First Reactions to the First Week of School

Tyler: When I first started and I heard what the whole class was about, I sat down and said "Ok she is helping us get a job. Oh man, she's helping me get a job! Ms. Smith is helping me get the experience I need to get a job. She is giving me her own time to help me get experience with people I don't know. And she will be a good reference."

Ryan: I guess I was confused a little bit at first, I didn't really know what was going on. Later on I kind of found out what was going on and what the class was about and I started to like it.

Henry: I was like oh great, another textbook class, another 3 hours of reading a book and doing worksheets and turning them in for a grade. but then after Ms. Smith went over all the details and all the whats going to happen in this class. and we were actually going to go out and do this. This is just a big idea that will never be put into action. So then after I heard we were going to do the food bank, i thought well this class may be a good class after all.

Juan: I was kind of nervous the first day but then after the two weeks i know what this class is about. I wasn't too excited or disapointed to be in the class.

Zach: The first day of class i was like oh my god i do not want to be in this class. i gave it a chance and even after a couple of weeks i still didnt wanna be in it. ms smith took me out in the hall and said after this semester i will sign the papers to let you out, if you still don't like it. after a couple of weeks i liked the class and started giving it a chance.

Rane: My first thought about the class was i didnt know what we were going to do. i knew i had ms smith but i didnt know what the class was about. i didnt even know why i was in here. ms. smith told me to trust her. i have been with her for four years, so i trust her.

Connor: I didn't want to be in this class, and I still don't want to be in this class.

Ms. Henry: I didnt find out i was going to be in this class, till the very first day of school; the morning of! I didn't want to be in it EITHER! I thought we were going to be sitting in a classroom. Yall have to undertsand, i have been at Bowie for 16 years. This is not my first OJT program. I did not want to sit in a classroom for 3 hours with a group of young men who didn't want to be in the classroom either. But now that we have been doing things it has gotten a lot better. Ms. Smith and I have so many resources we can use for this class. I just want to see yall suceed. I have every confidence in every one of you.

Ms. Smith: I knew from the beginning I was going to meet resistance from the students and it would be a struggle to get them to trust me.  It has been amazing to see the students mature the last couple of weeks and see them step up to the plate.