perspective.

Last week a friend of mine from my sorority asked for help with her PR campaign for a class project. All I knew at the time was that the campaign centered on encouraging students to attend college and that we would be visiting a low-income high school. We met with a few other students early last Friday morning and went to an old high school in a not-so-nice part of Oklahoma City. We set up two tables in the front of the cafeterria with: OU t-shirts, various brochures on the importance of college, different college information sheets, applications for scholarships, and cards for my friend’s campaign’s myspace/facebook page (website: www.okcollegebound.com) and waited for the students to come in. For 3 lunches (which went by really fast in my opinion) we talked to students who were curious about the three white girls handing out papers. We ended up becoming unofficial FAFSA spokeswomen - with the school’s counselor’s gratitude. It was humbling, eye-opening and wonderful. For weeks I have been thinking about *me*… the TExES test/ Pre-Institute jitters/getting through institute/who will I live with/where will I teach/what exactly will I teach/will they like me/will I help them/ the thought bubbles full of fear go on and I know are probably normal. And yet it is not about me, it is about the kids. I am going to be a teacher because there are students just like the ones in OKC who need help. I finally see the achievement gap I’ve been reading and talking about for months. I had this semi-epiphany of sorts after we left the school. Two hours of lunch in one high school and my outlook changed. crazy. I have so much more to see and learn.