Project Connect

Molly O'Shea, Summer 2018

Working as an intern for Project Connect this summer was an experience I will never forget. I was placed with the 8-9 year old age group, and made so many amazing connections with the children and staff that I worked with every day. The teacher and teacher's aide that I worked with taught me so much about working with children, and I learned so many invaluable lessons from them, as well as from each child that I interacted with. Each morning we would get to camp and get prepared for whatever the day before us held. The kids would arrive off the buses, and we would line up outside for Move it in the Morning (the kids were definitely the better dancers in this situation). Dancing to an upbeat song all together got all the kids into a better mood after most of them fell asleep on the bus- and gave them something to laugh at (aka me attempting to dance) before breakfast. Then we had breakfast and enrichment activities. The kids would spend time reading and writing, as well as doing math before lunch and recess. On Monday morning, these activities were replaced with Children's Theater, Word Play (where the kids were given the opportunity to learn about and write poetry), and learning a choreographed dance that they performed for their families during the last week of camp. The mindset during these morning enrichment activities was always to "work hard” so that in the afternoon they could “play hard.” In the afternoon, we often had smaller field trips to the swimming pool, the firehouse, Gameworks, or the bowling alley. On Monday's the girls got to experience activities with girl scouts, while the boys learned Karate (which they loved to practice and show off during recess). At the end of the day, we would give each of the kids a snack and send them home on the bus, while we cleaned up and prepared for the next day. Once a week, we would have a full day field trip, where the kids were given the chance to experience places in Cincinnati that they may have never been to before. We took them to King's Island, the Beach Waterpark, and Coney Island, which were some of their favorites. We also had a field day with another camp in Cincinnati- with a water balloon toss, pizza, and outdoor activities like a bouncy house and races. One of the field trips included a science day put on by P&G, where the kids got to have fun while also learning about science. The last week of camp the children were able to show off a lot of what they learned to their parents, who were bused to the camp so they could see their children's theater skills, dance moves, and have a fun day all together. Overall this camp taught me so many lessons that I will never forget.