My Experience with AYC
Due to the interactive and confidential nature of my work with the AYC, I have no written of visual items I can put online. However, I have stories of experiences shared below to shed some light on what my experience looked like.
First day on the job
I found myself extremely nervous for my first day as I was not sure what to expect. Once I arrived at the centre, my coworkers all introduced themselves and explained how things would run, and what my role would be for the day. When the centre opened and the youth arrived, everyone was very friendly from the beginning and a group of youth actually invited me into their games and seemed very excited to get to know me. They taught me how to play super smash bros and while I was not very good a the game they seemed to enjoy my company right away.
Conflict De-escalation...
During one of my shifts, the youth seemed to be getting very restless and starting acting out towards each other. A youth had grabbed another person's phone and their reaction was to grab the other youth's arm and injure them with their nail. This happened in front of me. I immediately made it known that while taking another person's phone is not ok, physical violence will absolutely not be tolerated. The youth apologized to both me and the other youth and I have not seen such behaviour from them since.
Pool Tournament...
I had the opportunity to plan and lead a pool tournament for the AYC. This was one of my favourite days at the youth centre because it allowed me to be fully interactive with youth who I hadn't had the chance to get to know yet. There were 12 youth involved in the activity and everyone had lots of fun. There were both participation prizes and a larger prize for the winner of the tournament so everyone was happy just to be involved. Even the youth who were not interested in playing watched the tournament unfold. I was very happy that my event was successful and that everyone had a good time.
Stressful Situations and Advice...
One day a youth had expressed that they were going for their drivers test very soon but they were worries that the anxiety they feel about the test would cause them to fail. I sat with the youth and told them all about my experience getting my license and how nervous I was too. We talked about what to expect on the test, what the ICBC staff expects of you and how to cope with nerves before and during the test. I reminded them that it is not the end of the world if they don't pass the first time and that no matter what happens it is a valuable experience. The next week they told me all about the test and how they were so happy to have passed.
