Friday was an amazing day, so amazing in fact that I could not bring myself to miss any second of the time I had left, even to write this blog. But now I have had a day to reflect and there is a lot I’d like to say. First off I would like to talk about our final day. With the excitement of parent pride night still fresh in our minds we all started off the day excited. Especially to congratulate the students on what a terrific job they did. All of them were really excited to hear this and started the day off on a very positive note. After the initial interaction with the students I spent the majority of the morning of my morning preparing for the AP psychology class that me and Bridget had been given the opportunity to teach. At first I was really nervous about how it would go but the teacher was extremely understanding and helpful. Because of his guidance and support and the confidence I had in Bridget my nervousness soon turned into excitement.
When the time to teach finally arrived, we were lucky enough to have an attentive and engaged class. I believe that this truly was a testament to what a great atmosphere KIPP provides, and I really appreciated. It made teaching a great and rewarding experience for me even thought it was a lot of work. It also gave me a whole new respect and appreciation for all my teachers and the hard work and dedication that was required of them. I spent the little bit of the day remaining interacting with the middle school students. We played fun team-building games with them such as a toilet paper fashion show. I could not have asked for a better end to the day. Once again I left KIPP feeling impressed with the student’s effort and cooperation.
For our last night we did a few special activities including going out to a nice dinner and having a paper plate award ceremony. Dinner was filled with lots of laughter, great conversation, and delicious food, and we even got to spend a few extra hours with some of the amazing KIPP staff. The paper plate awards were a very emotional time and really made me appreciate my fellow terps and recognized how great each and every one of them is. They all had such thoughtful things to say about one another, and it was obvious that they put a lot of effort into making their paper plates special. The rest of the night was spent reflecting on our week, and having one last game night (one of our favorite night time activities).
Overall this trip was an incredible experience to me that is very ha to explain and understand if you were not there first hand. I love my team members, the school was great, and the teachers and students were inspirational. I cannot think of a better way I could have spent the last 10 days of my winter break, and would recommend and AWB trip to anyone who asks.

-Kelly