Humans of SSYP (Week 8)
/Hi everyone. It’s hard to believe that this is the second to last blog of the Humans of SSYP Campaign. It has been wonderful to work on this important initiative for the duration of the semester. I hope that you enjoy this week’s interviews and that you learn something new.
Liz
Tell me about your story with SSYP.
I grew up Roman Catholic. At the point when I was in my early thirties, I had my last straw sermon at the Roman Catholic church. I went to a different Epispocal church where I knew the priest for a mid day service. He had lunch with me afterwards and recommended St. Stephen’s Church. I knew that Tim Crellin was the priest here because we had gone to graduate school together. I had a month or two before that been walking in the neighborhood and saw Tim standing outside of St. Stephen’s. That combination of things, being ready to leave the Catholic Church, getting the advice to come to St. Stephen’s and having been reminded that Tim was the priest here was my catalyst. I came to a November or December worship service here. Tim gave me an extremely warm welcome at the end of the service. I have basically never left. I came here first as a congregant for a couple of years, and was hired as the first director of youth programs. That was seventeen years ago. I promised to stay for either three or five years, and here I am still.
Can you summarize SSYP in one word or phrase?
SSYP is definitely a community for me. It's a healing community and I definitely feel I'm broken in various ways. We all are. I believe St Stephen’s Youth Programs is a place that welcomes us with all of our brokenness, and gives us a place to heal ourselves and heal others. That's part of what SSYP has been for me.
How do you feel about SSYP now compared to when you started?
I feel proud of St Stephen’s Youth Programs. I believe we're better at a lot of things than we were in the beginning. We talk about having a growth mindset with the youth. I feel like we have that as an organization too. I hope that we stay humble and are always thinking about how we can do things better. I also hope that we are always ready to take feedback and suggestions. I feel like how we are now compared to how we were twenty plus years ago is progress.
What has been your biggest challenge at SSYP?
I think the biggest challenge at SSYP is as much as we try to be a healing community, that's not always what we're surrounded by. As much as we try to create a sanctuary for young people, staff, teens and volunteers; we're still surrounded by institutions and bureaucracies that are built on racism and wealth disparities. We still have neighborhoods that experience gun violence.
Especially the youngest and most vulnerable of our elementary schoolers feel the impact of the forces outside of our doors.
What are you most proud of during your time at SYYP?
I like watching young people grow up and feel like they're leaders. I like that they push back on staff because they feel like this is a safe place to speak their minds. I feel really proud of the teens that were elementary school participants who are now on our teen staff. I feel proud of young adults who feel like they can run things because they've been here long enough to do that. I’m proud that folks that are communications majors in college can come here and try out their skills.
I'm really happy that you guys have that community here too. It's really special. What do you wish we did more of or differently at SSYP?
We talk about having another neighborhood where we have a year round program. I'm excited about pursuing another year round location with elementary and middle schoolers. Growing another program like we have in the South End and lower Roxbury would be something to be proud of. I think the more we do, the more we recognize what else there is that we could be doing more of. Young people, teens and parents say they did this or they need that. I think continuing to listen would be the other thing we should always do more of. More relationships with teachers and more relationships with schools would be amazing as well.
That'd be really cool to see that expansion. What's your favorite memory at SSYP?
I have a ton. A lot came to mind, but there’s one specifically that stands out. In the summer of 2020, maybe four months into the pandemic, things were shut down and none of us really knew what was going to happen. This was pre-vaccine, lots of fears. We were wiping down our groceries and not feeling like we could be near anybody. I remember walking over to Peters Park, which is a couple of blocks from SSYP, and seeing Damien who's now in the middle school programs. He was playing basketball with a teenager. I arrived at the park and hung out with the group. It was a field day for the summer and it's the sort of thing we would have done on a typical afternoon, regular Monday through Thursday. It wasn't really anything special going to Peters Park. When I arrived, Damien was playing basketball with this teenager, and when I left Damien was playing basketball with his teenager. He was so happy and smiling. I was amazed by the patience the team had to keep playing. I also felt like this thing that was so basic and simple to us was no longer basic and simple in the midst of the pandemic. I felt really happy that he was happy, and I felt really happy that we had created the opportunity for him to feel happy. I felt happy that the teenager was also making them feel happy. That's a favorite memory. It was like normality in the middle of something abnormal. It was one of the first signs for me. Of joy in the midst of something that wasn't normal. It felt like I've seen this so many times and I've missed it. I'm seeing it again. It can happen again. It gave me a lot of hope actually.
What do you think the future holds for SSYP ten years from now?
I hope that we're in a third neighborhood. I hope that we have parent mentor programs in at least eighteen schools. I hope our site managers at all of our sites are graduates of SSYP. That'd be cool to see that transition.
Is there anything else you'd want to say or talk about in regards to your experience at St. Stephen's Youth Programs?
I think I'm a better person for everyone as a result of St Stephen’s Youth Programs. I think that young people appeal to me, the teens appeal to me. I think they pushed me to be more mindful of my words and more careful in my practices. They also pushed me to be more grateful for what we accomplish. They make me a better human being.
Kim
Tell me your story with the Blackstone library and how that unfolded for you.
I moved into the city about five years ago. I knew that I wanted to get involved with the local neighborhood. I was approaching retirement and felt like I wanted to work with kids and the school that was here. I reached out to a couple of community organizations and was connected with Tricia, who was the librarian at the time. This was going back to 2019. I only worked as a library volunteer for about six months before the shutdown, but it was fun. I found it really rewarding. There was so much children's literature. It’s fantastic, but so much is new. My son at the time was twenty eight, and seeing how children's literature changed in the time from when he was little to now was just amazing. Seeing the excitement from little kids when they were coming to the library, they all seemed to really enjoy it. It's been a lot of fun helping them, reading to them and helping them pick out books. It was how I came to it, and I missed it a lot during the pandemic. I’m glad to be back now, and glad to have Molly here. It's been an amazing help.
Can you summarize your position in a word or phrase?
As a library volunteer, we have many tasks, mostly reading to the children. The days where we interact directly with the classes here are the most rewarding. We read a story at each class and help individual kids pick out books. Sometimes, we'll sit and read the books that they've picked out afterwards while they're waiting to go back to class. That's the fun part of being a library volunteer. We help with maintenance, like restocking the books and making sure the books are in order. We also help make sure that the collection is maintained.
How do you feel about it now compared to when you started?
I really missed being with the kids. I also feel like the kids lost out on a lot trying to learn remotely. I'm happy to be back at the school. I'm happy that we can have as many classes in the library as we do. It’s just opened back up after the pandemic, but we're getting there.
What's been your favorite memory in the library?
I was new to working in the library and working with kids. I adopted a kindergarten class, and I read to them every week and they were so sweet. The first time they came in, they were all very shy and it was all new to them. It was new to me too. Over the course of the time that we were together before the shutdown, we got to know each other and feel more comfortable. What started out as a very quiet and reserved class got to be a very engaging class. They asked lots of questions. That was really fun watching the kids come out of their shells and be more vocal and engaged.
What do you think the future holds for the library?
Fingers crossed the library will get a full-time librarian or a permanent librarian starting in the fall. I was quite shocked honestly, when I first started working at the Blackstone Elementary School, that they didn't have school librarians. My son was raised in one of the suburbs, and going to the library was such a big part of his elementary school experience. It made me very sad that every school here didn't have librarians. That's the thing I'm most anxious to see is a permanent, professional librarian on staff. I want to work with them to keep growing the library and making it a great resource for the kids and the teachers of Blackstone.
Is there anything else you want to say about the library or your experience at the library?
Thank goodness Molly is here. Otherwise, we wouldn't be getting the three days we have to be able to have students back in here.
Marielena
Tell me your story with the parent mentor program.
I started off having not been able to work for two years. I was able to join the program because I had problems at my previous jobs. I wasn't able to be at home with my children because of the time changes. I wouldn't get home until late. One of my children ended up getting involved with gangs. I decided to stay home and be with my family, no matter what happened. One of my friends told me about the social and emotional support that the program offers parents. From there is how I was able to get involved and know about the program and everything.
Is there a person or group that you really connect with in the parent mentor program?
I connect really well with the mentors.
Can you summarize the parent mentor program in one word or phrase?
Marvelous. It changes your life.
How do you feel about the program now compared to when you started?
I’m really happy. I would stay in the program, even if they didn’t pay me. The program's wonderful. I give props to the teachers because they work really hard. Every day, I learn something new. Before two of my kids graduated from that school, I didn't know what it was like. Now, it's nice that I know what the school is like and what there is. I have learned something everyday.
What has been your biggest challenge at the program?
My biggest challenge has been connecting with the kids, especially those that don't have the same language or share the same language, just connecting with them.
What are you most proud of during your time at the program?
The biggest thing that I’m proud of is that even though I’ve only been with the program for three weeks, I’ve already been given a group of first graders to manage and work one on one with. This is because of my previous experience being a manager and working with people in customer service.
What do you wish they did more of, or differently at the parent mentor program?
I wish that we would get more hours because there's lots to do. The teachers need lots of help, at least an hour or two. The kids know that even if you're not their parent, they know that the parent mentors act as their teacher. It gets them to work faster and apply themselves.
What has been your favorite memory so far at the parent mentor program?
My favorite memory is that the kids can recognize me. Now that it has been three weeks, they know my name. Even if I don’t know their name, they still recognize me. That's really nice.
What do you think the parent mentor program is going to look like in 10 years?
In 10 years, we’ll invade all of Boston and be everywhere. I also think that hopefully in the future, we can find ways to attract people to come because it's hard for a parent to leave their eight hour job to do just two hours. For example, I think about money and most people do, but what happened to me is that when I saw how the program was and got involved, it really gave me a change of heart. I think that getting more people involved by finding ways to convince them to join the program.
Is there anything else you want to talk about or say about your experience at the parent mentor program?
The program has been so wonderful. I really want to get involved as much as possible in any way that I can. I’ve had depression since I was sixteen. This program has really helped me move out of that mindset. Everyone has super good vibes and are in a good mood, saying, ‘hello, how can I help you?’ It's such a supporting and uplifting community. Everything that I have received, I want to give back and be as involved as I can. I want to help other parents and mothers to understand the program and benefit from it and have their lives changed in a similar way.