Final Reflection

YTH-220
Ryan Wilson
Final Reflection Paper

For my practicum I volunteered at JC Bodyshop during their After-school Program (A.S.P.) and Block Party night on Thursdays. For A.S.P, I helped kids with their homework, co-led a small group and was in charge of many different kinds of activities (such as Madden or Guitar Hero Tournaments). Block Party had more of a community center type feel. Most of what I did for Block Party was playing basketball with the students and building relationships with them.
Both of these experiences produced a lot of frustration for me. A.S.P. was always in a state of constant anarchy, and with the exception of a few kids, no one displayed any respect for each other, much the less for the JC sponsors. Block Party was very unorganized. This created a lot of confusion for me in that I often found it hard to find anything important to do, besides building relationships.
I realize now that I probably should have been more proactive in finding other jobs to do and talking with Pastor Mike about my concerns, but unfortunately it is too late now. If I were to do this whole thing again, I would be more assertive and ask for different kinds of jobs.
Another very frustrating aspect of the practicum was the lack of face time with my supervisor. I did not realize at the beginning of the practicum that I needed ten supervised hours with my supervisor, and then once I noticed it, Pastor Mike was barely around anymore. I did get some one-on-one time with Pastor Brittan, probably accumulating about two hours with him, but I hardly got to talk to Pastor Mike at all, much the less spend supervised hours with him.
I feel like I learned a lot and grew both personally and professionally, although most of what I learned was what not to do. I made many mistakes in my first practicum, and I feel like I have learned some valuable lessons about dealing with people. Spiritually, I have been on a roller coaster ride all semester. It seemed like right when I was feeling the best spiritually, I would have a terrible day at practicum and vice-versa. Hopefully next semester I can maintain better spiritual balance.
Overall, this experience has been very helpful to me, but also very frustrating. I suppose you could contribute some of my frustrations as growing pains, but I also think that the organizational aspects of the JC Bodyshop internship program could be greatly improved.