Tampa Day 1

"I like to play animals," she said. "But I don't like playing by myself." We soon found a group of other kids. She was a tiger. I was a monkey. He was an alligator. She was a bird. Roars, clomps and squawks soon followed my own anxious chatter: everyone else wanted to eat me for lunch! Saved by the bell, we lined up for our real lunches and left for the cafeteria.

For spring break this year I am leading an Alternative Break in Tampa Bay, Florida. Alternative Breaks is a national program that allows college students to spend one week in a community away from their university to engage in direct service work. My group is tutoring at Bay Crest Elementary School.

Why travel 20 hours to tutor at a school? Going to a new community allows for a form of cultural exchange between the volunteers and the host site. People "from" NYU experience life differently than people living in Tampa Bay. The traveling also allows the participants (as the volunteers are known) to truly engage in their community because it is completely new. It binds the group together and to the host site.
We left New York City two hours late on Saturday, drove through a storm lasting for half the eastern seaboard and then checked into our hotel in North Carolina close to midnight. We arrived early in Tampa the following day, clear skies and clear roads allowed us to make great time.
Today was our first day at Bay Crest. Breakfast and training gave way to actual tutoring around 10 a.m. We ate school lunch, got back to tutoring and finished around 2:30. The students were funny, endearing and great to work with. I started in a kindergarten class doing a gardening unit. We created home made chia pets and then had some recess time. I played "animals" and "The Lion King" with the kids. Later I did reading with first grade and third grade students.
After school we headed to Clearwater Beach for reflection and relaxation. Reflection is an important component of the program because it allows us to connect our experiences to the greater experience of our topic. In our case, education. We played some touch football on the beach, to my surprise I got two touchdowns! We ate dinner at Cici's Pizza (the teachers had given us coupons) and hot some last minute necessities at Super Target. It's amazing how much less expensive everything is once you get away from New York.
Tomorrow: more tutoring and a Yankees Spring Training Game.