Student Finds Reward in Mentoring Youth

The Minaret Published February 20, 2009

Last Friday, I had the opportunity, being a member of the Diversity Fellowship, to go Blake High School to talk to students in the AVID program about diversity.

AVID is a way to prepare high school students for college.
Typically these kids will be the first ones in their families to attend a college or university and this program is designed to teach students how to apply for financial aid and how to make a resume.
It’s the ultimate program to give kids the chance to make their dreams come true.

So going to Blake reminded me of what high school was like. Everyone had their comfort zones and who cared about diversity or even what it was.

In one class that is how one of the girls acted. She had the look on her face like none of it mattered and what was the point. All of us noticed but kept on going through our presentation.

Afterwards, we had forgotten about her, until about fifteen minutes later she came to talk to us on our break.

She came to apologize to us about her behavior.

It’s not that she didn’t think diversity was important; it’s that she didn’t really know what she identified with.

Her parents are divorced and her father has never been around.
She knows her mom is Puerto Rican. All of her friends are mostly African American.

This has led her to an unsettled identity and a life vastly different than her peers.

She continued to open up to us about how at sixteen she has already faced pressure to join a gang, to be a drug dealer, and to have had boys treat her like a piece of meat.

Also she takes care of her five younger brothers and sisters at night because her mom works the night shift. She cooks dinner, cleans, and puts them to bed so they don’t have bad dreams at night.

She asked us how to deal with people making judgments about her and if it would get better. She also said that we were the first people she’d ever really opened up too, including her mom.

And sitting there, I really took it all to heart.

I was able, along with my peers, to help this girl who was on the verge of tears to see how much she mattered.

I got to express to her that it’s okay to be confused and to not always be happy.
Most importantly, I got to encourage her to make a difference with other people through her story.

I sat there and almost cried along with her. Life up to this point has been hard but it has been nothing like what this girl has had to face.

Even through all the emotions, that experience made the trip to Blake High worth it. It made me feel like something good came out of that day.

It’s been the most rewarding conversation of my life and it put everything into perspective.