The sound of Little Steps preschool is a mix of shouting “Eppa! Eppa!“ from trying to control my students and a bunch of high pitched voices yelling “Teacher! Teacher!” in response. It has been a month now and the last day at Little Steps has snuck up on me. For the last day we decided to have a celebration with the kids, so we brought in face paint, balloons, cake and a speaker.

You would think that a day full trying to control 38 preschoolers running around with balloons on a sugar high would drag on and feel like it would never end. It was just the opposite.

After all the children's faces were finally painted and the balloons were all blown up I walked into the schoolhouse from the playground only to find the teacher, Chandhi, who became family to me by the end of the month, sitting in a chair with a tear streaming down her face. She told me to look at the clock and I saw that it was 11:15 a.m. The school day ended at 11:30 a.m. I turned around to see the students laughing and enjoying the day and instantly I felt my stomach drop. I sat down on the step of the school and as I watched my students play I could not help but start to cry.

By this point there were about 10 of them all trying to sit on my lap and I could see the confusion in their expressions as they discovered that I was crying. They were too young to understand that they would not see me the next morning at school and the basic vocabulary that I taught them was not enough for them to understand if I were to explain to them what was wrong. One by one mothers started to arrive at the gate to pick up their child like usual, but when Chandhi opened the gate the mothers came over to me for the first time and surrounded me with hugs while thanking me. This was when it hit me. Everything I had done over the past month, all the lesson plans, the early mornings, the times I lost my voice from screaming “Eppa!,” the appreciation the mothers expressed towards me showed me how much my time spent here truly mattered. This is what volunteering is all about in the first place isn't it? An appreciation and care for others. And my only response to them was to say thank you back for trusting me with their children and allowing me to grow connections with each and every one of them. There was a mutual respect and without being able to communicate -- I felt so connected to these women and them to me.

While walking out of the classroom for the last time I turned around and saw all the vocabulary posters hanging on the wall which was bare when I arrived. I thought back to the first few days when my students could barely sing the ABC’s to now knowing not only the ABC’s but "Twinkle Twinkle," "Mary Had a Little Lamb," "Old McDonald" and "The Itsy Bitsy Spider." I said my final goodbyes, gave my last few hugs and felt as though I had done all that I was able to in order to make sure my students benefitted the most that they could have over the past month.