Fifth Grade Mentoring Night

I just found something I wrote about Sharing and Recognition Night for the 5th Grade Mentoring Program that was put on by people now entering their junior year in high school.They were just 11 then. Made me smile all over again:"By the time I walked into the school cafeteria with my pile of reporter-style hats for the three kids I had mentored, the young presenters were gathering by their exhibits, amidst knots of talking grownups, swarms of siblings and two unexplained dogs trotting around with their tongues out."'My' three each quickly chose a fedora and filled out the nice fake press credentials I had made for them to wedge into their hatbands. Then we caught up with the Master of Ceremonies who was going kid to kid with a cordless microphone and learned:"That a girl named Julia had worked with a retired MIT guy on Principles of Chemistry. Specifically she had studied the science involved in making tie-dye, which seems to involve quantities of paper towels and red cabbage, 'which you squish with rubbing alcohol until you get lots of burgundy juice.'"That a boy named Julian had worked with a cartoonist, though he seemed already to be one, having offered to draw pictures for any and all comers during the milling-about part of the program."That Melanie and Sarah watched a pediatrician work. They took turns with the mike to read the steps necessary in becoming one. (“First, graduate from middle school,” the list began.)"Then came Stephanie, who had shadowed her very own dad.  “Finance professor is not a job most kids want to do,” she stated, but then she went on to read aloud his daily tasks:  “(1) Explain the day’s lesson; (2) make sure the students understand it; (3) do a little fun activity at the end.”  That made a lot of us smile."I could go on: About Alex and Craig, who studied with an architect and designed an elaborate three-dimensional fantasy bedroom apiece.  About Andrea and Maggie, who apprenticed themselves to a photographer. About Erin and Stephen, who worked with a meteorologist.  About Seamus and Brendan. About Amy and Kendall and Ngawang.  About Kayla and Jaxie and Allie. About Yibo and Kirsten and Joey - and that’s not counting my 'own' three, Lucy, Lucy and Thomas, who looked completely adorable in their too-big hats as they told what they had learned about being a writer."But I can’t end though without describing the three kids who studied the veterinarian’s life, which turned out to explain the presence of the larger of those busily trotting canines."Cammy and Nicki and Noah they were, and Cammy started off:“'I’m going to do a checkup on my dog Bosco,' she began, and tried examining the big dog’s eyes."Nothin’ doin’ said Bosco in all but words."She tried his ears before remembering that actually he was quite sensitive about his ears."Then she tried palpating his ribs, which made him first look deeply sorrowful and then give an almighty shake."Luckily, Noah took over then, saying from deep inside his glovings and maskings that this is what you did if you were cutting a dog or cat.“'First, make an incision,' he began, and the place went wild, kids pressing in on all sides to see the drape, and the surgical field, and all those dandy implements he had set out beside him."There was no REAL cat or dog under his scalpel of course, but the enthusiasm was real."And even the old folks had to wonder that night if, given enough encouragement, there was anything at all that a shiny group of new people NOT dream up and do."