An Aha moment that will always stay with me was when a kid had a situation and needed a moment to compose himself. While we were talking, and he said, “I have never been treated with so much kindness, so I don’t know what to do with you”. We talked and he shared some of his life as I was sharing mine. After that, he grew so much with finding ways of calming himself down and being proud that he did it on his own.

One of the AHA moments I have experienced was with a kid who joined us in summer 2021. Most of the summer he would only speak to 3 other kids, one of which was his cousin. Later, in September 2021 while doing math homework he began telling jokes and laughing which was something new. After that day he made a 360-degree change, he would express his likes, dislikes, and comments. It was so surprising and special to see him find his own voice, I remember our former art teacher saying, “he used to not talk at all and now I cannot get him too stop”.