business

Age: 35

Home: Minneapolis

Occupation: Site leader of a before- and after- school child care program for the Roseville school district called Friendship Connection.

Salary range: $24,000-$35,000

Background: I worked for six years for a YMCA camp during the summer while I was in college. I went to Bemidji State and then I went to Augsburg and Bethel. I actually don't have a degree, but I'm finishing my degree in elementary education right now.

Did you always want to work with kids? No. I wanted to do art. Ceramics. But then I really liked working at the [YMCA] camp because it's outdoors and it's a family camp. And I got to interact a lot with kids a lot there.

Have you always liked kids? Yeah. I've done it long enough that I'm comfortable with it. I really like interacting with the kids.

Is it something that comes easily for you? Yes. That's probably my favorite part of the job is the interacting, playing games with them. I really like watching the kids grow up, too. We have some that I've had as kindergartners and then as sixth-graders. And I've been here 10 years, so I've had kids who I've been invited to their [high school] graduation parties, so that's kind of neat. It's fun.

Do you keep in contact with them? Yeah. I do have quite a few kids that will stop by and say hi. I like that I become a part of their lives.

What happened with the ceramics? Art is hard. But I still tinker with pottery.

Is there anything from ceramics that carries over into your job now? The creativity. The staff gets to choose the projects they want to do with the kids and I generally do art projects because that's what I like to do. Kids are so creative [that] I can kind of feed off their creativity also, and I really like that.

Is there a direction you'd like the program to take in the future? No. The only thing that we really make the kids do is homework time for 15 minutes in the afternoon. Otherwise, it's all kid-directed. And that's another part that I like about the program. Sometimes when the staff is doing lesson plans, they'll ask the kids, "What do you want to do next month?" And then take those ideas and do that. And it gives the kids ownership of the program too. I don't want it to be strict because it's not school time ... I don't want it to feel like they're still in school. I want it to feel like they can hang out with friends, but that they're doing stuff that is interesting to them.

What types of things do the kids do at Friendship Connection? Things like projects, computer lab, physical activity and a free-time game room that has different choices that they can do. We try to provide activities that are more exploratory for them. And that's one of the fun things about my job is that we don't have to have a set curriculum. If the kids are really enjoying doing an activity, we can expand on that activity.

Where do you see yourself in the future? I would like to teach at one point. My decision to [go back to school to] get my elementary education degree was a result of working here. Probably first or second grade, which is what I like the most.

SARAH GORVIN