"Oh - my  - gosh  - Quinton!   I see an 'F' in your future young man!  I can't believe you filled in more than one answer bubble for each question.  Didn't I just tell all of you how to bubble your answers?  And what's this?  Why did you put 'A' as the answer for every question?   I can assure you that 'A' is NOT the correct answer to all the questions.  And don't go telling your mother that I'm yelling at you.  You ARE NOT following directions!" 

It was just after 9 o'clock on a Friday morning as I walked down the corridor toward the classroom.  I heard the teacher, Mrs. Mercure, sounding like a drill sergeant as she scolded one of her students.  Geez man, I don't remember being yelled at like that when I was in the first grade.  We didn't have 'SAT style' standardized bubble answer sheets either, but I guess that times have changed. 

I had my materials and lesson plan in hand.  I'm not sure how they came up with the idea, but the Junior Achievement Foundation, with whom our Navy ROTC Unit is volunteering, managed to set up a program geared towards teaching kindergarten through high school students about economics and it's impact on their community.  On the first grade level, to which I am assigned, that is broken down to things like families, parent's jobs, chores, and other fundamental things along those lines.  I've been with this class at the Margaret Mitchell Elementary School for quite a while now.  It's hard to believe that this was my last day with them.

As I arrived at the classroom door, I peeked inside to see what they were up to.  The classroom walls were decorated with finger paintings and crayon drawings, posters and colorful pictures.  They sat at desks that one would think were made to seat elves rather than children.  I saw them passing in their papers from what looked like a math quiz to Mrs. Mercure.  One of them, Lisa, saw me and burst out, "Mr. Jon!"  The rest of the class turned toward me upon hearing her outburst and chimed in unison, "Mr. Joooooooon!!!"  You would swear that they had all just been told that Dorothy had just killed the Wicked Witch of the West had you seen all the ear-to-ear smiles they had on their faces.  It almost made me want to turn around and look over my shoulder to see if I had unknowingly dragged an ice cream cart into the classroom with me.  I could see Mrs. Mercure breathe a sigh of relief as though I was accepting responsibility for a bunch of devils.  I don't think she's into the habit, but I'd bet that she'd be going for a smoke break right about now if she were.  They all call me Mr. Jon because they can't pronounce my last name.  "Mee-gaay," "Meh-gaay-hee," "Meh-gah-hi," "Meh-gaay," "Meh-gah-hee," I've heard it all.

"Did you guys miss me?"  "Yeeessss!" they all replied.  "I missed you guys too."  Mrs. Mercure wasted no time getting her things and leaving the classroom.  She wasn't even looking at me when I waved goodbye to her as she flew out the door.  "Ooooooh!  Can I wear your hat!?!?!" Michael said pointing to my Bancroft cover.  "Sure you can, but don't get it dirty."  Not needing to be told a second time, Michael jumped out of his chair and snatched the hat out of my hand.  Despite the fact that it was too big for his head, he put it on immediately.  He held it up with his hands as he grinned at me.  It wasn't long before the rest of the class was rushing towards him saying, "Let me try!!!!"  Dana grabbed it from him, but didn't make it far before Manuel took it from her and started running around the room to get away from all of the hat thieves chasing him.  I could see where this was headed, so I stopped Carlos in his tracks and retrieved my cover. 

"Alright you guys, I think I'll keep my cover for the time being.  It's time for all of you to sit down."  They all look at me with glum faces as I put my cover on top of the bookshelf where none of them can reach it.  "Come on guys, go back to your desks.  I've got something for you all, but I'll only give it to you if you all sit down."  Upon hearing that there was something in store for them, they darted back to their desks without delay.  It seems like the only way to get them to do things quickly to have an immediate reward in store for them.  The children have so much energy and such short attention spans that you need to keep them engaged in some sort of activity to make sure they stay out of trouble.  "Ok, I've got two cards I'm going to hand to each of you.  One says "Need" and the other says "Want."  When I give you your cards, place them face down on your desks until I tell you what we're going to do with them."  As I went around to each desk and handed them their cards, they took the cards from my hands as if I was handing them a piece of candy or a small treasure of some sort.  I made my way to the front of the classroom after I finished handing out all the cards.  They all looked at me with eager expressions.  "Ok class, today were going to learn about needs and wants.  Does anyone know what those words mean?  Raise your hand if you can tell me."  "Me! Me!" Dana shouted, "I know!"  "I'm not going to call on you if you don't raise your hand Dana."  She shot her right hand into the air and covered her mouth with her left hand as though that was the only way she could keep herself quiet.  "Ok Dana, what do they mean?"  She looked upward as I called on her as if the answer was somewhere on the ceiling.  "Um, a need is something that you want and...and...um..."  I could only smile at the innocence of her answer as I said, "Ok Dana, that's a start, but it's not quite correct.  Can anyone else help her out?"  Seeing his opportunity, Dante' sent his hand into the air so quickly that the rest of his body followed, leaving him stretching on his tiptoes over the front of his desk.  "Dante', what can you tell us?"  He put his hand down and folded his arms across his chest as though he was collecting a multitude of complex thoughts and then said, "A want is...um...something that you need because you don't have it."    I smiled at him as I replied, "That's a good answer too Dante' but it's still not completely correct.  Do you want me to tell you what the correct answers are?"  "Yeeeeeeeeeess," they all repled.  "A want is something that families would like to have, but could do without.  It isn't something they need to live.  A need is something that families cannot do without.  They must have it to live.  Do you guys get that?"  "Yeeeeeeeeeesss."  "Ok then.  Everyone has three basic needs in order to live:  food, clothing and shelter.  Food is what you eat to be healthy; clothing protects you from the weather; and shelter protects you by giving you a place to live.  Does everyone agree that families all need these things to live?"  "Yeeeeess," they replied.  "Alright, I have some pictures that I'm going to show you all.  I want you to tell me if what you see in the picture is a need or a want by holding up one of the cards that I gave you with each of those words on it.  I don't want you to talk, just put up your card until I ask a question.  Does everyone understand?"  "Yeeeeeeeeeess."  "Ok, just to see if everyone remembers, what are the three basic needs?"  They replied in unision, "Fooooood, clooothiiiiiiiing, and sheeelteeeeeer."  I retrieved the pictures from my bag of materials and held them facing me as I looked at the class and said, "Ok, here's the first picture..."  I flipped around so that it was facing them and held it up as they raised their cards.  I saw that everyone in the class had their need cards in the air except for Manuel and Caesar, who proudly displayed their want cards.  "Nicole, what do you see in the picture?"  "A house!!!"  "And is a house a need or a want Nicole?"  "A need!!!" she replied.  "Right, and a house is which of the three basic needs class?"  "Sheeelteeeer!!!"  "Caesar, why do you think this is a want?"  He looked at me while covering his face shyly and said, "Because my family lives in an apartment and I want to live in a house."  Amazed by the sincerity of his rationale I replied, "Oh, I see. Is that also your reason Manuel?"  He grinned at me as he nodded his head in agreement.  "Ok, let's go to the next picture."  Everyone was holding up his or her want cards except Manuel and Caesar.  "Daniel, what do you see in the picture?"  "Roller-skates!" he replied.  "And are roller-skates a need or a want?"  "A want!!!" he replied again.  "Right.  Caesar, why do you think that roller-skates are a need?"  He looked at me as though he was trying to convince a judge that he wasn't guilty of a crime and said, "Because I neeeeeeeeeeed roller-skates Mr. Jon!!!"  I had to try my best not to laugh at his sad puppy face as he pleaded his case.  "Let me guess Manuel, you have the same story too?"  He covered his mouth with his hands to keep from giggling as he nodded his head.

I repeated the exercise with about 12 more pictures.  Manuel and Caesar managed to have answers opposite from the rest of the class on every single one of them.  "Ok class, since this is my last day with you guys, I've got some certificates for you.  Carlos, stop throwing those pieces of paper across the class."  I walked over to my materials bag and retrieved a handful of certificates.  Each one was printed on shiny 8 x 11" paper with bright rainbow colors.  It said "Certificate of Achievement" across the top with the student's name, school, teacher, volunteer, and date taking up the rest of the page.  I filled all of spaces with a silver glitter pen.  I figured that the children would really get a kick out of seeing their full names in shiny silver ink.  "Ok guys, when I call your name, I want you to come for your certificate.  Carlos, stop throwing those papers."  They all began to fidget in their seats after hearing that I had something more in store for them.  They could hardly wait for their names to be called.  Noticing that Carlos was still throwing paper across the room, I walked over to his desk and stood over him.  "Carlos, for the third time, stop throwing pieces of paper."  He looked at me with a mischievous grin and then proceeded to roll another wad.  Before he could hurl it at his next target, I placed my hands beneath his armpits and raised him straight up out of his chair.  He looked at me with wide-eyed astonishment like a deer caught in car headlights as I held him 4 feet off the ground.  "Carlos, have you ever seen me upset?"  "No, Mr. Jon" he replied with a confused look on his face.  "Exactly, and that's not a trend I'm going to break on my last day with you guys.  Will you stop throwing those pieces of paper if put you down?"  "Yes Mr. Jon," he replied with a smile.  To his relief I lowered him slowly to the ground.  He sat down at his desk and put his wads of paper away. 

"Alright then, Lisa, come on down!"  She got up from her desk and ran towards me.  I knelt down to hand her certificate as she took it from my hand. She put her arms around my neck hugged me so tightly that I had to hold my breath until she let go.  She skipped back to her desk and stared at the shiny lettering that spelled her name.  "Carlos, my man, this one is for you!"  He popped out of his chair and gave me a hug and a handshake as I handed him his certificate.  "Dana, I've got yours right here!" 

After handing out all the certificates, I thought about the fact that I probably wouldn't get to see all of them again.  I can honestly say being with them has been one of the most fulfilling things I've done since I've been in this city.  I really looked forward to spending time with them on mornings before my classes for the day began.  "You guys did a wonderful job today.  I'm proud of you all for being such a great class...so what do I want everyone to do???"  The all light up as they remember what I told the class to do whenever they've been good.  They jump out of their desks as if they were Tiger Woods winning the Master's Golf Tournament, pumping their right fists as they exclaim, "Yesssssss!!!"  Watching them do it cracks me up every time.  "Haha, alright.  I've really enjoyed being with you guys.  I'm going to miss all of you."  Lisa looked at me with a sense of urgency on her face and said, "Wait, you can't go yet!  You're forgetting something!"  "Uhhh, what did I forget?"  "Puuuuuushuuuuuuups!!!"  They shouted in unison.  "Oh yeah!  Haha.  Thanks for reminding me guys."  I promised them that I would do 50 pushups at the end of every class.  They could either count while I did them, or do them with me if they wanted to.  "Alright guys, gather around on the mat."  They all crowded around me and lay on their stomachs as they waited for me to start.  "Ok guys, lets go!"  "One, two, three..."  Quinton put on his Rambo face as pushed himself up and down.  Nicole looked like she was going into labor.  Caesar was grunting as if he was constipated.  "Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen..."  Most of them had given up by the time we reached 20.  The rest of them would do a few, then take a rest, and then start again.  "...Thirty-six, thirty-seven, thirty-eight..."  They were all just looking at me by know, trying to figure out how I could still keep going.  "...Forty-eight, forty-nine, fifty!!!"  I stood up and looked at the dying children that lay around me.  "I can't feel my arms!"  "My back hurts!"  "I can't move!"  They all looked like a bunch of beached whales flailing on the mat.  "Oh come on you guys," I said, "most of you didn't get past 10."  "Nuh uh!" Daniel said, "I did 50 just like you!"  "Sure you did." I replied with a smile.  "Alright guys, let's have a group hug."  All the supposed 'dead and dying' jumped up and huddled around me.  At least 20 pairs of feet were stepping all over the shoes I had just shined the night before, but I really didn't care.  I can shine my shoes any time I please, but I don't know when next I'll see the smiling faces of all the children gathered around me.  They've definitely touched my life in ways that I'll never forget, and on the same token...I think I've touched theirs as well.