A Raw Conversation Leads to Change
- lewopschall
- Mar 25, 2015
- 2 min read
Tears began to stream down my face, mirroring the teary eyed young girl in front of me, as she told me what she goes through day to day. Bullying, drugs and shootings, just to name a few. The conversation was sparked by an assignment I was given to work on for the rest of the year with the students I mentor at Oyler High School. The school is located in Lower Price Hill, one of the worst neighborhoods in Cincinnati.
My group of mentees is to design a community service project that will benefit their community. They will then present the idea to the class. While brainstorming for the project one would find that my mentees experience things NO CHILD should EVER have to go through. From the outside it’s easy to judge these kids on how they act and what they look like. But after hearing them share their stories you immediately understand why, and suddenly your eyes become open to the strength these teens possess for enduring all that they do.
I told my mentees a hard lesson. Life is not fair. It’s not fair they have to grow up where violence is an everyday occurrence and where broken homes are the norm. I promised them one thing though. If they could endure the struggle now and work hard, they could reach a better place. I told them it wouldn’t be easy but that it could be done.
As I shared these words of encouragement one of mentees started breathing harder, tears falling faster. You could tell all her life’s troubles were flashing before her, deep down though she knew there was something better in this world for her.
At the end of our time together we were all feeling empowered. We concocted a wonderful plan for our project, all excited to get started.
This week I have faced some of my own struggles. After this meeting though, they seemed to drift away. THIS is what I am meant to do, I thought. Help those students see that they can change the course of their lives, and empowering them to do so.
Comments