NALC (5 Hours)

I tried scheduling tutoring time for one day, but for the week I requested, NALC was booked. Instead, they offered a banquet that I could come and help set up. I got there at 10 o' clock in the morning and walked into the school. When I first entered the school, I was greeted by a security officer who directed me towards the gym where I would be setting up. I somehow didn't turn down the right hallways and made my way into the principals office and recognized I was the only white person. Right as I walked in, the kids who were seated in the beat up chairs stopped talking, and every eye was on me. I talked to the secretary and asked if she was able to direct me towards the gym and she did. While walking through the hallways, I noticed that this school was falling apart, and it could really used a transformation. The lockers were old, bent, and were starting to rust away. As I opened the doors of the gym, I noticed 3 older guys setting up tables, and I soon realized that I was the first Belmont student to arrive. It didn't take long until I met up with the NALC staff and we started to set up. We started off by setting up tables cloths and that's when two other Belmont students arrived and helped out. About one hour into setting up, a man came on the intercom and told all students that they were not able to leave their classrooms because they were in what was called, a lockdown. I obviously felt some sense of curiosity and wanted to go out in the hall and see what was going on. While in lockdown mode, we just kept setting up table cloths and taped decorations to the tables. Meanwhile, it was great to talk to other classmates outside of class and get to know them a bit and share experiences about NALC. After the tables were set, we started to set up drinks, cups and more decorations. I passed out 100 trivia cards about the United States government on each row of tables. Obviously, this banquet had a patriotic theme because many students were in the middle of studying for their citizenship test and they were recognizing the best tutor and students. 

Overall, it was a great experience to work with the NALC staff and other classmates. It was also great to see even in a run down school what some called "worse of the worst", it was great to see some of these students still being cared for. It is so easy to forget and brush off the kids who don't have the best grades or who are a pain to deal with in the classroom and it's refreshing to see those kids matter to somebody.