Every Tuesday morning I travel to Nationalities Senior Center in North Philadelphia hoping that I won’t be found out. While I walk the six blocks from the subway I compulsively feel inside my bag to ensure I have copies of my lesson for the day. A lesson plan, which I am sad to admit, I agonized over picking out.
North Philadelphia, a competitive, but good-natured game of table tennis takes place. Two elderly Vietnamese gentlemen wail back and forth at the tiny ping-pong ball mercilessly, dodging behind and around the table with surprising speed. The shorter of the two gentlemen, wearing a pair of glasses and a beige baseball cap, seems to be winning the match.
The leaders assist in running the Orientation and Reflection ceremonies, mentor new SHINE coaches, write,interview and submit articles for the SHINE newsletter, represent SHINE on campus events like Unity Day, fundraise at activities like the campus-wide Food Sale, and go on fun leadership activities like rock climbing!
Elsuleik has big plans to go back to school here in Philadelphia to further his studies in Food & Science Technology with a Master’s Degree. Ever since he was a child, he has dreamt of becoming a professor and he hopes to fulfill that dream here in the United States.
Every Tuesday morning I travel to Nationalities Senior Center in North Philadelphia hoping that I won’t be found out. While I walk the six blocks from the subway I compulsively feel inside my bag to ensure I have copies of my lesson for the day. A lesson plan, which I am sad to admit, I agonized over picking out.
