Anacostia!

This week we finally went to our school!! It's about a 45minute bus ride from home (but it's only $1.75!!). The principal is fairly new but he is awesome. He has goals, deadlines, and knows the best people to get the job done. He talked about his story of being a teen father and his success of rising to principal. I think his eagerness and drive is the reason that City Year was pulled into Anacostia for the first time. He showed us some bleak stats from a couple years ago with percentages in competency ELA, math, and attendance in the teens. Then he showed us last years' data, and those areas jumped to about 30-40%. The numbers are still bleak, but the improvement is awesome.

The other teachers are all really young. There are more white teachers than I expected. Many of the teachers have heard of or worked with City Year in the past.

Ripples: Ripples are effects seen in the community due to City Year or some good action. I have seen a ton of ripples recently - Probably because I've been in public a lot in uniform. Many people have questions about what I do and I've quickly polished up an elevator speech.

1) After dinner with our sponsors, someone came up to us and said he'd been waiting for us to finish dinner before approaching. He works in the SE schools with a teen pregnancy program. He'd heard of City Year and looked forward to working with us at Anacostia. We were excited to meet him and he took a selfie with us. Our sponsors also chatted with him. One of the waitresses also said thanks for serving.

2) I was standing at the bus stop with a bunch of other CY people (when the whole corps heads to one location, you're guaranteed to run into other redshirts and take over a bus). One man came up to us and said he was a City Year alum and told us good luck with next year.

3) I was walking to school and I was waiting for a red light. In uniform, we're not allowed to jaywalk because our behavior is closely scrutinized by kids - even kids we don't directly interact with. All kids with CY in their schools recognize the uniform and instantly look up to us, so we have to perpetually set a good example. Anyways I was waiting and a school bus driver pulled up, rolled down his window and eagerly waved before moving on.

4). Standing at the bus stop today after work and one young man walked past and said "hey City year! Glad to see you back in this area! Hope you're at my school this year." We asked him, "what school?!" and he replied with, "Anacostia." So we were excited and he came back and chatted and  told us he was starting 9th grade there this year. This made me really excited to get going and meet more students.

These Ripples make me proud to be a part of City Year. The program is well-established and respected in the community. I am standing on the shoulders of giants. The people before me have done so much for me to immediately earn the respect of so many people. I'm excited to get going!