Talk to a Teen

By Martha Bacon, Board Member

I don’t know about you but I can be intimidated by teens. How can I connect with them? What would they be interested in discussing? Will they even talk to me?

Enter the JRHS work crew. Two hardworking teens and one teacher arrived early in the morning ready to work. My husband and I split them into two crews, Gabe helped me with plant care and general yard cleanup. Nate and Mr. Martens were tasked with splitting firewood.

As we worked together, Gabe and I talked about his college plans, what he likes about JRHS, his close relationship with his parents and grandparents, how he enjoys singing with his mother and is looking forward to the school’s Christmas program this year. He even sang the chorus of his favorite Christmas song for me!

During lunch we all sat on our patio eating and talking together. We found out that Mr. Martens is greatly enjoying his first year teaching at JRHS, Gabe is a thoughtful movie critic, and Nate has only one more Work A Thon before graduation, we will miss him!

We cleaned up our lunch and said goodbye to Nate, Gabe and Mr. Martens. They hurried on to their next job. (I spent the rest of the afternoon stacking the firewood Nate and Mr. Martens split and transported for us.)