It all started off well enough. Thirty kindergartners had volunteered to stay after school for a community project called "Roots and Shoots". The idea behind the program is simple; teach young children how to change the world through community involvement. Lucky me, I was in charge of community events for all eight kindergarten classes. Life lesson # 216: when your next door neighbor asks if you want to "help" with a community project, ask more questions before saying "yes"! Our project to help the Atlanta Humane Society by collecting old towels (to be used for dog washing, etc.) and cardboard tubes (for teething puppies and cat toys) was also going well. And now it was our actual meeting, with a speaker from the Humane Society scheduled to speak briefly, and bring some of the animals available for adoption. Imagine the scene...with the help of a few brave parents, we had herded the children into the cafeteria. It is immediately after school and the children are ready to let off energy. We're able to coax them into sitting at the cafeteria tables, but they are ticking time bombs, ready to start bouncing off the walls at the slightest opportunity.
Our elementary has two campuses, that unfortunately are not next door to each other. It is a source of great confusion to visitors. My biggest fear was the speaker would go to the wrong campus and miss her 2:30 "appointment". I had gone to great lengths to prevent this problem. Step 1) schedule the speaker for an early arrival at 2:00 to eliminate delays due to traffic, etc. Step 2) e-mail the speaker the address of the campus our group was. Step 3) Call the speaker, repeat the address, have speaker repeat the address. My bases were covered. At 2:00 I posted a look-out at the front door of the school to watch for our speaker. At 2:15, all the children were in the cafeteria, but no speaker. I was a little concerned and began dialling my speaker's cell phone, no answer. I began playing the birthday game with the children, having them line up by month of their birthday and playing Simon Says, etc. You get the idea, we were stalling for time. At 2:30 I was very concerned and called again. And again. At 2:40, I finally got a message from the speaker "Hi Colleen, I'm in the cafeteria- where are you guys?" Yikes. Our speaker was clearly at the wrong campus. I popped into the school front office and asked the to call over to the other elementary campus to find my speaker. The conversation made my heart sink "Yes, you see a lady with the puppies? They're really cute? Oh, that's so sweet. Have the buses left yet? No, they haven't? Okay, thanks!" Houston, we have a problem. Once the buses begin loading, the parking lot is shut down; no cars may leave. This meant it would be AT LEAST another another thirty minutes before my speaker arrived...just in time for the end of my meeting. Okay, it was time for desperate measures. Back in the cafeteria I went and said "kids, it's time for a new game. You are all now puppies. Welcome to Miss Colleen's obedience school." After a few sessions of playing dead and rolling over, the kids were losing interest. It was getting ugly. Just before it all fell apart, we were saved by the arrival of our Humane Society speaker. With world record speed, we sat the children down, listened to a five minute spiel of what the Humane Society does, and handed out pads of paper & pens. And then it was over. Whew. Definitely a day to block out of my memory!
For more information about Roots and Shoots, go to http://www.rootsandshoots.org
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment