Schools for Change

My sister and I are currently enrolled at the same university with similar aspirations. One of our friends teaches at an elementary school in a poorer part of town. She asked us to speak to her fifth grade class about our lives, how can afford to go to college and the work it took to be accepted. This might not seem significant but to these students it was a huge deal. In this part of town it is not uncommon to see children with parents that are drug dealers or negligent. There have even been cases where the parents use their children to deliver drugs to other students that would in turn give the drugs to their parents. These kids sometimes don’t know where their next meal will come from and many have the burden of worrying about these problems because they have younger siblings that they have to take care of. Dealing with these obstacles has clouded their minds and disillusioned their hearts to accept the fact that there is no brighter future for their lives. We spoke about ourselves and answered about a hundred questions regarding every aspect of our lives. The students were so excited that they asked if we could stay for lunch. That was very touching and inspired us to want to do more for their school. Immediately after, on our way to the car, we found out that there was a great need for tutors for all grades in every subject and a financial need to varying degrees among most students. Our hearts went to these students and my sister and I decided to adopt their school. Our plan is simple yet requires tremendous effort and money. We want to start a consistent and steady tutoring group that consists of all subjects to tutor all grades. There are also plans to set up a bank or fund that would house clothing, food, and school supplies that would later be distributed to those families in need. Monetary donations will also be welcomed and raised for this project that would be distributed to families, teachers, or any other miscellaneous items that this budget requires. However, we realized that it is not going to be enough to only tutor this school. We realized that to really make an impact on this community we are going to need to start at the root of this dilapidated community. We want to encourage and culture the sense of community. Children learn from their surroundings and what they see their parents or guardians are doing. From the state of their neighborhood it is obvious that the overall consensus is that the residents don’t care and /or don’t know how to change it. But we propose that we start with the children. The plan is to incorporate community service with foundations in having compassion for your neighbors and to be proud of where you live. By setting up community service projects- cleaning up the park, rebuilding houses, delivering food to those immobile, taking part in the clothing/food bank, and other service works – we hope that the students learn that change is possible if they want it but that it takes the want, will, and effort to achieve their dreams. Education is the key to change. We want to educate this school. We want to educate this community. We want to see change.