Spring Class Blog Post 4

Talk about the case studies that were discussed in class, what you learned from it and what your group thought about the article you were given. You may also share what you learned from other group's articles and what you think of the issues presented in those articles.

Blog posts must be 200-400 words, proofread, and void of common grammatical errors.

Your blog posts are due before the start of class next week.

Please email albreaks@ku.edu if you have any questions!

Spring Class Blog Post 3

What does social justice mean to you? Relate your response to the identity wheel and Genderbread Person v2.0 activity. You may also incorporate the video presented in class in your discussion.

Blog posts must be 200-400 words, proofread, and void of common grammatical errors.

Your blog posts are due before the start of class next week.

Please email albreaks@ku.edu if you have any questions!

Spring Class Blog Post 2

Write about what you learned from Blane Harding's talk and how it might or might not have changed your opinions on the topics he mentioned in his speech such as multiculturalism, diversity, and privilege.


Blog posts must be 200-400 words, proofread, and void of common grammatical errors.

Your blog posts are due before the start of class next week.

Please email albreaks@ku.edu if you have any questions!

Spring Class Blog Post 1

Write about your reaction to the Ivan Illich article and what perspective it gave you about volunteering. Please also include a reflection of Dr. Kala Stroup's talk about non-profits and volunteerism.


Blog posts must be 200-400 words, proofread, and void of common grammatical errors.

Your blog posts are due before the start of class next week.

Please email albreaks@ku.edu if you have any questions!

Dani - Habitat for Humanity - Blog 5

Sadly, today is my last blog post and last day of my Alternative Break. Continuing from yesterday, I worked to repair the elderly lady’s bathroom. I got to cut the grout holding the tile pieces together more, or most of it. Then, I was able to use my muscles and break the rest of the tile with a hammer. After that, I screwed in a few extra two-by-fours to be able to attach the drywall. Since it was the second day and we already knew what our assignments were, we were accomplishing a lot and making a lot of noise, especially inside the bathroom. I hope you can imagine all the noise we are making in this tiny little bathroom. I mean we’re cutting grout, tearing off trim, smashing tile, hammering nails, playing music, and screwing in wood and drywall. That’s a lot of noise, except when we stop. You can only hear one sound, other than the construction noises from outside.

“B, 13. 0, 64.”

The elderly lady was playing bingo, and I thought it was the cutest thing. Looking back on it now, it makes me realize everyone is the same. Now, I do not know what her background is, or what her life has been like up to today. However, I do know that when I reach her age, I will probably be playing bingo on the computer. That was one of the best parts of helping this elderly lady fix her home. It was the best because I was much younger than her and we probably have different life stories, yet we would still end up doing the same activity. It is similar to going on Alternative Breaks. In the beginning, we went to different cities, did different activities, and helped out different people. Yet, in the end, we all left a mark on where we spent our week of volunteering.

Dani - Habitat for Humanity - Blog 4

We went to a different house today. It was an elderly lady’s house that was already built, but we were there to do what Habitat for Humanity calls “critical repair”. When we got there, Chris, our site director, showed us the house. From the front, you could tell it was an older house, but besides the cracked driveway and untrimmed greenery, it seemed sustainable. Then, we walked to the east side of the house. On the lower half of the house, it was all brick like most of the houses in Oklahoma. On the upper half, it was blue painted wood. The wooden panels and the trim had been worn down greatly. Most of the bottoms of the panels were either off the house or starting to curve off. Next, Chris took us to the back of the house, where most of the trim and chimney wood were in the same condition as the sides of the house. While some of my group members were hesitant about using crowbars for the first time, others were eager to climb up on the ladders and to start prying old siding off the house. Because of my back pain and fear of falling off a high ladder, I could not do much. Still, I was to hammer down some nails to avoid people getting poked by them and occasionally pick up a few pieces off the ground. After lunch, Eric, our other site director, took Nicole and me inside to repair the bathroom. Once we cleared out the old vanity, mirror, and shower doors, Eric showed me how to use my new favorite tool, the Dremmel. Using it, I carved out the grout that held the tiles together and cut new drywall to be even with the old drywall. I spent the rest of the afternoon working on this project in the bathroom, and, despite my small amount of back pain, I was excited to continue it tomorrow.

Dani - Habitat for Humanity - Blog 3

Today, we continued to work on the house in Moore. Since we did not get materials until the late afternoon the day before, we were unable to start decking and roofing. Hence, that is what we did today. Because of my experience on our Mini Break back in November, I knew the basics of what we were doing and able to contribute more this time. We got divided off into three teams. One team worked on the roof that went above the front porch area on the outside of the house. Another worked on installing the soffit, which covers the roof that extends past the walls. The third team, the one I was one, worked on the fascia, which is the board that covers the edge of the roof. Once everyone got going, our work started to shine through. Unlike the day before, we were actually able to see our progress and see the change we were making on the house. After we got most of the fascia and soffit on the house, the guys started to get on the roof. Because I was afraid of heights, I remained on the ground to help lift materials up to the roof. To get them up, it required a lot of teamwork and communication. Once Megan and I got a system down on how to get the piece up, we started moving pretty quick.

That is until I sneezed.

Since this past week involved more physical labor than I have done in quite some time, and I do not believe I was lifting properly, I threw my back out after sneezing. Unfortunately, I could barely take a step without massive pain shooting up through my leg and to my back. Thankfully, after some rest later in the day, I felt better and optimistic about volunteering the next day.

Dani - Habitat for Humanity - Blog 2

Today was the first day of our volunteering at one of the tornado relief homes in Moore, Oklahoma. Once we got there, I noticed the neighborhood looked like the three stages Moore was going through. On the west side, there were newly constructed and completed houses while on the east, there were many houses under construction with a few still destroyed from the tornado. It was touching to see all the houses being rebuilt even though the tornado hit more than six months ago. Seeing the actual disaster came like one big gust of wind, and it hit me really hard why we were there. Although it was sad to see that they were still rebuilding six months after the tornado, it made me even more dedicated to help out these tornado victims by giving them something more than a home. I was helping them build a place to live, a place to make memories, a place to relax, and much more. When we started working, I was not doing a very good job. Let’s just say, I was not the strongest one in the group. I did not let that stop me though. I was determined to do other tasks, no matter the size, and that is how I became Nail Lady. We had to nail these metal plates into the top corners of the walls. To quicken the pace, and because I didn’t have the strength or the height, I decided to tear off the nails and hand them to my group members. That was my job for the morning. After lunch, we were waiting on the materials and did not have much to do. We were able to hammer in some nails that were sticking out of the boards. Then, we had to compile them together in a scrap pile to quicken clean up later. Despite all the more negative that happened, it was a good day, and I was excited to continue the reconstruction of the town the next day.

Dani - Habitat for Humanity - Blog 1

Since it was our day off, we decided to go visit the Oklahoma City National Museum and Memorial. In 1995, Timothy McVeigh parked his truck outside the Murrah Federal Building. At precisely 9:01 am, the bomb inside that truck exploded, destroying most of the Murrah Federal building and other buildings in the area. Besides the firefighters and policemen, many people in the community responded as well. When I was reading about all the stories, it was overwhelming for two reasons. First, it was shocking on how disastrous this event was, how recent it still is and how close it is to my home, Dallas. It was extremely surreal, too, since the place we were staying at got hit by the blast. The second reason was the amount of support and volunteering received from the community was insane. The Oklahoma policemen and firefighters received extra men from Arizona, California, Maryland, and many other places. Once they were safely out of the building, survivors helped by making lists of who came into the office that day, tearing off clothing to stop others from bleeding, or even going back into the building to help others out. Then, as emergency rooms quickly prepared for incoming wounded, medical staff rushed to the scene to help out before the injured could be transported. The list of support goes on and on. It was crazy how fast and how many people helped out. At first, seeing all this support and volunteering discouraged me. My work with Alternative Breaks would not amount anywhere close to what these people did 18 years ago. Then, I saw an editorial cartoon about volunteerism. The cartoon shows a line of people shaped into a heart, with the person at the point asking, “What can we do to help?” and arms open wide. That’s my attitude shifted. I recognized that without each individual person in that heart, it wouldn’t be complete. It shows that every volunteer is willing to do something, no matter the size of the task, making me excited for our volunteering to come.

Megan - Habitat for Humanity - Blog 5

Today we continued our work at the same house as yesterday, except we spent the majority of the

day building and installing rather than deconstructing. We measured, cut, placed, and secured

more siding on the house for much of the morning. After that, Eric gave me the task of scraping

old paint off of the trim around the garage and on the roof. I then helped one of the other

volunteers move the scrap piles into the dumpster and tidy up around the site before lunch. We

went to Johnnie’s Charcoal Broiler on our lunch break. I talked to the cashier while she was

taking our order, and she told me that she lived right in the middle of one of the neighborhoods

that was greatly affected by the tornados. She thanked us for our service and said it meant the

world to her and her community that there were people like us working so hard to rebuild from

the devastation left by the tornados. It was very moving to hear from someone who experienced

the tornados first hand. Her words made the work we have been doing for the past few days so

much more real and meaningful to me. Even though we only worked on a couple of homes for a

few days, I feel as though we have made a difference, and we have been part of a bigger relief

effort to restore the neighborhoods of Oklahoma City and Moore, which is pretty amazing if you

ask me. After lunch, we returned to the site and split up into different projects. I worked with

Nicole and Dani on one of the bathrooms inside to replace some of the drywall and fit new sheets

of linoleum tiles for the walls and shower. Once we were finished, it was time to clean up and

leave for the day. I can’t believe today was our last day of volunteering. I say again: it went by

so fast. Tonight, we went to the Oklahoma City Thunder game and watched Kevin Durant score

his record-high points in a game! The tickets were provided by the generous folks at Habitat for

Humanity, and it was a terrific way to end our time in Oklahoma City and our Alternative Break

experience.

Megan - Habitat for Humanity - Blog 4

The group woke up ready to start the day at our new site. After a quick stop at Starbucks, we

drove to the house we would be working on. We passed by some beautiful homes that appeared

to be unaffected by the tornados which struck Oklahoma last summer. However, we soon

transitioned into a neighborhood which appeared to be much more run down than the houses we

had just seen. Our group was surprised at how rapidly our surroundings changed from very

expensive homes to properties that had clearly not received some much needed attention. The

home we would be working on obviously required major maintenance. When we first arrived,

we met with Chris and Eric, who would serve as our guides for the day. Eric instructed those

who were not afraid of heights (myself included) to grab a crowbar and informed us that we

would be removing the old siding from the house. It seemed like a monstrous task that would

take the entire day or maybe longer, but once we had a clearer understanding of what we needed

to do, the job was done in no time. Eric explained to a couple of us that deconstruction was the

“dirty side” of Habitat for Humanity and required a little more improvisation than the

construction side, which we had worked on for the past two days. After our lunch break, we

began other miscellaneous projects while waiting for the new siding to arrive at the site. Once

the materials were delivered, we started to measure, place, and secure the new siding. I was very

impressed with how much we were able to accomplish in just a few hours at the house. We

cleaned up the site, loaded the tools back into the trucks, piled into our van, and drove back to

the church where we have been staying. I can’t believe that we only have one more day

volunteering with Habitat for Humanity and one more full day in Oklahoma City. I’ve had so

much fun with my group, and the time has gone by so fast!

Megan - Habitat for Humanity - Blog 3

Today we spent more time at the construction site where we worked yesterday, and I could

immediately tell that everyone in the group felt more comfortable in their roles and more

confident in their abilities than we had been the day before. We began the day by cutting,

placing, and securing the soffit lining around the house. It was a challenging task that required a

lot of communication among our group members and all of the other volunteers at the site as

well. Once all of the soffit had been installed, we began moving sheets of plywood to all sides of

the house and leaning them against the exterior walls. This plywood would be used for the roof

of the house and would need to be lifted by people on the ground and handed up to those placing

and nailing it down on the roof. We took a break for lunch, ate our fill of pizza, and got back to

work. The afternoon was spent hauling plywood up to those on the roof. My arms definitely felt

like noodles by the end of the work day, but I felt a sense of accomplishment as we left the site.

There was more of a visual progress to be seen today than yesterday so I felt that we really made

a difference at this site today. We found out that we will not be going back to that site, a fact that

saddened most of the group. I think we all hit our stride today, and now we will have to readjust

to a new site tomorrow. Nevertheless, I know we are up for the challenge that the projects

tomorrow will undoubtedly bring. It’s interesting to see how close our group has gotten in just a

few days. I’ve loved bonding with my group members not only at our Habitat for Humanity site

but also while playing ping pong in the game room, planning our next meal, or building a fort out

of foam mattresses. It has been an awesome trip so far, and I’m excited to see what the rest of

the week has in store for us.

Megan - Habitat for Humanity - Blog 2

The group woke up early this morning and piled into our van to travel to the Central Oklahoma

Habitat for Humanity headquarters. We were greeted by Rick, one of the directors of the

program, who explained the mission of Habitat for Humanity, the specific goals of the Oklahoma

City branch, and the projects we would be working on during our time in Oklahoma City. On

our way to the construction site, we passed directly through neighborhoods that were affected by

the devastating tornados last summer. I don’t think I have ever seen such destruction in person.

To see firsthand that the homes, schools, and workplaces of an entire community could be so

brutally destroyed was very powerful to witness. I think our group was able to gain some

perspective regarding the magnitude of this natural disaster. We arrived at the house we would

be working on, and we were greeted by Mitch, who would serve as the site’s leader for the day.

He began by giving all of us the task of securing the support beams for the roof by nailing them

into the metal plates at the end of each beam. What seemed like a simple task soon turned into a

near impossible feat. The difficulty of forcing the nails through the metal plates accompanied by

the group’s clear lack of hammering experience made for an interesting morning. After our

lunch break, we all broke off into groups of two or three to work on separate jobs. I worked with

Nicole on cutting and nailing up the tarp around a side of the house. Following that, we began to

remove nails from the two-by-fours that had been used as support beams. For the rest of the

afternoon, I teamed up with Nicole and Dani to clean up the construction site, which included

sweeping, discarding wood scraps, and putting tools back into the van. Today was really fun,

and I’m exciting to continue with our volunteer work over the coming days. I’m also really

looking forward to bonding more and more with my fellow group members throughout the rest

of the week.

Megan - Habitat for Humanity - Blog 1

Today we visited the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum, located right down the

street from where we are staying. Before this visit, none of us had much knowledge of the

tragedy that occurred in the direct vicinity of the church where we are living for the rest of

week. We initially walked around the outdoor memorial and spoke to a park ranger who

provided us with the basic story of the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995. The memorial itself

was very moving, and I was eager to learn more through the museum’s exhibits. The displays in

the museum were extensive and impressive. There were many real remnants from the explosions

as well as reaction videos collected from survivors and first responders to the scene. Seeing the

aftermath of the horrible attack was very emotional, and I was surprised that I had not heard

more about this tragedy before visiting the memorial and museum. One of quotes that was most

memorable for me was from a video of a speech given by Bill Clinton on the 15th anniversary of

the bombing. The former President said, “Oklahoma City reminded us that how we respond to

what happens to us, determines who we are. It shows the world our identity.” This powerful

quote resonated with me on many levels, primarily how it relates to service and my impending

Alternative Break experience. Over the next few days, my group and I will be experiencing firsthand

how Habitat for Humanity has responded to the tornados that devastated South Oklahoma

City and the town of Moore, Oklahoma this past summer. According to former President

Clinton’s quote, we are going to be seeing the true identity of the community Oklahoma City and

its supporters. I know everyone is very anxious to begin volunteering tomorrow and learning

more about Habitat for Humanity and how they have contributed to the reconstruction of the

areas affected by the tornados.

Alex - ODYS - Blog 5

Today was our last day in the Department of Youth Services. Today was a shorter day, and we got to see some of the same guys one more time. We played basketball again. It’s a really easy way to get to know the guys and hang out without being really invasive. It’s more comfortable when its something they like to do, instead of having us invade their space. We have heard some really great stories. We also got to talk with some staff, although mine were not so willing to talk. Other than that we just hung out and shared stories. Its like we have become apart of their community, we are normal now, but the only thing is that we are leaving. The last hour we spent in the facility we were back with the people we started off with on the first day. They are two employees at the department of youth services and have come back to do some debriefing. We had a great conversation and we went over as a group how we thought the week went. You could tell that we really learned a lot and enjoyed it. We all learned so much, we couldn’t wait to talk through everything, and we did. Overall this experience has expanded my knowledge so much. Its hard to actually process everything at once. Its also hard to put it all down in words. Poverty and gangs, education and mental health, there were so many issues just in one place. There are also so many areas to tackle. If anything that I have been coming to this same conclusion, it is something that has really been on my mind. I have been thinking that its not about where you start, whether its in school at gang intervention programs, or at the correctional facilities themselves, you can start making an impact as long as you decide to start making a change. Its like what came first the chicken or the egg? Either way you could debate it for hours, but what matters is choosing the chicken or choosing the egg. Its choosing somewhere to start and taking those initial steps. It’s starting to create the wave, the ripple. If there is one valuable thing, which I learned way too much, but if one thing I will take away it will be to actually make a change. Its taking that initial leap of faith and being that drop in the ocean that creates a ripple that, no matter what size, creates a wave of some sort. That’s the best imagery I have right now. It’s been a long week, and my brain is still trying to recover. I have learned more in one week than some of my classes. It was an absolutely amazing trip, and if I could I would do it all over again.

Alex - ODYS - Blog 4

Today was a long day. We spent the morning in the facility getting to know staff and youth. We stayed on units and played a lot of Basketball in the gym. There was a pretty heated moment on my unit. There is a youth who they believe has some mental health needs and who is pretty unstable. They were being really caution around him. They also moved some youth around because of the way they were behaving and so they were predicting some pretty angry youth after school. When they came back the youth was very upset, but nothing happened. Well things did start happening, but it didn’t happen until we had left the unit. Today we got to talk to a lot of the youth who are in college. That was at Circleville, but what was really interesting was the afterschool program we went to. Once again we were hanging out with kids in middle school. We helped with homework and participated in some of their fun activities. I got to hangout with a youth who has some special needs. He was really great. When I was helping him I had one of those, “this is what I have to do with the rest of my life” moments. I know I want to work with kids and help kids out. It warms my heart when I get these interactions and when I can tell that I really helped them out. You could tell that he really appreciated my help. But that is just me, and it was a pretty special moment. It really reaffirms what I am doing. After the after school program we got to go to a county youth correctional facility. The guys here were really similar to the youth at the state facility. It’s just like being at a state facility only everything is in a building in downtown Ohio. Dr. Patti had a really funny and interesting relationship with these guys. She was their best friend and they had the whole room cracking up. There were about 15 youth in the room with us, and they were all hilarious. Dr. Patti can bring the best out of people. After we got to see the county facility we sat in the lobby with Dr. Patti for an hour and half. We had such an in depth conversation about poverty, not just in the city but also in the country. We were really engaged and listening to everything she had to say. It was a great reflection and we really got to thinking what can we do? That car ride home we all talked as a group and we want to plan something like Buckeye Reach at KU. We want to see if we can start making a difference the way Dr. Patti and her students have. It was a great bonding moment for the group. We can’t wait to start looking in Kansas for opportunities like this! It’s been another day of 12 hours volunteering. We are super busy, and its sad knowing that this is our last day at the facility, and in Ohio.

Alex - ODYS - Blog 3

Today was my first day at Circleville correctional facility. It was definitely a lot calmer than I thought it would be.  The facility was also a lot bigger than I thought. It was just about the same size as Scioto but planned out a more structured. The only thing was that Circleville has a lot more security measures. By that I mean it has a lot more barbed wire everywhere and fences. It’s a lot more controlled of a facility. Wherever there are poles they have greased them. It’s pretty intimidating. Today after getting a tour of the facility we got to break up into groups of two, I of course getting to be the group of 1. We were sent to different classes in the high schools; I got to sit in on a class about Sex Ed with a very interesting group of guys. It was interesting the way they used language. They were being pretty vulgar, and the teacher liked that I was the one telling them that the way they were speaking isn’t always the most polite. It was an interesting task and the teacher kept prompting me to answer things, I was really thrown head first into some pretty interesting and descriptive conversations. The guys were all really respectable though and its weird thinking that is where they live. They all seem so normal, just like kids I knew in high school. We had pretty limited contact with the guys today, other than playing in the gym with some of them; they were all pretty focused on basketball though. It was a pretty mild day. Tonight we got to go to an afterschool program at KIPP, a charter school in inner city Ohio. It’s in a rough spot of town. We got to hear some pretty interesting stories. The students we were with showed us different houses, which they could point to at the school, where drug dealers lived. They also showed us where a kid who went to school there got shot and was killed. It’s really shaken up the community. A retaliation gang had started up and it has all of the kids shaken up because they are actively recruiting and jumping kids after school. We heard some really heart breaking stories. One kid said that he was afraid of life, and another kid told us about how unsafe he feels. It was really difficult to sit in a room and listen to kids in 7th grade who have been through way more stuff than I have gone through. They speak with maturity and wisdom way beyond their years. It was jaw dropping and extremely eye opening. Tonight we got to meet Dr. Patti a director of social change at Ohio State University. She was a great speaker and she really gave us some background information on poverty. It was a factor that I really wasn’t thinking was the problem. I understood the behavior aspect and educational aspect of kids who ended up in the correctional facility. I can understand that if they fall behind in school and they need attention they can act out and end up in trouble. Things usually escalate from there, but I never really thought that poverty was the root of the problem. You really can’t understand something until you see it. Its like when it is staring right back at you it becomes so much more real. Dr. Patti had a great quote tonight that really rang in my ears, “You can’t be what you can’t see”. Dr. Patti is a really young scholar who grew up in these neighborhoods in section 8 housing and she can relate to the students at KIPP because at one point she was in their shoes. She is an amazing advocate for ending poverty. She was amazing that’s about all you can say, amazing. Tomorrow we have another afterschool program to go to as well as a long morning and mid-afternoon at Circleville. We learned so much tonight its hard to write it all down, but I fell like writing as much as I can and putting down as much as I see and hear is really helping me reflect and to think about my own life.

Alex - ODYS - Blog 2

It was 3 hours to Indian River, and it was 3 hours back. It was a long day, mostly spent in the car, but a good 5 hours plus some at Indian River Correctional Facility.  This facility was different from Scioto. Everything but the school was housed in the same building. It was a maze of locked doors, and it was extremely confusing. Today we got split up shadowing different job positions at the facility. I got to shadow an occupational therapist. It was interesting, but the state can’t make the guys go to therapy, they have to decide whether or not they wanted to go, even if they were in need of it. I also got to meet and talk with a Speech Therapist; it was cool to see that my major could actually be used at a correctional facility. Something unique to Indian River is the fact that it has a mental health unit. They are the only facility that takes on youth with mental disabilities. It was a fascinating experience, and it was different from the girls we saw yesterday. I got to meet some pretty normal guys, but you could tell that they had a disability. I met one young guy who had schizophrenia that was pretty drugged up. It was sad, he could not tell the different monopoly properties apart. The occupational therapist told me that his IQ was not matching how he was acting; she was going to look into his medications. It was nice seeing someone take an interest in the youth. She did not have to spend time on the mental health units, she could easily spend her time with any of the other units, but she has a passion for mental health, and it was nice seeing someone watch out for the youth. There is an obvious distinction in the staff that we met. There were those who were passionate about their jobs, and those who just see it as a job. I am anticipating a change once we go to Circleville Correctional Facility. The day was peaceful at Indian River, but we kept hearing how crazy it was going to be, and it wasn’t. Now all we keep hearing about is how Circleville is the worst of the worst. Most of the group is pretty apprehensive, if not just a bit nervous for what we have in store. Each place is nowhere near what we expect, and there really is no way of knowing until we actually get there. Thankfully all of our traveling from here on out will be 5 minutes down the road. It was an interesting day and I wish we could have spent more time at the facilities; we seem to make friends as we go. There are just some people you interact with that you will always remember.

Alex - Ohio Department of Youth Services - Blog 1

Today was my first day at the Ohio Department of Youth Services. It was absolutely amazing, and I can only imagine what the week could have in store. The staff we encountered felt like a giant family, who welcomed us with open and loving arms. The kids were just as great, although they have gone down a different path of life; they were just as excited to see us, as we were to see them. The best part about the youth we encountered that day, was the fact that they were open and completely honest with us. That day was spent at Scioto Youth Correctional Facility, one that is set to close in May. Scioto is the only facility to house girls, on the state level; they are all to be moved to private prisons, other programs, or the county facilities. We met one of the most quotable women to this date. Her name was Ms. Baker. She was the volunteer coordinator. Whatever came out of her mouth was either hilarious, or extremely deep and meaningful. One of her quotes echoed in my ears that day. It was in relation to the types of people trying to volunteer at the facility. She said, “ All sorts of ministries wanted to come in and preach but I just ask them, ‘What are you going to do to show them what the world can be like? What are you going to do to show them a different side of the world? You will have your time to testify, but they don’t need that. What are you gonna do to impact their lives?’”. It was just something in her voice that was so raw. Its not that she wasn’t a spiritual women, you could tell she would, but she saw that its not preaching that these girls needed, it was one on one interactions, attentions, friendships, and positive relationships. Ms. Baker also told us that 20 years ago she had no idea that children were locked up. She told us that her best friend growing up’s Dad was the juvenile judge and she had no idea he had the power to lock a kid up. The units where they house the kids are cold and concrete. They have thick heavy doors. Everything locks in the facility. It’s like a college campus with giant fences all around. We met one girl whose story was absolutely amazing. I don’t think I could do her justice by trying to retell it. She was a girl who grew up in and out of the system. She was a phenomenal artist, and her work was all over the facility. Its heart breaking to know that this facility that was her home, her family, was being shut down. It’s a bittersweet thing. You could tell that between the staff and youth it was a special place. It’s been a unique place and it was cool that we got to go and see it before it was shut down, and it was nice to interact with the girls at Scioto. We got to play volleyball with the majority of the girls left and lets just say, no rule, KU vs. Scioto. It was one of the funniest things I have ever seen and all of us spent more time laughing than actually playing. They became our friends, and we hadn’t even know them a day. They all ended up at the state correctional facility for whatever, but they were real and genuine people, they are just walking a different path of life. That’s about all I have for tonight, tomorrow a 3-hour drive to Indian River for a day of volunteering at a different facility. Hopefully it will be as great as today!