Colleen Donoghue: Aritsans Reflection

            This week was my first opportunity to meet my mentee at Aritsans. I had never worked this closely with adults with disabilities before. I was very hesitant at first, but my nerves were immediately displaced once I got there. Each mentee that I met over the course of my two-hour service were exceptionally kind and excited to have us there. During my two hours, we colored, played Yahtzee and talked about our interests. We held mild conversation, consisting of mostly small talk and lots of laughs about Halloween. Small talk isn’t something I usually enjoy, however, the time went by fast, too fast and I found myself wanting to know more about my mentee and how to help him reach his goals. My mentee was not afraid to tell me what he liked and what he was thinking, this made our conversations enjoyable, but in the weeks to come we will work on moving conversations forward and asking questions back to those you are talking to; this was a goal we decided to work on together. Already the process has been rewarding and humbling. I am excited to be challenged throughout the semester; my mentee is going to teach me a lot about life, persistence and patience.