Who would have ever thought that a building on Little Neck Parkway across the street from a swimming pool would become my home. The Samuel Field YMHA was a building that I dreaded attending since my grandpa would go there weekly. I associated the Y with boredom, but soon enough came to realize that this place would hold potential for me to grow. My home, the Y, is the place that gave me new opportunities and allowed me to make new friendships that I never thought I could have.
One significant place is the gym, a room that is never empty and a new memory is always waiting to be made. Sometimes you will find children playing with hula hoops, while other times you might find my friends attempting to shoot a basketball into the hoop from half court, or at 4 o’clock in the morning when I’m wrestling with an aggressive girl who has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and everyone is chanting “DIE NICOLE DIE” in the background. From the creaks in the wooden gym floors, to the adorable children jumping onto the mats that they are not allowed on, the gym is usually filled with screaming and chaos, but this alone demonstrates why I love this place.
Then we walk upstairs to Haifa, also known as the room where all the magic happens. This is where we would have Teen Council meetings every Thursday. Teen Council was the leadership/community service group where I was considered to be the leader. Somehow, in this room, sitting in a circle every week with thirty other people has changed me for the better by teaching me how to step out of my comfort zone. I learned how to speak confidently in front of groups of people, as I led multiple activities. I also became the imperative person for planning most of our events throughout the year as I took the minutes of each meeting. My list of responsibilities included Babysitting Nights, where we would watch kids and raise money for different charities, which would always end up as sleepovers and eating bagels with hard whipped butter for breakfast.
As we keep walking around the Y, we will find other rooms that have lots of meaning to me, whether it's Jaffa, where me and my friend camped out to avoid a creepy boy from talking to us and slept there alone, or the Social Hall where our annual Teen Council Thanksgiving Alumni dinners are held. I have created so much history and memories in this building that it feels like eighteen years, not two.
My schedule was packed with activities that took place at the Y, making it pretty hard for me not to be there. Not only was I there weekly for Teen Council, but I was at the Y everyday during the summer to work at their camp. My co-counselors and campers mean so much to me, that camp has become my happy place. Singing songs about my bus or telling my campers that there were unicorns and elephants at the campgrounds became a daily occurrence as I would take them on hikes up Butt Crack Mountain or to play gaga. Although I had the youngest division, my campers meant the absolute world to me and each one of my kids made my experience unique, even the bad experiences like dealing with throw up on the hottest day of the summer. Camp has become a part of my life that cannot be replaced. The memories I have experienced, the friendships that I have made and the campers whose lives I have impacted will always stand out to me.
The Y has provided me with a sense of community and a family that I know will always accept me no matter what. For every one person that is making fun of me, I know that there will be ten people who will always have my back. I never truly realized how much this community center could change my life, until I set foot through the doors. My home, the Y, is the place that gave me new opportunities and allowed me to make new friendships that I never thought I could have.
