This week at BJM, I volunteered in the Arts and Sciences room. I entered the room to the kids playing their own made up version of air hockey with a bunch of blocks and a table. They were giving Mr. Patel quite a hard time so I joined in as a referee and managed to smooth things out. Following a half an hour of this, we all decided to play a board game and one kid chose Battleship. As we were setting up, a very shy kid sat down next to me and I got a sense that he wanted to play. Sure enough, he did but he didn’t know how to play. I carefully explained to him the rules and even demonstrated how to play the game, but I realized that he was too shy to even speak up and say “hit” or “miss.” However, after a while of playing the game he really started to like it. I made sure to make him feel as comfortable as possible and I think it worked because I saw him smile for the first time that day when he sank one of his opponent’s ship. I learned from this day that it is really important to speak up otherwise you can miss out on some really fun moments/opportunities. I’m glad I was able to make that kid feel much more comfortable because he was actually able to play with the other kids instead of just watching them play different games.