Jasmine T.

An interview with Malachi Center Group Leader Jasmine Thomas.

Group Leader Jasmine Thomas

Galen: The first question I have is why did you decide to get involved with Malachi?

Jasmine: So it all started when during my undergrad at Baldwin-Wallace for one of my courses, I had an internship and for that internship, I got the opportunity to work with Malachi center and during that time at Malachi center, I got to know the kids. I got to know the staff, got to know how everything worked at Malachi center and they offered me a job when my internship was up and I decided to come back and work full time as an employee, so I could get to know the kids some more and continue on this path with Malachi Center.

Galen: So how long have you been working with the Malachi center now?

Jasmine: I would say, I wanna say two years, maybe three.

Galen: So what would you say you enjoy most about volunteering, and now working at Malachi Center?

Jasmine: I would say the thing that I like the most is being a group leader for the children, and being able to see the kids every day and their after school time and being able to ask them how their day was, talk to the kids, work with kids, help them out in anything that they need. The most rewarding thing is the kids and being able to see the kids.

Galen: Oh, that's really, that's a really beautiful thing. What would you say that the impact has been on your life getting to work with the kids and work at Malachi center?

Jasmine: The impact on my life? Well we do something called social, emotional learning at Malachi center, and that's like our main foundation that we do with the kids. And the main thing that we try to teach every day. So I would say that learning about social, emotional learning has impacted my life a lot because I've learned a lot of skills, a lot of calm down techniques, and just a whole bunch of other skills and information about social, emotional learning. That's positively impacted my life, that I use on a daily basis, either, sometimes with the kids. And also sometimes just in regular life when I'm not even at work. And then like just the experience of working with the kids. I know that eventually if I do move on to another job that I do have a ton of experience working with kids, they've given me a lot of opportunities to see different scenarios that happen with kids that you may see working as a regular teacher. And they just give me a lot of experience basically that I know that I can carry on with me to different jobs.

Galen: I guess my final question is do you have any sort of final parting thoughts about Malachi, or kind of like some final words of wisdom about what you've learned or, or some thoughts about Malachi center?

Jasmine: I would say final parting words that Malachi center has really been so impactful in my life that I'll always carry a piece of Malachi with me in my heart. I'll always remember the staff, all my coworkers, even my bosses have been really impactful, really nice, and I’ve had a really great relationship with everyone. And I'll always remember the kids as well. And I hope that as they do grow and eventually age out of the program, that they go on to live a really happy and impactful life as well, and that they remember Malachi center. And yeah, it's just it's just very impactful, very, very strong connection, strong tie, and I'll always remember it and it's something that's really been helpful in the trajectory of my life, because now I know for sure that I do want to be a teacher and I'm currently getting my masters in education, so I could go on to be a teacher myself. It's definitely put me on that path to teaching, and it's given me the strength and knowledge to know that I can do it.