Erika Francks - Thriving Neighbors Initiative
I am just finishing up my 5th week as an NPI fellow working as a Community Development Intern for the Thriving Neighbors Initiative through the SCU Ignation Center. So far, my job has consisted of getting to know the Washington Neighborhood, particularly the mothers at Washington Elementary School. My supervisor, Irene, manages many grants for the Washington Neighborhood, one of them being a health grant which provides funds for the mothers at WES to get together for exercise each week. They walk Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and also have Zumba classes Mondays and Wednesdays. The moms wanted to mix it up a bit, so for the last few weeks Irene and I have been meeting with one of the mothers, Juanita, to come up with a new activity.
We decided on a Friday fun day, or Viernes Divertido as we call it, since the majority of the mothers speak Spanish. In fact, all of the meetings I attend at Washington are in Spanish. I am able to understand most of what is said, but I’m still working on speaking in Spanish since I haven’t taken a class in a couple of years.
To find out what activities the mothers were interested in, we took a poll and found that yoga was their top choice. I was called upon to teach the yoga class since I have a lot of experience with it, but I’ve never taught a class, and certainly never taught a class in Spanish!
Our first Viernes Divertido was this afternoon and it actually went very well. There were about eight mothers there and a student assistant from the Thriving Neighbors Initiative who is fluent in Spanish. Whenever I couldn’t remember a word she was able to help me out and explain the poses to the moms. Teaching yoga in Spanish is something I honestly never could have imagined myself attempting, but that’s why I love this internship so much. There are constantly new projects to tackle and new challenges to overcome. Working with the Washington moms has already taught me so much about the value of community and commitment, and I am excited to keep learning from them.