Journal Entry #1 - March 30th

Yesterday was the first time that I had met with my Mentee since before Spring Break. She had plans for going to Washington for the majority of the break, so I was very interested in knowing how that trip went for her. She was very excited about it, but she was nervous as well, since she hadn't seen that part of her family in a little over a year or so.

We met in the counseling room in the office because the room we normally meet in at the Library was full. The very first thing I noticed was how at ease she is with me now, which is a great change from when we started meeting! We dropped the blinds on the windows and then joked about how we felt like we were secretly plotting like mad scientists with the room all closed off.

I asked her how her trip went, and she enthusiastically talked about Washington and everything she did up there for nearly the entire time we met. She was very excited because her Uncle gave her use of a dirt bike for the whole trip, and she said that she rarely stopped riding it. She was also excited because it snowed while she was up there, and she had been kind of disappointed that there wasn't any real snow down here this year.

We talked about how her first few days back at classes have been ("Spring break wasn't long enough" was her answer) and what her goals for the rest of the school year are.

We also talked about a problem that I've had in meeting her. When I show up (on time to early) sometimes it takes the kids working in the office fifteen minutes to send her a note to come meet me, and if it's a PE day, it takes another five to ten minutes for her to get dressed. One time I waited nearly 30 minutes for her, and it really cuts into our meeting time. We talked about possible ways to fix this (changing meeting times, having her go directly from her class before to where we meet, seeing if her PE teacher will let her not dress down because she has a meeting, ect) and talked about which option might work for us the best.

It was good meeting with her, especially now that she feels more comfortable with me and can joke and goof, instead of feeling unsure or uncomfortable.