My senior year of high school I got to do what every single senior wished they could do: hang out in a freshman English classroom every single day for an hour.

Ha, yes I know some of you gasped at that, and said to yourself "there's no amount of money that you could pay me to do that". And yes, I know for some people, the idea of that concept is enough to scare them to running in the opposite direction. However, it was probably the best part of my year.

Now, what does a peer coach do? I had the coolest role ever. I wasn't a teacher and didn't have that authority, but I wasn't exactly a student either. I had this new in-between role that my friend Karla (another peer coach in the adjacent room) and I had to invent. Who were we? I thought of myself as a tutor, or like a cool older sister who knew more about English than they did (which was true).

In the beginning, Karla and I had to try to figure out how to manage a room full of high school freshman. It was not an easy task. How do you approach a classroom of kiddos who don't want to be there? Easy. You build relationships with them. I felt like it was much easier for them to talk to me instead of the teacher because they probably felt more comfortable talking to someone who was only 3-4 years older than them. If I was in their position, I totally would too. But do you know what I learned? Even the most difficult kiddos were the ones that I was super excited to see day after day- even though the day before they made me want to scream or give up. I loved the moment that someone finally understood something. And I loved being able to be that middle-man that they could trust.

Also, those kiddos were good kiddos at heart. I genuinely liked them as people. I probably would have hung out with them outside of school, but I knew that some of them probably thought I was lame- and that's okay. Being a peer coach wasn't exactly something that made me "cool", but it was something that made me believe that I can definitely be a good teacher one day. The beginning was rough, but towards the end, I was in a rhythm and felt confident in what I was doing and the relationships that I had built. However, I feel old because they're juniors now, so yikes! But I know they're out there doing great things. In my eyes, they'll always be my kiddos, and there's nothing that can change that. (Also, I know I blend in with a bunch of freshmen, but I'm the one in maroon)