Fourth Time at Bon Air
This visit was the first time we went without Professor Dolson. Reading the posts about other groups and how well it had gone without her I was curious to see if there would be a large difference in how our partners acted. I didn’t notice any large change in how the residents acted around us. I had usually only been with Jordan, so seeing how Trenton and Eric acted was a plus, but I don’t know if they acted more open or comfortable.
I was happy to stay in a large group for all of the meeting, because this gave me the opportunity to get to know Eric and Trenton. Since we usually split up into partners I had never gotten the chance to see how those two acted. I was surprised by how talkative Trenton was and how much of an older brother presence that Eric had with the other two. He kept people on track and tried to keep moving conversation forward which showed me how much he liked this experience. I did notice that Jordan never really spoke. I have seen he doesn’t talk during big group discussion but opens up very quickly one on one. I tried to get him into conversation as much as I could but he seemed to not be in the best of moods yesterday.
Overall, I really enjoyed this trip because I got to get to know the other residents better and talk to all of them about their plans once they get out. They are all out very soon, but the only person thinking about what they’re going to do when they get out is Eric. I think that is because he is the oldest and will be done with school when he gets out. Jordan has 4 years of high school and Trenton has some high school left but is thinking about his future with college. I felt bad for Eric because he explained how unprepared and nervous he was to get out. He wants to get on the right track and get his future set up but doesn’t know how to go about doing it. This made me think of how the prison system doesn’t work well and needs to be changed to help rehabilitate and educate, not just house and leave the kids unprepared for their entrance back into society.