Ten years ago I was in Mrs. S’s sixth grade classroom. Today I visited her. Old classroom, new students.
She told me to prepare something ahead of time. To tell them something inspirational, something that would make them think or better yet, something that might help somebody in there. After all, I had been in the same classroom as them. I had gone to the same school. I was from Oak Cliff. I was an ESL student. I grew up with parents that had little formal education. And yet, despite all odds, I had made it to college. For free. And maybe in ten years, one of them could be me too.
But I didn’t know what to say. Should I impress them? Level with them? Make college sound cool? What? Because seriously: what do you tell a sixth grader?
Eventually I did say something. But I don’t even remember it to be…