This has at once been the hardest and longest and best and quickest year of my life. I've been struggling to come up with words adequate to express what this year has taught me, but I can only say that it has been invaluable to my future career as a teacher. I'm so thankful that I postponed teaching full time for a year to come to San Antonio and give a year of my life to this very important service.
Corps members' roles are much different than teachers' in that we focus on a small number of students to tutor and coach. I tutored 9 students individually in reading and writing, and coached ~15 in behavior and attendance. As a result of the relatively small number, my relationships with these students were so different than a teacher's would be. I had time to know each of them personally and learn their strengths and weakenesses and see what is beautiful and ugly about each of them. I fell in love with all of them individually and I will remember each of them and cherish the time we spent together, even the time spent saying, "WILL YOU JUST PLEASE STOP PUTTING HIM IN A HEADLOCK?!?"
As I move on from my City Year, I strongly encourage you to learn more about the program and apply if you are eligible. It's the most important work I've ever done.
