By: Katie Carroll, Lalanne Volunteer

I always wanted to be a teacher and I thought I would love every minute of it. I had joined Lalanne, a Catholic volunteer program and a long-time member of Catholic Volunteer Network. Lalanne volunteers teach in urban and underserved Catholic schools. My first few months teaching kindergarten were not very easy to say the least. I was filled with doubt about my ability to effectively reach out to the young students in my class. I wondered whether I would even make it to the next day, let alone June!

The day before Christmas break, one of my more challenging students told me that he had a surprise for me. He asked me to close my eyes and stick out my hands. He dug into his pockets and pulled out snacks that he had probably been saving for about two weeks. He explained that he wanted to get me a Christmas present but he didn’t have any money. He decided to save all of his snacks, including his favorite Rice Crispy Treats, so that I could have a really good Christmas present.

At that moment, I realized that I was doing something right. Although it didn’t always seem like it, I was teaching my students. Despite my struggling, I was making a difference. Every Christmas, I buy a Rice Crispy Treat and think about my first class and the lessons we taught each other.