I could not believe how sweet the children were! They were all very enthusiastic to try my activities and didn’t complain one bit when a strange, relatively tall teenager entered the room to give directions. As they walked into the room, the students proudly announced their names and asked me questions ranging from my name to my school. They were all so sweet!

There were a few instances that stuck out to me in my first session with these students, but this one stuck with me the most. The first activity I did with the younger (preschool-kindergarten) students was “Create Your Own Superhero.” I gave each group of two a sheet of paper. While some groups easily shared and created the superhero together, others had difficulty agreeing on a superhero and wouldn’t even share the paper with one another. I went up to one group of girls. One girl wanted to make a superhero like Wonder Woman and the other girl wanted to make a superhero like Elsa. They had each drawn their own superhero on the page. I explained to them that the activity was supposed to be about teamwork, and that they were supposed to create one superhero together. They were still reluctant. I asked each of them what they liked about their respective superhero and got an array of responses ranging from the superpowers to the clothing. I paused and then asked, “Why don’t you combine both of the superheroes-and everything you like about them- together to make a mega superhero!” The girls gasped with fascination and began their new project. As the end of the project, I was proud to return to the table and see a combined super hero with, “Wonder Woman combined with Elsa” written on the top of the page.