Fast Start and Summer Start 2012: The end of Fast Start and Graduation

By Brieland Jones and Jose Alfaro

After a break-in and larsony at Kakata, a breakout of gonorhaea at Zorzor, and the first time use of an Epi Pen at Firestone (sorry Mom...I'm ok), we're all back safe and sound and starting the next chapter in the summer of EHELD. I've always been amazed by the potential to make lifelong friends in an incredibly short period of time and we've already made plans to meet up again with the University of Michigan crew, and hope to see the PCVs sporadically throughout the rest of our stay in Liberia.

Many of our discussions leading up to our High School camps rolled around the fact that 2 weeks are really not enough to make an impact on the students. How can one heal gapping holes in Math and English in the span of just two weeks? How can one really convey the meaning and importance of such fields as Engineering and Agriculture? How can we create a culture of students that think critically and have imaginative solutions to everyday problems in just two weeks? It just seems impossible. But we have to start some where. Little steps would help.

Mss. Crandall and the students

At the end of our camp in Kakata the majority of our students still did not have the skills to move up to pre-calculus or to write a research report. Many of them still had no idea what exactly an engineer does or how it relates to agriculture and vice-versa. But the question really should be broader. Did we have an impact on students lives period? That objective was a resounding yes. Our students may not be totally ready to take on college. But they are much better at dreaming now. They are much better at working in groups and supporting each other. They are a community now. The second to last day we ran demonstrations of different experiments. We showed them how magnets can move liquids and how you can touch slowly a non-newtonian liquid that acts as a solid when you punch it quickly. "That witch there oh!" exclaimed some of them. Now, they now that is not vudu or "juju" but science.

At Firestone and Kakata we prepared videos with music and pictures of the students. They were mesmerized to see them. They loved them!

Students playing with the Non-Newtonian Fluid

We finished up on a great note with the final Tractor Pull competition and a video presentation of the students over the previous two weeks. The different models were outstanding and although at the beginning of the week they all had issues trying to get the tractor to move on its own, in the end they all ran and fast. We had a power competition to see who could lift a weight through a set of pulleys the highest. Then we had a set of drag races to see who's tractor could make it further down the track.

Students working on their tractors

After our competition we had a little ceremony to hand out certificates and some prices. Several students came up to delight us with funny stories of the camp and jokes. Then two students led them in hymns. Finally a shy student who asked if she could sing came up. She opened her mouth and delightful sounds came out that stilled the room in shock at first to then burst in admiration. She sang a verse of a hymn and then kept going at the encouragement of her colleagues.

When we handed out the certificates they hooted and hollered for each other. Each name we called was followed by chants of nicknames, girlfriends, or funny references. All of them were cheered intensely as they walked proudly shake hands with instructors and receive a humble certificate. They had become a family. They had become a team.

As we parted ways with those students and made our way back to Monrovia I pondered on the impact the students had on me. Two weeks was enough. Two weeks was more than enough for them to take a little place in all of our hearts and hopefully viceversa.

Mr. Jose and the boys

All of our teams came from the different sites after hours or days in the case of Zwedru of traveling on rough roads. The message at the debrief table that night was pretty unanimous. Each camp was a success story of students breaking through their shyness, being motivated to dream big and being exposed to new things. The peace corps volunteers that participated as instructor gave us the best compliments for our curriculum: they will continue to use it in their own classrooms. They also all said they would love to participate again.

The peace corps also showed us how much of a challenge education is. ALthough our students had difficulty with the curriculum at various stages, all of the PC volunteers agreed; these were the best students they had had in Liberia.

Our five teams spend one last night in Monrovia, delighting in pizza and ice cream and the memories of two weeks well spent!