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Beautiful Gloria

“The shell must break before the bird can fly,” Tennyson. As Gloria progressively came to us, she was able to slowly break out of her shell and was able to acquire the skill she needed. We placed them into groups and more often than not the kids are not always satisfied with who they get matched up with. This was the case for this group of kids. No one even wanted to be with Gloria, so she began working on a horse on her own.

When Gloria began to work on the horse on her own, she began connecting with him right away due to her stimulus. The horse and her were constantly eye to eye and just by a quick glance you could tell already that they were opening up to each other. The other kids began noticing and began to get jealous, which resulted in them going up and taking the horse away from Gloria. We as facilitators had to let the process happen and could not intervene. It took all the strength in us to not involve ourselves as we felt bad for little Gloria. It broke our hearts to see that connection be broken up so quickly. But again, we listened to the horse and the situation happening was okay.

On to the next horse. You wouldn't believe it. It happened again. Gloria and this other horse connected right away. Eye ball to eye ball. There came the other kids and stole that horse away from Gloria. Again, we stood back and let the process happen.

Finally, by the 8th program… The last program, she got the skill she needed. This same situation happened repeatedly and that last day she finally stood up for herself. She stomped down her foot and said no, I am working with this horse. I think we were all taken back a bit as we were not expecting that. However, by us letting the process happen she finally got the skill she needed to say no.
   
 Just when you thought that was amazing, it got even better. After we were done, we went back into the classroom as happy as pigs in mud to go debrief. In the debriefing stage, the kids usually choose one word and talk about it and how it reflected their day. However, for Gloria she didn't chose just one word, not even just two words. She chose 8 words! I asked her why she hose those and BAM BAM BAM she lists each of them off. Each and every one of them. Next thing you know, all the kids are standing up and giving her a standing ovation.
   
Seeing the change from the beginning to the end is why we love our career so much.

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