An Eye Opening Experience

I've been absent from the blogging scene for the past week but it's not for a lack of desire. The police department is putting me, along with 19 other officers, in a ten week Spanish Immersion program. It's basically four college semesters in ten short weeks.

This week though, we are on "spring break" and we have the option of either taking vacation. The second option is being placed in different locations, such as schools or old age centers, with a large Hispanic population. So for the last four days I have been at Our Lady of Angels Catholic school. I've been in the 4th, 6th and 8th grade classrooms. It has been an eye opening experience. I've been able to spend time with kids that I never would have gotten to meet any other way. I've gotten to find a new appreciation for what teachers go though. Hopefully, they have gotten to see police officers in a new light.

We went in as "community volunteers" so that they could know us as people without having a bias towards us because we are police officers. Well, kids aren't dumb and this is the third year that they have done this so many of them knew right away who we were but that doesn't matter--I think it's been a positive experience.

Tomorrow is my last day. We will show up in uniform and I am going to pick up a police car so the kids can experience that. I've enjoyed the week---I'm not sure I can last any longer though. God bless our teachers!!