2023 Summer Member Highlight: Kelly Gibbons

Kelly is a junior at Temple, majoring in Psychology! She has been a mentor since her freshman year and has continued with DREAM as an AmeriCorps member in the summer and as a Mentor Coordinator this academic year. Outside of DREAM, Kelly loves to bake (and has an iconic chocolate chip cookie recipe), and enjoys being social and hanging out with friends! 

Summer 2023 Wrapped: 

Kelly served a small group of 17 “Middles” (ages 8-13) with 2 other SECs at Beckett Gardens. There were 33 total youth at Beckett’s program, with 8 SECs, who the youth and Beckett staff refer to as coaches. 

What was the highlight of your service?

It was so fun going on field trips with the kids each week, and just generally getting closer to the group as a whole! When you’re a mentor and only see them on Fridays, there isn’t as much time to get to know each mentee individually and during the summer you do get that opportunity since you’re with them all day, every day. Getting to know the kids, their interests, and understanding their behaviors and responses to certain activities was such a highlight.

The trip to Camp DREAM in Vermont was really cool too! I wasn’t close with our group of teen boys until we went on that trip and had tons of time to bond together at camp. It was so special to build a more trusting relationship with them. 

Summer also definitely supported my ability to organize and support our chapter during the school year. It gave me the tools to help organize program timing, knowing the kids on a deeper level, and having a sense of activities that they’ve already done so that they can bring new and exciting opportunities to their group of mentees. 

What were the challenges you experienced?

The summer has so many ups and downs, even day-to-day. Something that our team actively worked on was operating together as a team and ensuring that everyone was sharing the load equally of planning and leading activities. 

Balancing the interests of the youth was sometimes a challenge as well, particularly because the interests across the ages of the “Middles” can vary so much. Their team was strong in always adjusting for this by providing options that were similar but catered to the variety of interests and being intentional about creating things that were requested by youth. 

Behavior management is always a work in progress, but our team did a lot of very intentional work by establishing and implementing a firm, choice-based behavioral system.

They ensured that all of the kids were aware of the hard boundaries of the space and they were consistent with consequences. We also framed it for the youth to show that their behavior is a choice and that there are options for what to do. For example, physical violence was an immediate system of going home for the day. If youth decided to make the decision to put their hands on another child for whatever reason, then their consequence was going home. And if they’re okay with that, fine! But it caused most of the youth who really wanted to be engaged in programming to stop and think about what they were going to do before reacting. This seemed to really generate a lot of emotional awareness among their group! We also set up space for the youth to be successful - like creating seating charts when there was a need for youth who tended to have trouble engaging positively together, and collectively as a group they could earn back unassigned seating. 

Are there any notable or special moments you want to share?

It was so special to get to know my mentee better over the summer and spend more time with her! She was in my “Middles” group, and we also took her and her sister on trips as a part of our mentoring relationship. 

How would you describe your DREAM experience in a phrase or a few words?

I would describe my experience as having great learning experiences, building my own personal leadership, and continuing to gain a stronger understanding of the Philly community. I have really enjoyed building up the feeling of being a part of the community and instilling a sense of belonging within the city as someone who had never been there before coming to college! 

2023 Summer Member Highlight: Nevaeh Robinson

Nevaeh is a junior at Temple, majoring in Sociology with a minor in Human Development and Community Engagement. She loves education and learning! In her free time Nevaeh enjoys reading and journaling, doing her own nails, cooking for friends, singing, and photography. 

Summer 2023 Wrapped: 

Nevaeh served the Spring Garden site in Philly with 3 other Summer Enrichment Coordinators - this was Spring Garden’s first DREAM Summer! Their group size varied each day, usually between 6-11 kids, but they had 12 total youth enrolled. 

What was the highlight of your service?

I have been an AmeriCorps member before for another organization, and similarly to that organization I love the genuine process of meeting the kids who are coming to camp and starting to get to know them. I enjoy amplifying their interests and giving them something to look forward to. I study food insecurity in school, so showing up to their neighborhood making sure that there was food to eat for the day and providing options for them to fill their bellies was definitely a highlight for me. I think it’s impactful when there is an adult who cares about what’s going into their bodies! Something we were always working on was teaching boundaries and personal space. It was nice to help the kids learn and also share more about myself to continue the connection with the kids. 

What were the challenges you experienced?

Spring Garden was a new site in Philly this summer, and so at the beginning of the summer it took time to build the site partner’s awareness of the purpose and intention of the program. At first the space wasn’t well kept up or very clean (on the partner’s behalf), and there wasn’t a ton of outside green space in the community which sometimes made program planning a challenge. 

On the first day of programming, we had a small number of kids join when we had planned activities to split into groups. On days when there was a small group who attended, we had to shift what we were doing to think about programming in a different way to ensure that we were delivering meaningful activities and making space for kids to get their energy out! 

Our team was pretty good about not letting the kids know when something wasn’t going to plan - it was important for us to find the balance of being honest, but also not necessarily needing to make the youth aware of things that might impact their experience in a negative way. 

In general, working in an underserved community and running programs with youth means that there is a push and pull of resources and knowing that things may not always go to plan - but doing what we could with what we had was a skill we learned throughout the summer! 

Are there any notable or special moments you want to share?

All of the adventures we went on! Those made space for the kids to be carefree and take time to just be kids. Our group showed up on site every day and got rewarded by going to the lake, rock climbing, going to the museum of illusions, and more. Many of our kids were family or close friends, and those types of things aren’t always affordable for big groups to go together, so it was impactful for them to be able to make memories and have experiences together as a group. I think the kids could tell that a lot went into planning those activities, and our team was very thoughtful and intentional about the youth’s preferences when making those plans. 

We also created a partnership with the 8th Street pool, we went there weekly and it was an awesome partnership - the kids had so much fun! 

How would you describe your DREAM experience in a phrase or a few words?

Impactful, growth-mindset, collaborative, and fun!

2023 Summer Member Highlight: Kailah Hester

Kailah is a senior at UPenn, graduating in December 2024 where she majors in Design, and is hoping to pursue a master’s in Social Work after graduation. She served during summer 2023 and now is a mentor with our UPenn Village Mentoring chapter. In her free time, she loves to take naps, color, and also does hair for fun! 

Summer 2023 Wrapped: 

Kailah served a group of about 15 children at Lucien E. Blackwell in West Philly. She was on a team with 3 other Summer Enrichment Coordinators, and one Youth Service Manager.

What was the highlight of your service?

It was such a rewarding experience. Our team took a lot of time to be intentional about what we planned, with energy spent considering the things that the kids would get excited about. We got really into the themes and made the activities based on those themes. It was really fun to see it all play out and come together over the summer! One of the big highlights was superhero week. We partnered with the Free Library and they came every Friday to read a book connected to the theme and give out prizes. On superhero week, they brought a ton of superhero toys and made masks with the kids - there was glitter everywhere! 

What were the challenges you experienced? 

Sometimes it’s hard to figure out what to do when the kids get bored when you’ve planned an activity and purchased supplies for it. It’s important to adapt and adjust to what the kids are requesting, while also trying to keep the other objectives in mind. We were thinking, “How can we turn simple drawing into something that’s a little educational but also connects to their interests?” Working with kids in the beginning was sometimes a challenge to overcome because they all had to get to know one another, as well as set up processes as a team to make sure each child had a positive experience. To be clear, the kids were not a challenge - but it took time, effort, and intention to get to know them and address root causes of behaviors as the summer progressed. 

Are there any notable or special moments you want to share?

Me and Rinah (previously highlighted!) made a song for the kids that our group had a love/hate relationship with! It’s a parody of the Drake and 21 Savage song, haha! 

How would you describe your DREAM experience in a phrase or a few words?

1. Joyous! I was always laughing and smiling even when things needed to be serious - I couldn’t even keep a straight face because we were really just always having fun. 

2. Educational! The kids exposed us to so much, taught us about being a part of the community, and showed a different side of Philadelphia than what we usually see as UPenn students.

3. Valuable - I talk about it all the time! I am currently an intern at the Mayor’s office and I am constantly sharing my experiences with people there.