Good News

I heard some good news today along the job front. I applied to a public charter school called the Match School in Boston (near Boston University) for a tutoring position. The position requires that tutor 5 students one-on-one throughout their 8am-5pm day. I think the idea behind the school 's long hours and tutoring philosophy is that students will rise to meet and/or exceed challenges. By making them stay in school for much longer than most public schools, more learning and enrichment can be absorbed by the students as well as keeping them off the streets and out of trouble. I think this philosophy is great, and it has had some impressive results. The school is ranked among the top 100 schools out of over 18,000 across the country. In terms of math proficiency, it is the top in the state of Massachusetts. Right now it serves 220 students from grades 9-12 and 90 students in grade 6. Over the next two years, the school is planning on expanding into grades 7 and 8. The results have been phenomenal so far for this star on the rise school. There's a lottery just to get into this school. Anyway, I heard back from the Director of Recruiting, and he informed me that they are interested in having a phone interview with me shortly after Thanksgiving.

I heard about this school and the tutoring positions a while ago, actually. I had a friend that applied to it last spring. I've always thought that it would be work that I would enjoy. I mean I get to work with kids in an educational setting and probably coach sports while I'm there. That's exactly what I want. There is only one minor detail about the job that might be a negative: the pay or lack there of. The pay is really an AmeriCorps stipend of $600 a month, but it does come with free housing on the top floor of the school. That was the only thing that was really keeping me from applying to this school earlier. I'm just worried that with student loans rearing its ugly head that I needed something that would pay more than $600 a month. I don't want my parents, who have already done so much for me, to worry about my loans and my living expenses after college. Although, I guess they still feed, clothe, and house me. I feel like moving to Boston and working this job will fulfill me, but will also require me to spend more money than I make if that makes sense. It's like that time I stayed at Dartmouth during an off term the spring of my Junior year. I had to pay $3,000 in room and board while making a little more than $1000 working as the Intramural Sports Coordinator. I had a great time that term, ,but that left my parents to pay the bill. I'm worried the same thing is going to happen with this job and I don't want to be a burden for them. I wanted to go to college so that I could get a job to support them.

I'm glad that I applied though and I'm seriously considering taking this job if it leads to an offer. After this weekend at the SEAD reunion, my desire to work with kids from under-unprivileged communities is renewed. I know I want to make a difference there even if it's just a small and maybe even unseen difference. I guess I'll just have to learn to live off very little, not that I live a very extravagant lifestyle anyway. I feel like this weekend with the kids was very well timed for me and then I hear about this phone interview. I don't exactly believe in predetermination or that everything happens for a reason or anything, but I'm just glad things happened as they have. For a while, I was really struggling to find myself. I didn't really know where I was and, more importantly, where it was I wanted to go. I had this sickening feeling that I was just stuck in place, and no one else seemed to be afflicted in the same manner. I think that I was also feeling pretty sorry for myself, which is incredibly silly. I was talking to a friend I worked with over the summer and talking about how we noticed that there are two personalities to us: our SEAD personalities and our normal personalities. I would like to think that I these two personalities are not completely different, but I do notice that there are differences. The thing I think I like most about how SEAD affects me is that it puts everything into perspective for me. I start to feel silly about feeling sorry for myself, which is a very good thing. How can I complain about my life when I know some of the atrocities that plague these kids? I start to think more about how lucky I am and how many wonderful people and opportunities I have in my life. I love that sobering effect it has on me as well as the awareness it imparts on me about the lives of inner city kids. I saw a poster for Teach for America this weekend at Dartmouth that said: 50% of low-income, inner city kids don't graduate high school and that only one of ten graduates from college. Those numbers are insane and depressing. I wonder if I would've noticed that poster if I had not known these kids. I also wonder what would've happened to me if I had still been living in Dorchester, MA instead of Cape Cod. Would I be where I am today or just another statistic?

Ideally, I want my SEAD personality to be my normal or default personality. That's pretty hard though since I'm not going to be with those kids every single day or maybe ever again. The only physical remnants I have of them is a scrapbook that each one of them signed for me this past summer and the messages that lie inside. I find that I look at that scrapbook a lot when I'm feeling down. I remember falling asleep with the scrapbook on the students' last night and my first night home each of the two summers I worked with the program. Mostly, the scrapbook has really nice things to say so it usually makes me feel better. I also like that the comments describe a person that I want to be everyday, not just for a month every summer. The good news is that I have been that person before, so I know I'm capable. The hard part is getting that done without the SEAD atmosphere and the kids around to help me. But like I've said, I have some wonderful friends and family in my life. I'll need to apply my SEAD philosophy to my interactions with all of them. As a result, I think I can better keep these kids close to my heart and my life because I'll be living my life the same way I did when I was with them. I still miss them very much.