In the spring of 2013, Karleshia discovered she was pregnant. She was not able to attend the trip, despite her laudable efforts to fundraise, including bringing in the first $95 enrollment fee to school exclusively in coins. While an incredibly loving and attentive mother, having a child at 17 years old has naturally been a challenge for Karleshia, and has certainly affected her chances at attending a competitive college. Karleshia's story is clear evidence of the problems facing students in schools like Greenville High, and how essential holistic education is for the survival and success of our disadvantaged youth.
At first glance, one might not imagine that I, at 16, had much in common with
Karleshia, an Amazonian sass with long braids and mahogany skin. Karleshia was fiery and passionate about everything from attending church to selling hot chips to getting all As in my French class. Her life in the rural Mississippi Delta initially seemed alien to me, but as I got to know Karleshia, I saw within her a kindred desire to explore, grow, and survive that I nostalgically recognized from myself at that age.
Both Karleshia and I were raised in single-parent households. We both grew up in
communities that maintain invisible, yet paralyzing, force fields that keep their youth from ever departing. That all changed for me at 16. My French teacher organized a trip to France, and I was fortunate enough to have a supportive family who helped me raise every penny of the $3,000 cost.
That first trip abroad sparked my unquenchable desire to travel. Upon attending
Vassar College, I was privy to many widespread – yet expensive – travel opportunities. While my peers were a phone call away from needed funds, I wouldn’t let my humble background immobilize me. I manically typed away at countless applications for loans, grants, and fellowships, the fruits of which eventually brought me to Ghana as a volunteer, Morocco as a student, and Tunisia as an intern.
After years of trips abroad, imagine everyone’s surprise when I plopped down in
Greenville, Mississippi, a state notorious for its dearth of passport-holders and registered voters. In Teach for America, I was serendipitously placed as a French teacher, and after teaching the likes of Karleshia and her many talented yet sheltered peers, I decided it was time: A first-year teacher at 23 years old, I proposed a trip to Europe, the district’s first international trip in more than two decades. Fifteen students, including Karleshia, will accompany us on Greenville Goes Global’s inaugural trip in March.
The upcoming trip’s impact on the community is astounding. In a setting often
rife with gossip and negativity, students are now curious, inquisitive, and daring to dream. I hope this will be transformative and sustainable for years to come. However, like many poor communities, Greenville has an extreme lack of stability. Teacher turnover is constant, with both “TFAs” and locals to blame. Administrators come and go. Students are dizzyingly mobile, victims to their parents’ constant need to relocate residences.
So I often ask myself: How can I create something stable in a whirlwind of
uncertainty? How can my department grow in a culture consumed by state test scores? How can I engender and sustain big dreams when the district constantly changes hands?
Here is what I know: Students in underserved communities deserve access to
quality world language instruction, cultural literacy training, and opportunities for international travel. A school district is the obvious starting place, but it’s clear to me now that struggling schools don’t have the time or resources to consider these trips. An independent entity in the community, funded separately from the public school system, could bridge this gap. I am ready to invest low-income students in international education and to convince them money should never be a barrier to one’s dreams, as it wasn’t for mine. I have the drive, ideas, and passion. I just need the guidance, training, and experience in management, marketing, and program design to become the best advocate, for students like Karleshia, that I can possibly be.