GPS Tulsa just finished up our last service rotation at Cooper Elementary here in east Tulsa.  Its spring break as I write, and it seems as if most folks are refocusing after a very disjointed beginning to the spring semester.

We moved our office and meeting space over to the Green Country Events Center on 31st street, right in the heart of the most ethnically diverse urban area in Tulsa or any city between Kansas City, Dallas and  Nashville for that matter.  I will discuss our neighborhood in a future entry, but needless to say- we are excited to be here and our interaction with the “locals” have been life giving.

Sitting down for after school snacks before we go to our art program with the kids at Cooper, I find myself the only person at my table who knows only one language.  My joke with the 2nd and 3rd graders who were with me was that the kids who knew 2 languages were twice as smart as me, and those who knew 3 were 3 times as smart!  We would spend snack time with them teaching me words in Spanish and Mong dialects.  I would say the word for “milk”, or “muscles”, or ” tasty” in their language and as soon as I got it sounding right, they would give me another one, which meant I forgot the first words…

GPS students reflects on our time with the Cooper kids with some words of their own around our weekly meal:

• Fun, Exciting
• Interesting, Different, Entertaining
• Creative, Energetic
• Awesome, productive.
• Ms. Libby (our art teacher from the Arts and Humanities Council that a couple of the guys had a crush on….)
• Three eyed monkeys and 5 eyed walrus (the clay project of one Marcus Lord, a boy we will not soon forget.)
• “How do I do this?”
• Messy

The theme “Made to Create” was driven home by all the different ways in which our elementary friends produced cool stuff that hadn’t existed before.

An observation I had that our students agreed with was how well behaved, friendly, and attentive the children were from this neighborhood- and from our discussions with friends at the school there were several factors contributing to this, such as the “community school” focus, the culture built in the school, and also just the presence of 6 very interested young adults in an active learning environment.

We know the kids loved it that we were there, and many of them believe they matter- because of what they can do and create, and that someone is interested in them.  This is life giving stuff.  Our discussion around the dinner table gets into our value, and what we think of others, and what God thinks of us.  I believe all of us get changed when we do what we were made to do, and we invest in people who learn to invest in others.

Here’s some comments from the children of Cooper Elementary:

“I cried when I had to miss Art class.”

“Our teacher is really nice.”

‘I’ve started painting dishes and designing t shirts at home.”

“This is awesome and I really like it here.”

“I love this school.”

“I learned all it takes to be creative to make cool stuff.”

“I liked everyone who helped me.  I will always remember them.  I feel special that I get to do this.”

“The people who came, I wish they’d come back, especially the curly haired man.”  (that must be Conner Fields...)

“Thank you God for creating me.”

“I will remember making totem poles and animals out of clay.”

“I learned that you can be so creative!”

“I will remember the teacher and Grant.”

Cooper kids- we will remember you too!  We hope to see you at our Community Summer Camp that we’ll help Garnett Church of Christ put on in June.

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