To whomever is reading, we are going to learn the history of Nathan Richardson. My story starts when I was 16 first coming up to Alaska. I’m originally from Atlanta, GA.
When I first came to Alaska it was cold. When I started to get used to the cold, I wondered around a little place called Kotzebue. Luckily enough I found the Boys & Girls club of Alaska while I was still in Middle School. The Boys & Girls club of Alaska was the first place I got to hang out with other kids around my age besides school. Ever since I found the place I’ve been going there. Halfway through school I wanted to volunteer at the Boys & Girls club. I eventually got into close relations with the staff and the kids there. I was apart of the gaming and physical activity group, and it felt like I had the best time of my life. I would help clean up, serve snacks, and help set up activities and devices. The staff of the club felt like family, and I went to the club almost everyday afterschool. After 1 and a half years of being in Kotzebue I had to leave because of my own family. I bawled my eyes out when I had to say goodbye since it was the first time, I had a connection with a place I loved. Before I left the staff treated me to a restaurant and gave me a drawing that I still have with me today.
As I turned 17 and moving to Anchorage, Alaska I was bummed out I couldn’t see the Boys & Girls club anymore. Once again, I wandered around looking for something to do but there was nothing. This time it was different then Kotzebue because I had a bike. One day I found a senior center and I decided to explore the place. Not too long before school started, I asked to volunteer especially since it would give me something to do other than mope around and watching TV in my room. When I first started to volunteer for the Anchorage Senior Activity center, I was a dishwasher. I was nervous, because it was my first time being in the kitchen of a restaurant. I was getting comfortable being a dishwasher and I started to have fun washing dishes. My supervisor, Don started letting me do more and I would get compensated in food. I was a janitor, dishwasher, waiter, and I would help set up for events. Soon school started and I was almost always bringing dessert or food to school. The Senior Center felt like a full-time job, and I had almost forgotten about the Boys & Girls Club. One day I got called up to the manager and received a $1,000 gift cart. I felt like I was rich when I got it and started spending on items that I most likely didn’t need but looked fun to have or snacks. I finally felt like I didn’t need to depend on my mom to take care of me since I was almost always staying busy. One day my grandmother flew all the way up from Florida and now a new responsibility had fallen upon me. When my grandma came up, she was sick, so I took time off from volunteering to help her. I would remind my grandma to take certain medications and helped her exercise. One day when my grandma was coming home with my brother and sister, she had a stroke and got send to the hospital. While my siblings and mom were crying, I didn’t shed a tear because I didn’t know what was happening. My grandmother survived the stroke, but part of her body was paralyzed. After my grandma got discharged from the hospital, I was helping her more often and couldn’t really volunteer like I used to. My mother told me and my siblings that we can’t stay in Alaska anymore because my grandma can’t tolerate the cold. As we got ready to travel back down to Georgia, I said goodbye to the senior center, I was gifted some pajama pants that I still wear till this day.
After I graduated from the 11th grade we moved back down to Georgia. It was a rough travel since we had to stay in different hotels and constantly moving to find a house. When we finally moved into the house it was the biggest house, I’ve ever been in. We got special equipment and bed for my grandma so she can try to recover from the stroke. I would also help with the usual physical therapy, but I would also fix her food and help her with the medication. As my last year of school was approaching, I was trying to look for a job but never got into one. I started taking up gaming as one of my hobbies. While I take care of my grandmother. When school started sometimes, I would be tired since I would help her at night when she needs someone. I would get taught by a physical therapist about how to do different exercises with my grandma. Nearing the end, the school I decided to pick up a job. I was working at Urban Air, a place for all ages to have fun and jump around, I was a court monitor where I would make sure the kids were safe and operating rides for everybody. I had less and less time to myself, but I eventually graduated from school and got my diploma. After I graduated, I started trying to work more and get over time from my job while taking care of my grandma. After my auntie came and started taking over for the care of my grandmother, I was able to work more often and picked up a small janitor position at my job before the place opens for customer. I made friends with my co-workers that made my job more enjoyable. As I worked, I encountered different customers who shared their ideas and their interests with me. The more people I met the more open-minded I became to stories and ideas that I heard. Nearing the end in my stay in Georgia, I became more intrigued with more people and their ideals of the world.
I came back to Kotzebue in October in 2022. I was excited since it’s been a while since I been here, what’s more exciting is I got to work at the place I first volunteered the Boys & Girls Club. Buttttt (with extra t’s) everything was different than I remember. If I were to compare the past to the present, I’d say that there used to be more kids but the most important thing to me was that they took away teen night. I’ll explain teen night to you in a short explanation, teen night is where teens (of course) get to relax and hang out. Now back to the story, when I was working at the Boys & Girls Club it didn’t feel the same. The club used to feel welcoming and relaxing but now it just feels tense and uncomfortable. After 3 months I left the Boys & Girls Club and got a temporary job at the grocery store. If I were to tell you anything about working at a store is that it can be very intense and tiring when it’s a holiday or when the PDF comes in, anyways it was fun working at the store and I got to talk to quite a bit of people who were amazing. On a side note, I got to meet a person I call “Velma” because of her voice and glasses like from “Scooby-Doo” and I haven’t got to know her real name yet. “Velma” is an amazing person and very welcoming, but she was just a reference to others that would laugh at my jokes and enjoy the day after they leave the store. 2 months later I soon left the grocery store and into my current job which is Residential Assistant. Being an RA is a fun job and you get to express yourself while you work. As we come to the end of this journey, we shall see how I have changed and how it makes me who I am. Volunteering taught me how to have fun while working and how to work with kids, elders, and many other skills. Urban air taught me patience and to treat everyone equally no matter the age. Taking care of my grandmother helped me learn to take care of disabled, to an extent. Gaming helped me relax and meet new people from around the world, PS I’m still friends with them till this day. Coming back to the Boys & Girls Club I was able to get my CPR license and many other certificates that help me work with young adults and kids. The store taught me determination and how it feels to work with many people behind the counter, including dealing with money. Finally, being an RA is teaching me how to work with, how to communicate, and how to care for disabled. All these skills and lessons are what makes me into who I am today and who i will become in the future.
