I work for Children of Promise, a summer camp/after school program for kids who have incarcerated parents. According to their website, children of promise was founded by Sharon Content in 2009, in Bedford Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, New York to strictly meet the needs and concerns of children who are left behind by their parents. Bedford Stuyvesant is a predominantly black neighborhood where the crime rate is slightly higher than other neighborhoods in Brooklyn and mainly in poverty.

As you walk down the block of McDonough and Tompkins The first thing you see is a bright orange sign that says Children Of Promise. When you walk inside the building, you are always first seen by Mr. Mike the security guard. He has a personality as a big teddy bear, super sweet and caring for the kids. After you greet Mr. Mike, you walk up a long flight of stairs, and now you’re greeted by another person, Mr. Craig. He always has a smile while wearing new Children of Promise gear. He’s super energetic, always asking how your day is and if it’s gonna be a good day. You walk in through the double door and you see a big gymnasium with kids playing around. The ambiance is just full of joy because many of the kids are playing basketball while the others are doing flips. The scenery is just a bunch of blue and orange posters on the second floor railing in the gym that say CPNYC. As you walk through the gym, you look to the right and you see the calendar filled with activities such as Teen Night, Halloween Party, Parent Teacher Conference etc. That’s how your day usually starts. During the after school season and during summer camp the board is filled with trips every Tuesday and Thursdays such as 6 Flags, rolling skating etc.

Children of Promise works with children from six to thirteen and they split them up into four age groups: six to seven, eight to nine, ten to eleven, and twelve to thirteen. I normally am with the age group six to seven because of how kind hearted I am and soft spoken. During orientation week the lead director observes your personality, how you talk to people, and how you think you’ll react in a situation such as kids running in the street, or talking back to a counselor.

While working with the six to sevens I kept them entertained and helped them with their homework. One of the tasks that was way over my paygrade and not in my job description was helping students clean themselves in the bathroom. During one of the in-house days, we had all of the six to sevens in the gym for free play and Mackenzie asked me to take her to the bathroom and of course I said yes because that’s my job. But as soon as I said yes she said something unexpected. She told me that she needed help wiping herself. It took me by surprise, so I went to the head counselor and explained what was going on. The head counselor told me it’s okay and she was glad that I told her because she knows how to deal with it.

On a different day, Mackenzie asked me to take her to the bathroom and once again I said yes. So I was taking her to the student bathroom and I realized that it would take a while because there was a long line of students waiting to go to the bathroom. I took Mackenzie to the staff bathroom so she could use it faster. A student normally takes two to three minutes in the bathroom but Mackenzie took more than five minutes. I asked her if she’s okay and she told me that it’s no tissue and she needed help cleaning herself. I went into a panic mode because I couldn’t leave her in the bathroom by herself. I saw someone in the gym so I walked out and asked them to get wipes for me. I had to leave her for two minutes so I could get the wipes. Once I walked back into the bathroom I heard her cry. I apologized to her because that wasn’t my intention and I know it could be really scary. Once I finished cleaning her up, I hugged and comforted her. She was extremely happy.

The kids are bundles of joy. Sometimes they might not be having a good day but once they arrive at Children of Promise they always have a smile on their face. If a student is truly having a hard time focusing, the clinician comes in and has a small talk with them and sees how they can change their attitude. If the clinician has time they will pull the student into the office and have a therapy session. Children Of Promise offers free therapy to the students and counselors who enrolled in the program.

I used to be one of the students who saw a therapist once a week. I could say it helped me regulate my emotions and get out of my depression. In March 2019, I experienced the worst thing that could happen to anybody. I lost my mom when I was just thirteen. At that age experiencing something that traumatic can do something to you psychologically. The trauma and the grief put me in deep depression. At the time, I didn’t know how to deal with it because I had never experienced grief that close to me. My aunt enrolled me in Children of Promise because of the free therapy they offer. Despite not having an incarcerated parent, I still experienced a terrible loss, the loss of my mother that was a part of my daily life.

When a student can’t see a clinician when they are having a bad day, they tend to act out. This normally happens when the kids don’t know how to control their emotions and don’t know right from wrong. I feel like yelling at them to tell them what they are doing isn’t right wouldn’t help them. They would want to rebel more, especially one of the six to sevens, Josiah. He is such a sweet soul and always smiling from ear to ear. My first interaction with him wasn’t the best because he decided to run out of the classroom and have me chase him. I finally caught him after running around for 30 seconds and I asked him why he ran off in a subtle tone. I didn’t know Josiah at the time and I don’t know if yelling triggers him. But the head counselor thought otherwise, and decided to raise her voice at him. I don’t remember what happened but all I know is that now everytime I see him he runs up to me and always gives me the tightest hug.

Another student that I deeply adore is Savannah and her two little siblings Sebastien and Samir. The first thing that notice is their eyes. All three of them have big widened eyes like a Panda. Once they see me they all run up to me and give me a hug. “Hi, Ms. Imani.” I normally don’t like being called Ms. Imani because I feel like I’m not an actual counselor and I’m only 18, but they will always continue to call Ms. Imani to be respectful at a young age.

Savannah is the oldest out of the three and she was the first one I met. She always wants me around her, sits next to me during trips and during free time in the gym. I always jump rope with her or run around with her on the basketball court.

Sebastien the middle child. He’s not as outgoing as Savannah but when he sees someone he feels comfortable with he always smiles and shows off his big eyes. During one of the in-house days, we would typically have a designated time for snack time. This particular day we had clementines. We would give each student two Clementine at first and if we had extra, we would give them out to the students that wanted extra. Sebastien favorite fruit was Clementine so he will consecutively ask for three or more Clementines.

Samir, the baby of the family, is quiet. He doesn’t talk at all and just follows directions. Sometimes I’ll go to his group to say hi to him, pick him up, and twirl him around. He always waves his little arms and hands to say hi back. One time when we went to the park he ran up to me and told me hi in the softest voice ever.

During the 2025 summer camp season I requested to be in Eight to Nine because I assumed that most of the students that were in Six to Sevens turned Eight and moved to the next age group but I was wrong. I walked into the room and I realized that all the kids that were in Eight to Nine last year were still here. I had to adjust to the new students and grow bonds with them.

The second thing I observed was about the counselors. Two of them were new and the other two did SYEP (Summer Youth Employment Program) with me last year. The head Counselor’s name was Hailey. I did SYEP with her but I never talked to her because I had a gut feeling that our personalities would clash. Hailey was very vocal in a rude way, and she would give mean looks at people. And I was right.

This summer was hard for me because I would constantly get sick because of the heat and had non-stop headaches with a stiff neck. I didn’t know why I was getting them at first but later down the line I found out I have Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension (IIH). Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension is a condition where there is increased pressure of the cerebrospinal in the brain without any underlying causes. Despite me being diagnosed with IIH I still showed up for work because that was my responsibility.

One day I found out that we were going on a trip to the Bronx. From prior history I know that we take the A and the D train to get there. The A train Air conditioner is always working, but the D train’s Air conditioner never works. It’s always so hot, it makes me nauseous. I wanted to avoid all of that because I know once I get sick I’m not going to give my all to the students and the support that the counselor needs from me.

I went upstairs to talk to the lead director to ask him if I could stay back. He wasn’t in his office, so I waited outside. While I’m waiting for the director to get back, I saw my friend Emani. She was also asking to stay back from this trip, but her reasoning was different from mine. She just didn’t wanna go. As we waited to speak to the lead director, I saw Hailey staring up at where me and Emani were standing.

Later on that day, I found out that she was talking bad about us. Saying how we’re entitled and we think we run the program. When I heard that I was livid because I don’t feel entitled, and I was staying back for a medical reason. After that there was tension between me and Hailey because she knows what she said, and she knows that I know. Hailey was jealous of me because I have more experience in the program, the people who watched me grow up in the program always speak highly of me, and I’m just an unproblematic person in general.

Even though I had a conflict with the head counselor, my main focus has always been working with the students and making sure they’re safe while having fun. I love working with kids. They are my happy place. Now that I’m in college, I want to study Early Childhood and Development because I want to learn how kids think at a young age and possibly become a child life specialist.