"i want to be..."

"I know I can" is a day dedicated to encourage kids to start planning for college NOW.

 Located in the north Minneapolis area, Anne Sullivan Communication Center is the urban school in which I was assigned. The point of this day is to let kids know that college is possible for them and that putting effort in school now pays off in the long run. We shared our own experiences, possible struggles and favorite things about school. We then read them the " I know I can" book that was written to inspire kids to believe in their own academic abilities and encourage them to take hold of their lives TODAY in building a brighter future for themselves.

Hands shot straight up right when I asked if anyone knew what they wanted to be when they grew up. Answers from vets, and doctors, to singers and policemen, each student had that image of themselves as working adults. So much ambition, excitement, and curiosity was in the air- a kind of purity one only experiences in children. How is it lost just with age? We see very little of that beyond elementary school. Ironic how that works.

This school didn't appear to have many differences from the one I went to when I was little, the only thing was that there was more diversity. Does it make it a bad school? Are the kids more difficult to teach? I didn't think so but their teacher surely did. With her consistently sarcastic "goood luck." or " I will never let my daughter want to teach." I would hate to have a teacher who didn't like her job. Maybe I was naive at the time, but I don't believe that any of my own instructors hated what they were doing.

To this day and age, one would think that there is no reason to have an occupation they don't want.

The students were very curious about college, many asked questions about whether college students sleep, if we study for full days, if we like it, and what it's like. Statistics have shown that many students who go to urban schools don't graduate high school let alone go to college.

I hope with all my being that they do.


Props to programs like this for trying, but "I know I can" days once a year are barely enough. Better this than nothing though. It's just one of those things that remind us how lucky we are and how certain privileges aren't readily accessible for others. It'd be a waste to be given so much and give back so little.

Meet a student, inspire her/him; you'd be surprised at how a little help can potentially change someone else's life.