tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post8936464659909498439..comments2024-03-28T02:21:17.452-07:00Comments on Seattle Schools Community Forum: Inspirational GraduatesMelissa Westbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17179994245880629080noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-80544190191002312422008-06-14T11:20:00.000-07:002008-06-14T11:20:00.000-07:00School ends on Tuesday and we had finals on Thursd...School ends on Tuesday and we had finals on Thursday and Friday, so I had been scrambling trying to find something meaningful for Monday. This article was the solution. I'm going to have my students read it and then reflect on it and what it means to them and what can they take away from it. We have had an influx of students from East Africa this year, so I'm hoping the stories will be an inspriation to them.Michael Ricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18231362823419529183noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-29849472028192522182008-06-13T10:47:00.000-07:002008-06-13T10:47:00.000-07:00Here's one of my favoritespeeches, made by J.M. Ba...Here's one of my favoritespeeches, made by J.M. Barrie at St. Andrews University, Scotland, in 1922 (or 1921, I forget.) He was the Rector, and was speaking to a class that had lost up to maybe a quarter of its male population to the deadly fields of Flanders and other killing fields during WWI.<BR/>It's called "Courage."<BR/>http://www.classic-literature.co.uk/scottish-authors/james-barrie/courage/seattle citizenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16724175257161649500noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-51792526468502110072008-06-13T09:54:00.000-07:002008-06-13T09:54:00.000-07:00The last graduating class of the John Marshall Alt...The last graduating class of the John Marshall Alternative School walked last night. It was indeed inspirational to see these young men and women stand proudly to recieve their diplomas.<BR/><BR/>It was only five students, as Marshall's Alt. program was frozen last summer, and the program had already been diminishing previously.<BR/><BR/>Two of the five were in Running Start. Two were in Seattle Vocational Institute/Bright Futures. (Bright Futures grew out of the need to connect Marshall students to further vocational opportunity, in this instance to SVI.)<BR/><BR/>The fifth student was in neither of these programs, but was on a path of her own.<BR/><BR/>These five students all had various and sundry mountains to climb. In my opinion, what brought them to the stage last night was a realization, a cathartic moment, an eye-opening...a moment or series of moments during which they saw a future and reached for it. Regardless of their circumstance, (again, in my opinion; who really knows the inner motivation?) each saw a light and ran towards it, each saw that the "here and now" was not necessarily the way the "there and then" of their futures had to be.<BR/><BR/>What caused these paradigm shifts in these students? A mature glimpse of futures yet to be. Perhaps because there had been "issues" in their past, perhaps because they saw hope in the form of opportunity, perhaps they suddenly understood that the future was theirs to grasp and the future could be either grim and despondent or hopeful and active...<BR/><BR/>Just my interpretation, again, but in numerous instances I SAW IN THEIR EYES this shift to forward thinking. I saw determination, I saw an abandonment of the ways of the present in favor of plans for the future.<BR/><BR/>What helped? I'd like to think we educators showed them some pathways. I'd like to think that their families, through eye-opening displays of dysfunction or through loving attention and pushing from behind inspired progress. I'd like to think that the community, by offering such diverse opportunities as Bright Futures, Dollars for Scholars, SVI, SCCC and NSCC, the UW (one scholar is bound for that institution), gave these students a glimmer of hope, a look at possibilities.<BR/><BR/>These five students are well on their way to active, self-determined, dedicated progress. They are well on their way to becoming the productive, compassionate, engaged citizens we all wish them to be (as we wish it for ourselves.)<BR/><BR/>These are examples of how "hope floats." There are so many more students who need this hope. You see them on the Ave, at 3rd and Pine, in the classrooms with their hoods up and their eyes down. We MUST provide more hope, we MUST open doors and carve more pathways. Their lives depend on it, and as theirs do, so do ours.<BR/><BR/>Congratulations to the Class of 2008, John Marshall Alternative School! You inspire me to keep pushing, to keep advocating, to keep behind you lending a shoulder and what knowldege I might have that will benefit you.<BR/><BR/>But it's up to each to look for the hope, to have the courage and strength to keep it afloat.<BR/><BR/>"Courage! All goes if courage goes...I would that I could provide you with this courage, but courage is a staff that each must carve for him or herself." (J.M. Barrie)seattle citizenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16724175257161649500noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-42938442080256369242008-06-13T09:25:00.000-07:002008-06-13T09:25:00.000-07:00It sounds trite to say that students like those in...It sounds trite to say that students like those in that article are "an inspiration", but that's what they are. It's young people like that who remind me that it's possible to overcome much with the right support and internal strength. It also helps put the myth that "kids these days" are nothing but trouble to rest.<BR/><BR/>I wish them all well in the future endevors.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com