My Reflection

For my reflection I decided to interview Katie Polace

who is the Teen Program Manager at Goldin COA.
Katie has a bachelor’s degree in English, journalism,
and middle/secondary education from Marquette
University. She also said that her work experience
comes from four years at the Boys & Girls Clubs of
Greater Milwaukee and three years at a daycare in
Cleveland, Ohio. Throughout the interview I
wanted to focus my questions around my
experiences with COA. This way I could hopefully
answer some of my questions in my earlier post.
One of the first questions I asked Katie was,
what kind of reward do you get out of helping
the kids? She replied, “The kids here at COA
are my life and my family and serving them
fulfills me in a way that is indescribable. Not
only do I get rewarded in the many hugs, kind
words and love I get daily from the kids, but I
go home knowing that I am doing exactly what
I am supposed to be doing every day.” It was
nice to know that these kids who attend get
some kind of family feel, when they might not
experience that feeling at home.
Other questions regarded the background of
the other faculty, how the kids are recruited
and what kind of structure does COA bring to
the kids. It was amazing how much passion
Katie has for these kids. She said much of the
faculty comes from a wide variety of life. She
said kids are usually recruited through word of
mouth and the structure then focuses around
family, and being part of something. Now to
the answers that sum up my questions.
My first and second post focused around
education and why teens do not have homework.
Katie told me that the current trend with the
Milwaukee Public School system is that they either
don’t assign homework or they have the kids do it
during class. Katie said that MPS sees that
homework is pointless if they don’t turn it in. The
kids don’t get the support from home lives. This is
where COA steps in to make sure the kids receive
some sort of intellectual activity. After getting
Katie’s feedback on this, I feel that schools should
take better steps towards getting kids to do
homework. Homework is how we study, and it’s
a crucial learning tool at such a young age.
My other question to Katie focused around the teens
when they have weekend recap. She said many of
our participants had little to no knowledge of current
events. COA thinks “it is very important that youth
are aware of the world around them and are
informed about events happening locally, nationally
and worldwide.” She also went on to say how
“weekend recap is a way for staff to inform youth
about current events and hold a discussion to help
them understand how those events are connected to
and affect their daily lives.” I completely understand
now why they inform the kids on current issues. It
makes sense to me why they talked about teen
pregnancy, and topics that focus on the community.
One of my last questions I asked Katie was the
pre teens seem to have more interest in
homework then the teen group. Do you think
that this will carry over when they emerge into
the teen group? She explained to me that many
of the age groups deal with different social
structures. She said as time goes on she hopes
that the activities the pre teens experience now
will grow towards the teen group. My reply
was I hope so because I think that this is good
practice for these kids, and hopefully it
influences them to learn more as they age.
After getting the feedback from Katie my
attitude has positively shifted towards the
COA. It was so good to know that the COA is
trying to add extra support to the kids when
dealing with daily life. As I continue to do my
volunteering at COA, I am going to focus on
more with the pre teens. I am curious to know
what drives them to come to COA since this is
more of a word of mouth organization where
recruiting is done by your friend rather than a
flyer or recruiter. I have a more positive
reflection with COA after completing 6 hours
of time with these teens.