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It’s been approximately 6 months since I started my internship here at The LAB.  I have worked my way through many cycles of immense gratitude, appreciation for the staff/volunteers who are teaching me so much, sadness regarding the challenges our students face every day, awe at their resiliency, an overwhelming sense of being completely unable to do enough, and determination to move forward in ways that put faces to our mission.

I’m smiling now (and admittedly, a little teary) as I think about those faces……..the smiles from a previously shut-down 14 year old, the “all right Leann……I’ll see you next time” that accompanied a hand shake from a student who reportedly had a hard time building relationships…..   Read more

I have been volunteering at The Lab for over a year now, working with kids that are thought of as being difficult but who, in reality, are just like all other kids, full of dreams, playfulness and enthusiasm. When I started at The Lab, I volunteered with the Morning Enrichment groups, working mostly with the visual arts group. In this group, the youth learn how to create neat projects like mosaics, self-portraits, journal/book-making and more, while opening up to each other and to the volunteers and interns.

I love the change that takes place from when these youth first walk into the Lab to the moment they leave to go back to school. When they get in, they have heavy feet and are low on energy. During the groups, they lighten up and turn into total kids, exploring their creative and artistic sides, even if at first they thought they could not do it! By the time they leave the classroom to go back to school, they are carrying with them their final projects, whether this is in their hands or in their minds! I love that transformation, because they stop being “EBD kids” for a minute, and turn into just kids… Read more

So I wait by the door to the entrance of the building for one of the youth that I will be working with for the day in either the Recording Studio or the Writer’s Lab and I am thinking to myself,

Wow, today is another chance to bring the best out of him/her; Today is another opportunity for me to help them discover that they have so much more inside of them even than the poem that they are writing or the rap that they are saying over the mic.

With that train of thought, as I see their smile for the first time that day, I know it won’t be the last because I will use this time to encourage, uplift and esteem this expression of talent.   Read more

Blogger – Marilou, Lab Mentor/Volunteer:

I have always considered myself “navigationally impaired” and one who always gets lost and needs turn by turn directions. Don’t tell me to head east or west. Tell me turn left or right. Tell me landmarks. This morning as I was doing some research on the North Star as I work on developing more lesson plans for the animal assisted education work that Ahnung and I are doing at The Lab.
(Pictured above  - Marilou, Lab mentor & her therapy dog, Ahnung) Read more

My volunteering at The Lab began with a mentorship experience with a young man “R”. The healing I witnessed with the young man and the bond/trust that developed between “R” and Ahnung helped me in my own healing.

This morning I found myself reflecting back on when Ahnung first came into my life. From the first time I laid eyes on Ahnung I just knew there was something about her … I can’t pin point what it was exactly. Call it gut instinct, a knowing, a feeling. I guess I’m learning that truth and wisdom speak to us, not in words and even tangible things, but often in symbols and signs and “gut instincts.” Read more

Hi, Kristen Mason here. I’m one of The Lab’s two AmeriCorps VISTA Members, alongside Tricia Michel. We’re both in our second years of service at The Lab. This year, my role solidified as the developer and maintainer of all things technological. Along with helping out in the day to day tech needs of our program, I also create our data collection/logging systems, maintain the website, and work on new graphic design projects to improve the look and feel of our space here at Homecroft and in our print materials. I put together inspirational posters for The Lab and the Empowerment curriculum that are used in the eleven secondary E/BD programs that The Lab serves. Read more

(posted by Wellness Volunteer, Marilou)

A couple months ago, Pet Haven started partnering with The Lab – a program of the St. Paul Public schools where youth are inspired, encouraged and empowered to discover, understand and share their voices and the truth of their lives. Ahnung, a dog originally rescued by Karen Good of Red Lake Rosie’s Rescue has become a “regular” visitor at the school, spending time one-on-one with the kids, or participating in group presentations. Ahnung has become an active volunteer (and ambassador for Pet Haven) as she works with youth, sharing her story, and helping heal wounded spirits… Read more

(posted by Wellness Volunteer, Marilou)

Ahnung arrived in Pet Haven’s foster program in mid-November from Red Lake Rosie’s Rescue. She is currently being treated for heartworm and lymes. For the past month she has been cared for, and pampered, by our partner vet, Bloomington Veterinary Hospital…. for the remainder of her treatment I have decided she will fit in nicely in our home This incredibly gentle, calm spirit has a presence about her that needs to be shared. We decided she would be a perfect candidate for Pet Haven’s expanding efforts in education and outreach. Pet Haven was approached by The Lab, a program of the St. Paul Public schools working with at-risk urban kids, to present to one of their classes. A week ago, Ahnung (means “star” in Ojibway) just shined in her debut outreach effort with the kids… Read more

(posted by mentor, Glo)

As I spend more time with these kids and teenagers who are so called “troubled”,  I am realizing that the “trouble” is more so from their internal struggle with the environment they come from and having to deal with school and all the different complexities that come with that.  They get labeled and put into a box that many never see past… Read more

(posted by mentor, Glo)

There are several times throughout life where you will be forced to evaluate your priorities, reassess your beliefs and really think about what really matters and what doesn’t. My latest stop at that very crossroads came to me about 2 years ago while I was still living in California. I had a great job at the biggest record label in the world, living in a twenty-room mansion with a swimming pool, and as far as I was concerned, attended and was apart of the greatest church I have ever been to in my life. Everything was extremely well for me but….I felt something was still missing… Read more

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