- What are some of the differences between your neighborhood and Trenton?
- Is there anyone at your site, in the program, or staff that you have made a connection with already?
While I have made many new friends at the Bonner program and at the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen, I would like to focus on my two "team leaders", Erica and Dave. Both of them are friendly, respectful people who I enjoy being around. They have taught me new things about college life and how to approach all of these massive assignments for the class. Aside from how intelligent they are, the two of them are also very personable and I enjoy simply speaking to them about anything. I look forward to spending time with my team for the remainder of the program.
Shaina Spector - El Centro
Because we walk with the children of El Centro through Trenton to get to our field trip location each day, we are able to really be exposed to the area. It differs greatly from my hometown, as Trenton is a lively urban city and my hometown is a quiet suburban neighborhood. It is also a lot more diverse in Trenton than in my hometown. While my hometown is primarily white, I passed by people of many different backgrounds in Trenton. Trenton also differs from my hometown due to the financial state.There seems to be a lot more poverty there than in my own hometown. There are also a lot of businessmen and businesswomen in Trenton that I walked passed on their way to work, which reminds me very much of my town because where I live many of the adults are business people and other professionals. With museums, tall buildings, and noise, Trenton is definitely a lot more exciting than my hometown and filled with a lot more excitement. I had never been to Trenton before I started helping at El Centro two days ago, but I found that it is a lot nicer than I expected it to be.
Megan Eichmann - Habitat
For the past two days, we have driven through Trenton, and worked in the city at Habitat for Humanity. Although it is only a ten minute drive from the beautiful campus of TCNJ, the surrounding area is very run down, and reflects the stereotypical image many people think of when they think of Trenton. While painting the mural, we had to stop to move abandoned TVs and other litter to try to brighten up our lot. There is a definite difference between houses built up by Habitat to the run down buildings so many people have to live in. It also can seem dangerous to people who have never visited, and until you talk to and work with the people living there, many people do not understand the everyday life of those people living in Trenton.
When we first drove to our site, the difference between Trenton and Burlington Township was very obvious. Most houses in Township are large and well cared for, while those in Trenton are rundown and sometimes abandoned. The general atmosphere is different as well, and the city is a very interesting cultural exchange for someone living outside of a city.
Melissa Moore - ASA
It's amazing how much you learn about people in just a few days. Working as a group as much as we do and as often as we do really aids the friendship process. It's safe to say that the people that I've developed the best relationships with are the once in my group, the blue team, including my leaders: Katie, Alissa, Patricia, Jordyn, Parth, Jake, Joe, Danielle and Lexy. However, I've also become very close with my roommate, Jen. We've bonded over music, homework, and stories from home.
At the site, there have been multiple children that I've met that I've begun to form relationships with. One girl who is going into 6th grade and her friend who is going into 7th grade and I have been hanging out and working together a lot in the past three days. Yesterday, I was helping one of them with their math problems and she said to me, "Are you going to be here tomorrow?" and I told her yes, and she said "Good! You're a good friend you're so nice!" This really made me feel good about what I was doing. The fact that she considers me a friend really shows the relationship that we build with these kids. Today, while the older kids were at laser tag, I was hanging out with the younger kids. I met another little girl who only knew me for about fifteen minutes and already she was telling me that she loved me. Then, before snack time she came up to me and said "I brought you a snack. I have a Special K bar for you!" This made me happy as well because even just knowing her for the day she already was looking up to me and wanting to offer her snack to me. The relationship with these kids that we are building is the best part of the entire thing in my mind.
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