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.