School Days

Hey everyone! School is officially back in session for me. Every spring and fall I volunteer for Junior Achievement, an organization my company supports. Basically I go to a class and teach a series of courses on community, money, government and businesses. This semester I'm back at Louisville Elementary in Mrs. Beitzel's second grade class. I've worked with this teacher once before a couple of years ago and she was by far the best, so I was happy to get this assignment. Sometimes the teachers don't show up at all, so it's like you're a full on substitute, or sometimes they'll just ignore you entirely and let the class go wild. Not Mrs. Beitzel - she's right there the whole time and her class is soooo well behaved. Last year I taught the gifted class or 5th and 6th graders. It was a special course that involved making, marketing and selling these utterly hideous animal-themed foam picture frames. I still have nightmares from all the glue. At the end of the course though, we actually sold out of frames during our lunchtime sale ($.50/frame). They decided to give all the money - $26 or so - to the tsunami relief fund. How sweet is that?

Yesterday was the second class of My Community - the course for second graders. We learned all about production - unit versus assembly line. This involved four teams making paper donuts, two with unit production and two with assembly line. Unit always wins this exercise but it's fun to see how excited they get. At the end of the class I surprised them with real donuts and basically got to feel like a hero. Bribery definitely works with 7 year olds. At least when you just see them an hour a week.

One of my favorite questions for the kids is what they want to be when they grow up. I ask this during the first class. The responses inevitably crack me up. This year's standouts were a ninja, a director, a zookeeper, a stuntman, a doctor - because they make lots of money, and a famous singer/art teacher (it's good to have a backup plan). I always have a few boys that want to be in the military. One year I got responses for every branch of the military, including the Coast Guard. Not sure how much of a need there is for that in Colorado, but...... Other favorite occupations for the boys include video game makers, firemen, policemen and bankers - I guess Monopoly has its impact after all. The girls almost all want veterinarians (or veteritarians as Lexie told me this year), teachers or movie/rock stars.

Anyway, Junior Achievement is a great organization. A lot of fun and a good way to break up the work week, so check it out if your company partners with them. There's nothing like 25 7 year olds to liven up your day. And by the end of the course they are so enamored with your presence that you get lots of hugs. How often does that happen at work?

-sunday