#7 Mushfake

My Students!
(some future Aztecs in there)

Co-Workers 

My Mini Minion 

Here are some pictures of my students as well as last years halloween! We held a big party of the students and their parents at the school site. Which these pictures are very fitting since it is currently October!! yaaaaaaayyyyyy. We all had a blast!

Last year while working at the bakery, I applied for a job at the YMCA. The position I applied for was to be a Youth Leader for the after school program. I knew I wanted to be a teacher and I thought this job would be an amazing opportunity for me. I knew this job would be difficult but I wanted to take on the challenge. So after my college classes Monday-Friday I spent my time working with my students. The most tiring job i ever had.

Let me tell you...I was MAJOR mushfake at first. I had zero zero zerooo idea what the hell I was doing. I had some tools to help me on my first day. Like the lanyard you see in the picture with the yellow cards. Those cards had some attention getters, games, and songs. But I only knew a few.

The first day on the job they put me with 15 students all by myself. I was absolutely terrified. Although all of the youth leaders had a schedule to follow, I still was confused on what to even do. There was craft time...I did not have a craft set up. There was something called a co-op game but I had zero idea what that was at the time. So instead, my first day consisted of getting the students in a circle and doing an ice breaker to get to know them. I know they saw right past me and knew I was scared out of my mind. I did try my best to fake it but this job had a lot of responsibility. I have babysat 4 kids at one time and that was tough. 15 all to myself was just crazy. I did head counts every 5 minutes!! I was constantly terrified I would lose one of them.

As the weeks progressed, I started to become less of a mushfake and more of a real Youth Leader. I learned every song, knew all the co-op games, and attention getters while even making some up on my own. The attention getter I used all the time was "When I say Hey!, you say Ms. Allie". The kiddos loved that one. Out of all the youth leaders at the school I worked at, I was the one who sang the most. My kids and I were constantly singing and dancing. We had a lot of fun.

My students and I really started to bond as the school year went by. I started to become majorly attached to them. I felt like they were more than just my students but like my family. When a student was sad and upset it just broke my heart to see. Most of my students would come up to me and thank me for being their role model. I would just want to cry tears of joy when they would say that to me. The more my students and I bonded , the better and better I got at my job.

I mean we had some challenging days but overall great times. I found my identity kit.
 Unfortunately, this job was really difficult to balance with school so I had to say goodbye. I think about my students often and find myself missing them.

So yes I was a mushfake...but somewhere along the line I became real. I took on the identity as a youth leader and ran with it.

Xoxo,
Allison Starr