Awww...Summit Kids

Right now, the Summit Institute has a charter proposal before the county for another high school just like Summit HS. The charter already was denied by the district and many, many people spoke against the charter at the first county hearing. It's incredibly hard for me to understand the opposition. Today, some of the Institute folks made a video to showcase the best part of our school: our amazing students. From the video, you get the gist that the opposition thinks that we're a white, elitist school that does not serve special education students well. You don't have to watch the whole thing or even watch it at all, but I am proud to say that I GET to teach most of the students in this video.



I'm totally teary right now. I wish I could tell you the stories off all these kids in the video. The kid who struggled through everything I gave him last year...and we had a tough time for a few months, but at some point he became incredible positive about math and trusted that I would help him get through...and he is one of the sweetest kids to walk our halls. The student who is in a group home and doesn't know what to put for "parents" on her college application and yet she makes everyone feel happier just by seeing her. The student who saved for months to have the money to apply to two colleges ($110). The student who stands during every class because she can't sit down for very long and the doctors don't know why. The student who is working with me every day at lunch so that he can master the material that has been so tough for him and so that he might get to go on a service trip during January.

I believe these kids..that Summit is a different kind of school and has given a lot of these kids a different high school experience...allowed them to know people outside their neighborhood, know their teachers and open up to them, and have a say in their education. I often think: if so-and-so went to a big public high school, they might not be in Pre-Calculus right now proving the Law of Cosines...they might not be in school right now period. I've had students tell me this: that they would have dropped out long ago if we weren't around. There are a lot of parts of my job that are really tough and most days I don't take a break between the hours of 8am and 6pm, but seeing my kids when they get a college application or to hear about a successful conversation they had with another teaching...that's why I'm there.