The Importance Of Peer Assistance And Leadership

Improved Essays
“My PAL is coming to pick me up today.” I heard these words in fifth grade from one of my classmates and I had no idea what they were referring to. I later learned that PAL stood for Peer Assistance and leadership. PAL is a class for Juniors and Seniors from at local high school that come to mentor and interact with children who their teachers recommended. Every week The PALs would come and pick up children from our classroom and take them away to do fun things. I noticed after a while that if the students were not happy the PAL would make their day better. I knew in fifth grade that when I got to high school that I wanted to become a PAL because I wanted to influence to the younger children like I saw they were doing. During my sophomore year, …show more content…
During the PAL orientation meeting I learned that PAL wasn’t just about mentoring children at local elementary schools but also providing service to the community. I decided to volunteer at the local women shelter called Women In Need in my free time. Some days I would volunteer in the office, stuffing folders while other days I would work in childcare taking care of children while their parents were away. One day in particular, I was in charge of childcare one afternoon. There were about five children; one of these children stood out to me. There was a boy who for some reason did not want to do anything that day. He was mad and I could not figure out why. We had played games and colored but the boy was still not happy and didn’t talk much. Finally, we went outside and there was a “cozy car”, a red and yellow play car. I asked him if he wanted me to push him in it, he marched over and sat in the car and said nothing. I started to push him, and all of a sudden, I heard him laughing. It’s like whatever was happening that day all went away. We played in the cozy car for a while until his mother came to get him. He looked at me before he left and said, “Thank you.” That moment really touched my heart. No matter what a person is going through, one simple action that you do can change their day. Seeing the little boy in the cozy car made my trip to the shelter worth it that …show more content…
I was given a total of 4 kids and each one had something different I enjoyed each one of them. Two girls in particular, Layla and Brooklyn always brightened day. They loved to color and build things. Each time I visited they each wanted to something different and they always kept me on my toes. They depended on me to come every week and I couldn’t let them down. They weren’t afraid to tell me anything and I really got to see their personalities blossom over they year. One day Brooklyn told me she heard one say that PALs weren’t coming anymore and she started crying. I then realized how much I meant to those kids and I was making a positive stance on their

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