Leaving Gaston

Going home was hard.  I realized as we did our last reflection on Friday night how much I had come to love all the people on my team and how hard it is to leave knowing so much is still wrong with Education.  I could sense that disappointment lingering in some of our reflections as we went around.  We all felt helpless and that this issue is so difficult to address that believing that someday every child will get an adequate education seems unrealistic.  Thanks to our leaders though, I realize that although change is hard we can do what we can for who we can.  More importantly, now that we have that knowledge of what needs to improve with Education we have the responsibility to do something.  We went around and said what we were going to bring back with us to Williamsburg and brainstormed ways to carry forward.

Personally, I plan on keeping up with Head Start.  Something I learned this week is that starting early is essential to creating the foundations for an adequate education.  Furthermore, I still plan on doing child psychology to work with kids who don't have good support at home from parents, which also can play a role on the extent to which they drive themselves to learn.  Ultimately I want to work with kids to help them find the motivation to drive them forward from within themselves when they lack support from their parents. 

As far as the current education system--it needs a lot of work and attention.  But I am not hopeless thanks to some wonderful driven students I met this spring break. One who really impacted me was a high school sophomore named Gary who was incredibly sweet and excelling in his classes.  In any class I saw him in, he consistently participated and asked compelling questions.  I have no doubt he is going to be successful.  Then there was another boy in the high school named Tyler.  I sat in on his public speaking class and was seriously impressed by him. His speech was well thought out and furthermore whenever he was asked a question, not just on his topic but other students too, he eagerly responded.  He had no problems voicing his opinion and his opinion was very stable and confident.  I would like to see what he is going to do with all his talent.  Then there were the kids in the jazz band.  I heard them playing and they blew my mind.  I could not help tapping my foot and grooving along with the music as some of them did individual solos.  Even though some of them were not the best academically they were incredibly talented.  One boy who was known for getting in trouble performed an amazing solo.  I realized that these kids have their own passions that I hope will drive the decisions they make in the future. 

Although academics should not be the only choice for these kids, they all have the right to be provided with an adequate education to make the choice of what path to follow.  I left Gaston but this is something that has stuck with me.  I plan to let this passion I have to change a child's life to impact the choices and paths I take from now on.