An Everlasting Lesson by Ileana

An Everlasting Lesson by Ileana - May 2018 Scholarship Essay

I remember when my mother told me to volunteer for vacation bible school at our local church. I thought it would be a waste of my time, I didn’t know then that volunteering there would be one of the best parts of my summer. Volunteering to be a teacher was a new experience for me and I’m glad that I took the opportunity.
The first things we did was similar to an actual school. The other volunteers and I each got an assigned subject to teach and we would then come up with our own curriculum. Next was going to church days before the event actually started, to decorate our classes to the theme, which was Mount Everest. I got assigned to be the arts and crafts teacher so I wanted to show a creative and fun class, I enjoyed decorating and ended up getting excited to see the kid’s reactions.
Once the event started I became so nervous, but the kids were all well behaved and so sweet that the nerves went away. Plus seeing their faces when they entered my class gave me a bit of pride and it encouraged me to be a really good teacher. I had a lot of fun crafting with the kids and even though it was only the first day, I felt like an actual teacher teaching their own kids.
This week long event was such a good experience and I enjoyed it the entire time. I established a lot of teacher-student relationships and I learned exactly how much work and dedication a teacher does for their students. Along with teaching me valuable lessons I also learned beneficial tips that have helped me in the future like being more on time and being better organized.
Overall I’m super grateful for my mother for telling me to join and am also grateful for the kids who unknowingly taught me a lot. If another opportunity were to come up, I would undoubtedly volunteer again. This experience not only gave me more confidence in myself but I was also able to meet new people, help and be a part of my community, learn new skills, and of course have fun.