Good news and bad news: I've been so busy here in Omaha (good) that I have not been able to keep up on blog posts (bad). Sorry to all of those that check this religiously. I usually separate my doings week-by-week, but I'll just use a theme format for today.
Junior Coach Position
Sadly, I’ve yet to step into my high school and meet students. Along with an expansion to a new city comes a process of being approved for EVERYTHING. We were approved my principal at South a few weeks ago, but have been held up at the district level. I completely understand why they want to be thorough in their approval process, it’s still disappointing that at the start of Week 8 here in Omaha I’m still working in an office from 9-5.
We did, however, get our new supervisor Bryan. We met him over breakfast at Wheatfields, a little breakfast place down in the Old Market area that actually has gluten free pastries. For the first time in my whole life, I was able to order a breakfast entrée and actually choose a side for it. I’ve gone on my whole life always asking for a fruit cup substitute. It was awesome! Anyway, Bryan is great. He has a lot of experience from serving in the Peace Corps and is challenging me every week. It’s been refreshing having someone new in the office.
I went out to Creighton’s fall job fair two weeks ago to recruit for AmeriCorps members for next year. Crazy, right? I loved being able to talk with people and connect with other nonprofits that were there. I was surprised by how many “corps” organizations were there, an entire row! It definitely speaks to the mentality of Creighton students and how many are committed to doing a year of service.
Something interesting about Nebraska that stands out in the higher education world is that the government is committed to sending almost 2,000 more high school seniors to college on an annual basis. The Post Secondary Education Committee outlined here exactly how many students from each high school in the state of Nebraska need to attend college. Not a surprise, my high school ranks number one as the most populated school with the lowest college-going rate. I pulled together an analysis of how these goals line up with our organization and I think that it can help with our expansion here in Omaha in coming years.
Although I don’t have any students, I was required to teach two practice lessons to my coworkers last week. Surprisingly, I was terrified. I was very nervous to teach to my peers, more than I’ve ever been in a classroom. After my second lesson, however, I felt right on track. It was a great reinforcement of why I’m here and the job I will be doing in the future. Since Team Omaha will be behind in our lessons when we start sessions, it was interesting to see how much we’ll need to cut out or condense in our future lessons to stay on track with ACT preparation.
First Lutheran
My experience at First Lutheran has been a preview of the challenges I will face at South. I’ve been working with a group of middle and high school students to help lead them through confirmation class and it’s been a challenge. Some of our youth come from a very unstable background and it is apparent in their values and priorities. They seem to be attached to their cell phones more than any other kids I’ve met before and I think it might be because it is one of the few possessions that they have direct control over. As a youthworker, I know that I will never really get to know these youth for a couple of months because I need to gain their trust first. Right now I’m seen as the outsider and I’m working to build a relationship with each individual youth. It’s crazy hard with my limited hours at the church. Today, I actually had to teach Sunday School to all of the K-5 students and had a great time.
Social
There have been so many random things I’ve been involved with over the past few weeks, I’ll just outline a few of them. I've joined a Life Group from Candlewood and am loving it! I get to spend multiple nights a week with other amazing women. I’m part of a book club where we’re reading “Crazy Love”, go to a Bible Study on Thursday nights and hangout with the girls randomly throughout the week. A bunch of the people from Candlewood all live in the same apartment complex so we had a tailgate party for a Husker game a few weeks ago and then watched the game together. I counted over 50 people in one person’s apartment watching the game on a projector against a living room wall. What a true Husker experience. I mean, other than actually attending a game.
One of my friends, Maria, lives in a great apartment in Old Market where there is an actual pool and hot tub on the roof of the building. We had a rooftop grill out and it was fun. I love getting to meet other people that are friends with my friends here. For this rooftop party I ventured to Wohlner's a local small market that has a great meat counter. I purchased a preseasoned burger patty and was thoroughly impressed with the quality. At this store, they will actually grill your meat behind the counter. So, I could have bought a steak and had it made to order at the market. Seems a little intense if you ask me. Now watch, I’ll end up doing that someday.
I haven’t really ventured out on the town too much lately, but on Friday night I headed over to Blazin Pianos with Kelly and Maureen. It was entertaining, but not as good as I thought I would have been. The piano players were a little rude to the audience and I felt personally offended sometimes. They were good and I had fun, but I don’t think I’d ever go back there. I’d be interested to see how Shout House compares.
Homeward Bound
I came home last weekend to surprise my mom for her graduation! I’d been planning this surprise for over a month and was excited to spend time with her for an extended weekend. I drove home with my friend Lydia and surprised my mom on our front doorstep at about 11 p.m. last Thursday. I had a surprise to top that one for her when I informed her that I also talked to her boss and got her the next day off of work without her knowledge! Boo yah! Anyway, it was fun to spend time at home with my family and celebrate my mom’s amazing accomplishment. At one point, she was working full-time, serving on city council, going to school part-time and volunteering with a local nonprofit. I still have no idea how she managed to balance it all.
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