This has been an incredible summer. How fitting to end the summer blogging with this picture of Neisha tackling the ropes course at the Urban Impact Camp.
All summer the youth explored many avenues dealing with the environment, “going green” being the set theme. It goes to show you, that with some discipline, a burning desire to achieve, and a lot of determination sets a path with endless opportunities. Trial and error plays a big part too, but one has to be willing to go that extra mile.
See, Maya Angelou stated that:

“You may not think you can reach it,

climb anyway.

You may not think you’ll be heard,

speak anyway.

You may not think you can change things,

try anyway.”

That is exactly what they did. From Aviant, a 2nd grader, who has motivated his family to recycle to a bunch of Kindergartners and 1st graders learning the importance of eating right, to Neisha who was determined to succeed and make it to the top.

Plain and simple, I encourage all of you, especially those who work with youth, to repeat the mission statement at least twice week, “equipping youth to envision who they can and one day will become.”
Hello new school year!!!!

P.S. It is true; a picture does speak a thousand words…

Nazareth Vidal--Moving in to greatness!

Nazareth Vidal is a go-getter! She called Thursday afternoon explaining she had a dilemma. Her school counselor had just given her a scholarship application and it was due in a couple of days. She had to have letters of recommendation and had to fill out the paperwork. Instead of throwing up her hands and saying, "That's not enough time!" Nazareth started making phone calls. By the time I called her back she had already gotten one letter of recommendation and needed one from a community member...which would be me. Despite having a ton of things to do, because she is so persistent and diligent, I took time to write the letter.

Nazareth will be graduating from Skyline high school this year. But she has no intention of taking a break. Nazareth had applied for the Bank of America internship as well as the AmeriCorps position. Nazareth likes making sure all of her bases are covered. She is always looking for a new experience and always wanting to step in to the best possible opportunity she can find. So, when she was chosen as one of the 10 people (out of 400 applicants!) for the Bank of America internship, she seized the opportunity.

Nazareth comes from an amazing family that pushes her and encourages her. As mentioned in the video above, her brother, Gustavo, was also awarded the Bank of America internship two years ago as well. I'm always very proud and humbled to be included in young peoples' successes. I'm always so impressed by young adults like Nazareth.

Congrats, Nazareth!

Aviant expects perfection

So many times kids I have checked kids' homework and had them re-do it...either because their answers were wrong or because it was sloppy. Many times the kids have told me, "It doesn't matter. My teacher doesn't care." To which I always respond, "I do...so you'll have to fix it." I'm not saying every teacher is like that, but I can't deny it has happened quite a bit.

So, the other day when I visited the After-School Academy, I loved when Aviant called me over to explain his process for getting neat handwriting.