21: "Coby's Over Here!"

As my mom likes to remind me, I am here to be a student, and school is my first priority.  But that doesn't mean that classes can't fun, right?

Of course, classes can and SHOULD be fun.  I've had many classes where I had fun, like the TV studio class in my last post.  But there's one class that went beyond just fun, and it is my 21st-most memorable college experience: Sociology 389.

I took SOC 389 because it appealed to me as an opportunity to get involved in the community.  Only later did I realize that it fulfilled a graduation requirement for me.  The class puts students into groups and send them off into the community to help out in various arenas: jails, schools, soup kitchens, etc.  Then, once weekly in class, we'd talk about our experiences and submit short journal entries.

Growing up in a big Italian family, I was always used to being around little kids, and in college that was something I missed.  I coached youth basketball, football, and soccer for awhile, but being paid to do something is naturally a much different experience.  I chose this particular section of 389 because it gave me the chance to go to an elementary school and participate in their after school program.  I was assigned to Eberwhite Elementary in Ann Arbor.

Eberwhite's after school program was, in essence, a mult-functional day care.  My sister did a similar thing when we lived in Indiana.  It gives students a safe place to be until their parents get out of work.  They get to play games, have a snack, go outside, and get their homework done.

I loved my Wednesday afternoons at Eberwhite.  The kids were all so much fun to be around.  I'd draw pictures with them, play board games, quarterback the flag football games, shoot hoops, and generally just goof around for a couple hours.  After a couple of weeks, I was joined by another guy from my class, a freshman names Ryan (who will appear a couple more times in this countdown, no doubt).  Ryan and I were given nicknames by some of the girls in the after school program, and I can't remember but I think one of us was named Carl???  Anyway, we returned the favor by giving all the girls nicknames, except the nicknames weren't as much nicknames as they were boy names.  For example, there was a Billy Bob, a Steve, and my personal favorite: Frank the Tank (we told the girl she was never allowed to tell her parents that because "Frank the Tank" was the name of Will Ferrell's character from "Old School").

Aside from the culminating project in the course - Ryan, myself, and a few others choreographing a dance to oldies hits for the program's variety show (and the two little guys who played Clapton on their guitars) - the highlight of the experience came when Ryan and I were playing basketball in the gym one day.  There was a girl in the program named Coby.  Coby was a fifth grader, so she was one of the older kids there, and she really took to liking Ryan and I, and we all liked to tease each other a bit.  Jackie, the wonderful older woman in charge of the program, came into the gym looking for Coby.

Jackie asked, "Where's Coby?" just as Ryan drilled a three-pointer and held his form like Kobe Bryant would.  Ryan, instantly, turns and yells "Kobe's over here!"  You had to be there, but it was hysterical, take my word for it.