Most mornings, my day looks like a normal day in college: wake up…snooze…snooze for “just 5 more minutes”, breakfast, then to class for a couple of hours.
But not today.
Every Wednesday, my morning looks a little more like this:
18 4-year-olds hugging my legs
18 “Hi Miss James!” (They can’t say Jane.)
3 Children’s Books Read
2 Silly Songs Sung
30 minutes of lunchtime chaos
15 Minutes of picking peas off of the floor after lunch
18 little mats to lay down, 18 little blankets to cover 18 little rascals while they go down for a nap.
Every Wednesday, I volunteer at the YWCA (www.ywcafortworth.org) downtown in their child development center where I work in the Pre-K class with 4-year-olds, most of whom are living in homeless shelters or are from very low-income families.
I found out about the YWCA when I was attending Frog Camp Quest (www.frogcamp.tcu.edu). Each small group was assigned to a different agency in Fort Worth to do community service and my group got to play with the kids at the YWCA. From then, I was hooked and have been volunteering there ever since.
The TCU mission statement urges us to be active and engaged both in the classroom and in the global community. It would be easy to go through college just taking classes and studying, but it is so much more fulfilling to make time to serve in the community during your time at TCU.
College is a time when it can be stressful to always have the focus on you: “What’s your major?” “What are you going to do with your life?” “What grade did you get on that test?” It’s great, but it can be overwhelming at times.
Carve out time in your week to breathe and focus on someone else! Find something you love, whether it’s volunteering with little kids next door at Kinderfrogs (www.kinderfrogs.tcu.edu) or teaching ESL to refugees, there are countless opportunities to be a part of something bigger than yourself!
Check out www.involved.tcu.edu to see where Horned Frogs are already serving!
