Having been to the Alton, Illinois Boys and Girls Club once before, I already have a good idea of how it is set up and what the demographic of students is like. The club appears to be situated in a repurposed school building. Looking around the building, there are lots of bright colors and signs with big words that would easily attract kids’ attention. A lot of the boys and girls are students of color, with a small minority of them being white or white-passing. From previously driving in the area around the club, I’ve seen that the neighborhood is far from being considered well-off or affluent. There are lots of potholes and small, dilapidated homes that suggest a relatively low socioeconomic status for most of the area inhabitants. My partners were all pretty cautious with their interactions with the students because they knew some of them but there were also lots of new kids. In terms of non-verbal cues, my partners and I were trying hard to display open body language as well as active engagement (i.e. eye contact).
Having been to the club a few times in the first semester, we were familiar with some of the students, so it wasn’t very difficult to come back after winter break and pick back up where we left off. For the few students that didn’t know us, though, we (re)introduced ourselves and let them know what our main purpose of being there is. We tried to explain in simple terms how we intend to break up into small groups of mentors and mentees, and we told them some of our main interests. It was at this point that the majority of the students seemed ready to check out, so we let them talk or go outside and play as they wished. Some of my partners stayed inside and conversed with them, while I tried to connect with some of them (mostly boys) on the basketball court. It took a little bit for them to warm up to me, but I think I made it clear that I wasn’t a teacher and that I was just trying to have fun too.