Kellan Coffey

What does it mean to do good? Well, that is a simple yet complicated question. To me, doing good doesn’t mean that you have to save a life or help solve world hunger. Doing good is in the little things. Like holding the door for some, saying please and thank you, saying hello to a person as you walk by each other, and even just complimenting someone. I believe those little things could make someone’s day so much better. They could make someone who feels invisible, feel like they are seen. This relates to my artifact because in the fall session of Love of Learning, after just a few sessions, my buddy and I already had a great connection. I wasn’t doing anything special to help her. I wasn’t teaching her how to read a Percy Jackson book and I wasn’t helping her learn how to write a whole essay, but I was helping her sound out words and letting her type on my computer. I believe that those little things made the experience more enjoyable. Over the past ten weeks, I learned that I am capable of helping a child get through problems, stay on task, and make sure that they follow our Covid-19 policies. I knew that I could make sure a child wouldn’t hurt themselves, but I didn’t think that I could do it with a child I just met. The only experience I had with children was with my young cousins, my neighbors, and the fact that I used to be a young child myself. I was nervous that I would mess up and my buddy would get mad or upset or even worse, hurt. The last thing I wanted was to hurt the child I just met! In the beginning, I had a bit of a rough start, my buddy forgot some hair spray that would make her hair black so that she could be Cleopatra for Halloween. She had a meltdown and kept running away. I was determined to get her to calm down so that we could rejoin the group. I eventually chased her into a stairwell where she hid behind a pole. I sat down and tried to talk to her so that she would stop crying. I eventually had to get some help from a coach, and even then we couldn’t get her to calm down. After about 15 minutes we eventually got her to come join the group (thanks to a ladybug). After that, I had confidence that I could help a child, that I had no previous connection with, to calm down and relax. (Even if I need a little help).