children, that we would be back next month. With that, a smile stayed on their faces, and we left back to campus, talking about new ideas we had in mind for them, and what the future hold for many other opportunities. So I say this to everyone, “When you least expect it, you will be met with an inspiring experience. And you will be so inspired, that you will want to fly”.

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