Reflections 2015

UPR Humacao English Pedagogy Program Angel Huertas 842-01-3477 Prof. Maritza Reyes Pedro Rivera Molina School

Reflection #1 February 2-6 Week As the first official week now behind me, I can only hope the best is yet to come. Hopefully not the opposite. That would really suck. As far as the first week went, overall, it was fine. I got my foot in the water & started to taste a little bit of what 7-3 group is like. I know it's the first week & I have only seen a fourth of what I'll eventually see as they start opening up. Thats both great & not so great.

Opening up means that they'll feel more comfortable around me to either, annoy the hell out of me or use the best efforts to engage in class.

I've began to encounter the typical “pero mister habla en español”. This might sound remarkably funny & nonsensical given the fact that we are in English class. One of the first who so elegantly pronounced such typical & expected phrase was this small kid who turns out has a similar illness to former 70s/80s child star- Gary Coleman. This student is particularly small as Gary Coleman was. Observing him & how he engages with his classmates- I reckon he could make an interesting Case Study. So we'll see.

Informative type essays is definitely not something the students seem to be interested in. As of the first week I didn't really utllize the projector or my computer. This will definitely change as of next week. I think I'll have to use videos, photographs, comic strips & all I can get my hands on to make the class a bit more colorful & engaging.

So far the only engaging reactions I've seen from my class comes from 2-4 students. Always the same students. They've been present during most days of the week. Still I haven't met/seen the class as a whole. It's only a 19 student enrollment, so I'm surprised I haven't met them all just yet. I know its just the first week so I can't make blanket interpretations & generalize to the rest of the semester.

I have a slight idea of what students are like. I can see which students are most likely going to be the easy ones & I can also sense which students are bound to be the most challenging ones. Only been here for a week, but observing their behaviour & how they relate with one another- I'm getting an official glimpse.

I'm still somewhat anxious to see what the rest of the semester will entail. Anyways, so far, in comparison to the other two groups I'm observing, this group, judging from its size it'll most likely be way more manageable than the rest & I'll be able to construct lessons more effectively.

UPR Humacao English Pedagogy Program Angel Huertas 842-01-3477 Prof. Maritza Reyes Pedro Rivera Molina School

Reflection #2 February 9-14 Week Interesting finale for a week. But, I'll get into that in a moment. This second week of class for me, as a teacher, went by a bit better & comfortable in comparison to the first. I think there was a higher level of stiffness from my part & I'm sure that vibration affects the student body as well. Last week could very well evidence that.

I made a few adjustments this second week around. I decided that I would bring my techy gear. With speakers, headphones, iPod & Computer at hand, I would make sure the audio visual department in my classroom would be enhanced to the fullest. It isn't exactly as though I have some HD Projector or a Dolby Surround 5.1 speaker system. But compared to my class last week & in contrast with what I've seen other teachers using, I guess I'm up a notch.

I've realized that technology won't work miracles in of itself.

The MLK “I Have a Dream Speech” would be perfect to start my unit off. So I thought. It's obviously a theme & topic I am rather fond to. To me it comes naturally and its a topic I'm very interested in. But, is that the scenario with the students? By the third day on it they would ask, “are we still on Martin Luther King, again?” & would roll their eyes & disgruntled would go back to their seats. I can't say it was every single student. But, two or three did mention the same thing or something of that nature. Those comments hurt me a little inside. I would try & act as if they don't affect me, but they did. So I would attempt to take them constructively.

How can I make the class far more engaging and attractive for the students? This was constantly on my mind.

I brought some examples of things that occurred then & I tried to bring them to the nowaday setting. I would play a hypothetic scenario of how prejudice and racism affected the african american citizens then- playing it in some pertinent activity the students are a part of. I spoke

UPR Humacao English Pedagogy Program Angel Huertas 842-01-3477 Prof. Maritza Reyes Pedro Rivera Molina School

about segregated bathrooms, fountains, playgrounds, shopping malls, restaurants. This worked somewhat. But there were still plenty of students that had little to no interest in the class & therefore the class topic.

The week was closed off a day before Valentine's Day, so I figured I'd do a special activity. I opened that day for a Teacher Q&A. They could ask me anything they wanted. But I chose to answer whatever I wanted. The activity resulted a huge success. They loved it.

Reflection #3 February 16-20 Week The classroom experience is starting to warm up a bit more. This is great. I have become a little bit more familiar with the classroom, the whereabouts of things, the faces of the students & their respective names that go along with them. Every now and then I mix one or two students. I sure hope it doesn't happen so often after this week , as I can see some of them are not taking a liking to it. Not such a flattering interaction to change one's name. Hoping they have a bit more grace with this 32 year old aging memory nincompoop.

This week I have confirmed the number count of at least 3 male students that are most likely

UPR Humacao English Pedagogy Program Angel Huertas 842-01-3477 Prof. Maritza Reyes Pedro Rivera Molina School

going to be the protagonists of this semester's disruption fest. I try and take it with as much grace as I can because I am noticing quite a habitual & regular dynamic as a third week comes to a close. I have also noticed that a particular in that trio is the head honcho. Not suggesting they are “three amigos”, but this one particular student, has such impact in the other two that when he isn't present, the class goes somewhat smoothly. I have fully & duly noted this. How will I learn to effectively deal with this particular student? I still remain clueless. He is a very incisive authority challenge. I am in no way inclined to the disciplinarian type approach, so I am trying to find integral & constructive ways to dealing with the matter.

I've been introducing the students to different types of persuasive speeches. I already showed them a plentiful of Martin Luther King Jr. So this week I thought I'd contrast things up a bit with Malcolm X. They were both incredible speech givers, however, were on opposite ends of the same fight & struggle. Most students (to not say all) had no idea who Malcolm X was.

Clever me, I thought, hmmm I'll reference the Denzel Washington movie. They had no idea that movie even existed. I am two decades older than these kids. It rings familiar to my days & the unknown references of my previous teachers. I am now that teacher. Time flies.

A film from the mid nineties, “Higher Learning” was just started today(Friday). The reaction so far is relatively good. Most of them seem to be engaging. I figured that this film is relevant because it touches on the subject of racism in a more “present day” illustrated scenario.

Though its from the mid nineties- it holds far more colorful references than 1960s Malcolm X & MLK. The movie does have subtitles in Spanish. I think this will allow many of the students to fully grasp & understand the plot of the movie.

UPR Humacao English Pedagogy Program Angel Huertas 842-01-3477 Prof. Maritza Reyes Pedro Rivera Molina School

Reflection #4 February 23-27 Week The week has come for the students to take their first examination. But before that happened, the film “Higher Learning” seemed to have capture their attention & was engaging enough for some of them. There are some students that I don't want to imagine what their cinema experience is like. If it's anything like what it was for this film, they'd be kicked out instantly.

The film shows quite graphically (in the sense that it's nowadays- not in a Rated R way) & I think this presented itself as a successfully engaging tactic. A significant brief discussion arose from the dramatic ending of the film. I had a nudge that even the most unfazed students would react to it somewhat positively. And, most did.

The movie set a good atmosphere for the upcoming days of the week. Although now the students won't stop asking me when the next movie is going to be showing. I think they'll probably start bringing popcorn to slightly suggest subliminal messages.

A review for the test went somewhat smooth. I think they recognize how important the material discussed will be- as it will be eventually given on a test. The attention span of some of these students isn't exactly the most lasting thing. At times it makes me think of squirrels.

But, then I think of myself too. I don't have the most enduring attention span. I try & be reminded of this so I can be kind & empathetic with these students.

The initial 5 minute meditation is starting to work, but at times some are becoming quite cynical and incisive with the whole thing. They come & start whining & complaining. They'll say, “Argh, here we go again with the crappy music”. Like I said on my last Reflection, these

UPR Humacao English Pedagogy Program Angel Huertas 842-01-3477 Prof. Maritza Reyes Pedro Rivera Molina School

comments do hurt me. I don't disclose it, but they hurt me a bit. I try to not let it affect me because otherwise I'd end up doing nothing innovative. That which is different & changes one's routine is somewhat resisted at first. So I try to keep with it nonetheless.

As I've begun to look at the test & am slowly simply browsing the papers, I have a bad feeling about it. It seems that these students have far more difficulties than I expected. They are at a very low level, quite distant from seventh grade. I seem to be expecting them to run without them having even learned to walk. I hope to be able to contextualize the standards and expectations, because at this level it seems somewhat impossible for most of them. There are some exceptions of course, but the great majority are on a sinking boat.

Reflection #5 Marcb 2-6 Week It was time to introduce a new topic! Some of the students thought they were in church or something, or maybe its all my religious left over still churning in my stomach. But I could've sworn I heard some halluelujahs in the classroom on that Monday. The new topic upon us seems that is far more something of their calibre & interest. Something about Space that they associate with their favorite sci-fi films & favorite video games. I think it might have to do with the realm of possibilities.

UPR Humacao English Pedagogy Program Angel Huertas 842-01-3477 Prof. Maritza Reyes Pedro Rivera Molina School

The realm of possibilities out there in the “unknown”, or at least unknown to us, is not as limited as the here & now. So that's a little theory I have as to why the topic seems to attract more.

There's humongous resistance though, no matter how much relevant & contextual interesting things are given- the book is like Satan to some of these students. It is the forbidden word.

Notebook & workbook are cuss words in the classroom. Thought I'm partially joking, I am seriously trying to “exorcise” this blatant fear-like sentiment they feel towards their book & notebook. I am weary of what tone I use to ask them to bring their books forth. I am continually attempting to figure out some creative way where it won't even be noticed that I've just requested to have their books pulled out. It's weird because it seems as though I'm attempting to hypnotize them.

At first the scaffolding part where background knowledge is both tapped into & built, went by beautifully. The videos & photos I presented of outer space were pretty cool. This was the feedback I got from some of the students. However, as soon as there's any intension of working with the book, it's a guaranteed lengthy process to even get them to pull it out of their bookbags. That's in the case they even brought the book to class. In many cases the book is having a long, & well established vacation at home or in one of the parents' car. There has been some progress with a few of the students though. It might sound like its all a river flow of negativity. Sadly in the spectrum of life- there could be 20 great things that happened in one's day, but one negative thing happens & that's the one thing that sticks in the mind. I am putting some intentional effort in not proceeding like this with the class. I don't think it's fair at all to do so. It doesn't come by second nature, so I am aiming to turning instincts around a bit. So far, at least I have it well present in my everyday scenario.

UPR Humacao English Pedagogy Program Angel Huertas 842-01-3477 Prof. Maritza Reyes Pedro Rivera Molina School

Reflection #6 March 9-13 Week This week had some levels of particularity the prior weeks haven't. It wasn't some grand incident or something like that, but the accumulation of itty bitty incidents apart & also how the week was composed. Firstly, I tried to make some progress with some workbook exercises.

It's quite frustrating how a simple 5 exercise sheet can almost take up 80% of the time of the class. Some of it goes into some healthy & integral discussion related with the topic, but a good percentage goes into attempting to “undistract� & or cutoff some disruptive chatter that's very consistently taking place at fairly loud decibels. I think this is one of the class dynamics that is beginning to frustrate me the most. Specially when it's a repetitive thing, incidentally in class, & with the same students.

The 5 minutes of meditation have definitely helped bring the class into a smooth transition.

The meditation time that's taken during the first instances of the class has proven effective to some degree. I am no master in the field of meditation, but I had a feeling if the start of each class could welcome a sense of peace & tranquility, it could serve as a form of reset button from all the hectic and crazy jumpiness that a classroom in of itself cannot tame. It certainly isn't a magic wand process, but it has helped shape a few students' arrival dynamic, which

UPR Humacao English Pedagogy Program Angel Huertas 842-01-3477 Prof. Maritza Reyes Pedro Rivera Molina School

was rather disruptive. So, in that sense it has worked wonders. Now, five minutes can only do so much for a 50 minute class. A 50 minute class where at least 5-10 minutes is spend in arrival, & a good chunk of the rest of the class are spent catching up with your peers. This is definitely the case for my class and some of it's students. Instead of Study Hall I have Social Hall.

The day I gave the film, I was happy to see some students were really captivated by the film as a whole. Other student's attention span carried them over for 10 minutes. The rest of the class it was as if the movie weren't even playing. I must admit that the results were not as engaging as I had expected them to be.

The day of the Review for the first test for those who didn't take it, there were many disruptions & I wasn't able to finish the whole review presentation before the bell rang. I tried to contain those that hadn't taken the test an extra 5 minutes. But it was nearly as hard as trying to hold a live fish trying to get back into water. The day of the test came & judging from the brief overlook, it seems that there was significant similarity in results with those who took the test first. Not much changed.

Reflection #7

UPR Humacao English Pedagogy Program Angel Huertas 842-01-3477 Prof. Maritza Reyes Pedro Rivera Molina School

March 16-20 Week The “infamous” English Week has been upon is. I use the term jokingly. The reason, because the cooperating teacher warned me from the very beginning of the semester that English Week was total chaos. I think she might've underrated it a bit. I didn't even make lesson plans because I was advised that every group would be helping with crafts & handmade stuff that would be used for the Grand Closing on Friday.

During the whole week, Monday thru Friday, the classroom looked like some sort of factory shop. It was full of all kinds of scrapbooking type supplies. Posters were being assembled, invitations were being massively produced in order to get one for each student. That means over 700 invitations had been produced. Also, the teacher wanted to give all the elementary school children a back of candy. So our classroom also resembled Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. No Oompa Loompas though.

I was very happy to see how all the students liked to get hands on involved with anything that needed help. I don't know if it was more about the servitude aspect of it or the fact that they could get “jail free” card from some of their classes. Nonetheless the result was their willing hands.

Some of the students from the seventh grade would be dressing up as Fairy Tale characters.

That was the central premise of English Week. The teacher developed a plot line that consisted in her accidentally opening up a magic book that had been locked away for years.

As the book opened it unleashed an unprecedented amount of magic that turned inanimate things animate & brought fairy take characters into our school.

The day of the Grand Performance was amongst us. The teacher dressed up as Alice in Wonderland. It was a sight. I really like how she engages 100% with these type of projects or “ocurrencias” as she calls them. I reckon these type of thing is what makes her be so

UPR Humacao English Pedagogy Program Angel Huertas 842-01-3477 Prof. Maritza Reyes Pedro Rivera Molina School

approachable and relatable to the students. The little kids from elementary school were fascinated with the whole thing. It seems, or at least as far as I observed, they were really into it.

I dressed up as a character from the book “Shoeless Joe”, which was fleshed into the Kevin Costner film “Field of Dreams”. My rather casual outfit wasn't as big of a hit as the teacher's.

Maybe I could've worn fishnet stockings like her. All in all it was a fun experience to have shared with the cooperating teacher and the students alike.

Reflection #8 March 23-27 Week Long, it seems like it was a longer period of time than it actually was. The English Week made everything so far & distant. I have had to affront this week as though we had come back from a long week whole vacation. That isn't the most helpful thing when you already struggle with a sense of continuity with the students. So this made things a bit more challenging & slow to start and get going.

Nonetheless, there we went. Might've gone at 2 miles per hour, but off we were.

I had to start a selective re-review of brief nature, to start compensating for the week that “we were away”. Some of the book's exercises were reasserted & reassured.

UPR Humacao English Pedagogy Program Angel Huertas 842-01-3477 Prof. Maritza Reyes Pedro Rivera Molina School

There was a slight problem of absent students, even after the long week “away”.

This was not the ideal week, but it was a learning experience alright. There was a sense of nostalgia from the students as they had “nothing” to do anymore, now that the English Week was long gone. There were the happy & colorful memories. Literally, cause there were plenty of photos taken. The teacher likes to photo-document quite thoroughly- all the activities.

How to fully recoup from an uneventful class week? This is a question I was trying to answer all week. I don't think I came up with a successful answer. But I longingly tried to respond with a pertinent & successful conclusion.

The students were in fact very content & satisfied with the results the English Week had. So at least this was a conversation that I found in some of the students as I inquired about their respective experiences.

All of the ones who participated had very similar stories of satisfaction & were eager to have another one. Maybe its all the free candy they could get as left over.

UPR Humacao English Pedagogy Program Angel Huertas 842-01-3477 Prof. Maritza Reyes Pedro Rivera Molina School

Reflection #9 March 30-April 3 Week This week would revisit everything we have been discussing for the past few weeks about Author’s Purpose 7.4 Unit. This unit was meant to create emphasis on the importance of discerning and getting a good feel for what tone and what purpose the author is writing for.

Between the different examples we have gone through, be it an informative article, a persuasive speech or an entertaining read- the students have gotten a good demonstration of the contrasting elements between all the three.

It is still rather challenging for me as I have a good majority of the students who do not speak a word of English other than hello and goodbye. It’s awfully challenging to flow in a class where there is such disparity between the levels of comprehension of each student. It continues to be an uphill and frustrating experience for me. A good 60% of the class is basically going to some special education course of some kind. I am trying to keep things a bit challenging but not over the top for them.

I really aim to make things as relevant as I can for all of them. Trying to relate with them is something I am still working on in order to improve the examples I use. For the most part, if I make the examples rather distinguishable they can tell apart the differences between a piece for sole entertaining purposes- compared to one intended to inform the reader. And, the same goes with powerful persuasive pieces. They have to be illustrated at a very elemental level.

They simply have to be.

As I keep on reflecting, specially now that I am coming to the nearing of the end of the

UPR Humacao English Pedagogy Program Angel Huertas 842-01-3477 Prof. Maritza Reyes Pedro Rivera Molina School

practice experience I can’t help but wonder if the experience I’ve had this far should be representative of the larger picture of teaching. I ask this and I ponder on this because it hasn’t been that great of an experience. At times I conclude that it’s an isolated scenario that sort of plays itself within this age level and this particular school. Then I slide over to the other side and wonder if it’s wholly me that’s in fault here. Anyways, there is something that I draw from the experience in a whole. And, that is that I do like the experience as a unit and maybe not this particular one.

As of April I am beginning to notice signs of wear and a bit of anxiety from the class. Maybe is the fact the semester is about to end. Maybe is the fact that many of them will not be passing th

this class or others. Maybe is the fact that some will end up repeating 7 grade in its entirety the upcoming school year. Or maybe is the PPA that are around the corner. Or maybe is just me that is processing this too subjectively.

Reflection #10 April 6-10 Week This was the first time I'd be working hands on with the students with the newspaper articles. I really didn't know what to expect. I already knew that for many of them their reading comprehension was pretty low. At first I told them to pick out articles that they found

UPR Humacao English Pedagogy Program Angel Huertas 842-01-3477 Prof. Maritza Reyes Pedro Rivera Molina School

interesting. Seeing their feedback and the articles some of them were picking out, due to their extensive length- I had to also tell them to try and find shorter and smaller articles. I also encountered somewhat predictable challenges with a couple of students. Angel Crespo showed typical signs of uninterest and found a number of excuses to find himself doing nothing. Knowing he plays basketball and has great interest for the National Basketball Association (NBA), I suggested he look through the sports section in the newspaper. Sure enough, after brief moments of reluctance and lack of motivation he found an article about Lebron James. It was no magic trick to get him to work. It comes with the time spent with them in and out of class. So he was off and going with the assignment.

There was also some other slight bumps on the road with the completion of this assignment. I found myself having to explain the essence of the project a number of times. May I remind you that most of my group is a gathering of special ed students. I am used to the fact that I have to explain things 3 or 4 times and even then there'll be 3 or 4 students that will head off spontaneous highway and do something completely different to what was assigned. Very few are at a point to be full independent workers. But some are. For those who aren't at that point yet, I have to go around their table every 5 or so to follow up on their assignment status.

There was a weekly scrapbooking closing activity. This is something that I saw they were enjoying a lot. I've noticed they like to work on crafts and projects where they build, craft, construct things with their hands. There's no doubt about that. The reflection of this activity consisted on what their memory and feelings were about the English week. They had good experience during English week. Mainly because they felt entrusted and were part of the organizational staff during that week. Trusting your students with responsibilities can definitely go a long way. Most of them had participated in English week and had stories to tell about their respective roles during English week. Overall, this week was colorful in the sense that we had hands on type work- with the newspapers and then closing off with the scrapbooking.

UPR Humacao English Pedagogy Program Angel Huertas 842-01-3477 Prof. Maritza Reyes Pedro Rivera Molina School

Reflection #11 April 13-17 Week

This was the week prior to the PPA Tests, so we started out exposing the students to some reading comprehension exercises. These will be similar to the ones they will be encountering in their PPA tests. The students, for some reason were in remarkable good behavior. Maybe because of the fact they knew these were important tests that might affect them. I don't exactly know what the reasons were, but all my groups were participating in the readings.

Angel Crespo who is very hesitant to read, as he's mostly talking about other worldly type stuff, for my surprise he was up and about about reading during these exercises. This is what

UPR Humacao English Pedagogy Program Angel Huertas 842-01-3477 Prof. Maritza Reyes Pedro Rivera Molina School

I was talking about when I said they were remarkable during this week. A lot of emphasis was made by both- the cooperating teacher and I was to not fluke the tests. We constantly reminded them to not go into the tests with a careless attitude because that's what some were constantly saying. They could've very well just been joking around, but we made sure to make them know these were tests that are to be taken seriously.

During the rest of the week from Wednesday on forth, I had to attend to some urgent tuition and payment related matters at the University.

Reflection #12 May 4-8 Week The Debate and Persuasion Unit has got to be one of my favorites. In every unit you seek to

UPR Humacao English Pedagogy Program Angel Huertas 842-01-3477 Prof. Maritza Reyes Pedro Rivera Molina School

leave a good space of openness for debate and allow the students to make the road by walking it. But, in this particular unit, this phenomena happens more often and with more intentionality. So to start this unit, we decided to choose political cartoons to get the ball rolling. Such a simple exercise as presenting the class with a picture and allow that itself to generate the class is a fascinating thing. And so it did.

Using political cartoons dating back to over a century ago marked out great discussions. Most of the students were generating exquisite commentary and reacting to what they thought to be interesting about the pictures. Something I really enjoy about this process is all that I pick up from it. They were pointing out things about the pictures that I myself hadn't even noticed.

This is what I love about the beautiful art called pedagogy. The constructivist ensemble put together by the students themselves. I simply guide the conversation a bit, but my interjections are simply to question and suggest, but never to impose or eliminate, nor discredit their criteria.

To give them some background history of comic strips and cartoons, specially those in the newspaper, I showed them a brief summary of a documentary called Stripped. This documentary shows how comic strips began to appear in the newspapers and how they became very popular. The documentary can be somewhat engaging, but for seventh graders

UPR Humacao English Pedagogy Program Angel Huertas 842-01-3477 Prof. Maritza Reyes Pedro Rivera Molina School

it could be a bit heavy at times. This is the reason I chose to show certain parts of the documentary. Those parts that had cartoons and animations in it, as well as examples of how these cartoons have evolved over time. The reaction overall from the students was one of general interest and a few of them asked questions. They wondered how old cartoons are still coming out in major newspapers. Part of the documentary explained this. It's called syndication, which is also a phenomena in tv series. This made it easier to understand for them.

At this point of the week, being the second to last week, there have been some students that have already gone off to vacations and some that have simply stopped coming. So the classroom was starting to look rather empty. Some of the more problematic students weren't around during the last days.

Reflection #13 May 11-15 Week As a closing week creeped up, I decided to close off with some anti-bullying discussions. The students were able to build a relationship tree. The class was based off the topic of relationship. This was the scaffold to eventually get to the topic of bullying. We discussed amongst each other qualities all different type of relationships have. A lot of emphasis was put on respecting one another. The roots, the foundation of friendships are based on manifesting

UPR Humacao English Pedagogy Program Angel Huertas 842-01-3477 Prof. Maritza Reyes Pedro Rivera Molina School

mutuality that consist mainly in the golden rule.

Most of the students participated in constructing the tree together. In the exercise itself we were exercising the very discussion that was going on in a theoretic realm. Allowing for the students to get together to discuss briefly was in part the application of what we spoke about.

Whether they noticed or not, it was indeed happening. Instilling this sense of respect amongst one another is a vital part of the pedagogical assignment I have as a teacher with them.

This Wednesday was my last day with the students. We had a Pizza Karaoke party. They seemed to be enjoying themselves plentifully. Some students came up to me, gave me their good wishes, thanked me and some even hugged me. A particularly shy student went up to the mic and said some heartfelt things about me. She was grateful for being so nice to her as a teacher. She said I was like a dad and a brother, and for this she was very happy. This particularly touched me. In the hurry and bussyness of the semester, one loses sight sometimes of how one could be affecting these kids' lives. A moment like this serves as a well needed reminder of how one did indeed make a difference.

As I left school that day I couldn't help but have a 10 minute reflection on my way home about all these kids. Kids that allowed me to teach them and even opened their hearts and minds to

UPR Humacao English Pedagogy Program Angel Huertas 842-01-3477 Prof. Maritza Reyes Pedro Rivera Molina School

me. I counted it such an honor and privilege. These will be experiences that well forever be tattooed in my mind and my heart.