To me I feel that both we the Bentley Students and the children benefited from this experience. I mean not only did we learn from them, but they also learned from us as well. I remember the session that I had at the Fitzgerald last week and I remember Chris asking what has everyone learned so far and I was amazed at how fast these kids answered the question. On person said that they learned how better communicate within a group and another one said that they learned how teamwork is appreciated within a group in order to succeed at what you want to accomplish and I found that to be really remarkable.

I was a counselor before I did 2+2=5 and I should have known not to think of these kids as not able to do a certain task but I did anyway. I thought that they were going to hard to manage. I figured that I would have to kick kids out of the group but I didn’t have to at all. There was one little girl that always didn’t want to do something and when she saw everyone else doing it she sort of joined in with the group and she had some really good ideas and really showed everybody that she really does know how to think it just a matter of adjusting to a new group.

These kids learned that without determination then what you hope to accomplish in the long run as if to say someone that was determined and couldn’t wait to do whatever the activity was. I know for my group everyone was determined to win and would stop at nothing to beat everyone else. That is when I began to learn from them. They had the determination to win whatever activity they were faced with and that is something that I don’t do with school now. I do my work successfully but I don’t do it with any determination that would make me want to do my homework right then and there. These kids showed me that if I had as much energy and determination as they have then I would be unstoppable. I would e able to claim Mt. Everest if I wanted to. I’m sure that might not mean anything to some people but it does to me. It gives me hope to do better than what I am doing now. It makes me want to actually put a tighter grip on my goals and really fulfill them to the best of my capabilities.

Not only did we the Bentley students and the children learn something but so did the teachers at the school. I remember when Chris, Eddy, Alicia, and I returned the second and third time, the teachers were fascinated with the work that we were doing with these kids and they noticed a change in the way that the kids were acting in the classroom. I remember one teacher telling me how she has learned just from observing us that she is thinking about changing her way of teaching a little bit to somewhat continue what we are doing now in 2+2=5. I found that to remarkably incredible that not only do we in the class learn something but so do people that just observe and think about the way that they are doing things. I really found this experience to be really exciting and can’t wait to do another Service Learning experiment next Semester seeing how one of my classes is a 4th credit option. Right now I don’t even care about it counting as a 4th credit; I just want to work with these kids again.