Tanesha
Raised in an upper-middle class home I’m sure as a child I had little understanding of how the other half lives. Years later working in the inner-city I had a rude awakening.
As a newly licensed high school librarian I was assigned by the New York City Board of Education to a small vocational high school in the south Bronx, a neighborhood made infamous by the 1981 movie Fort Apache, The Bronx.
The neighborhood was sketchy with empty, burnt-out buildings, graffiti everywhere, broken bottles in the street, litter-filled lots, and one morning a few blocks from our school a dead body found sprawled on the sidewalk. The local bank where many of us cashed our paychecks was robbed so many times it finally closed.
In fact I came to think of our school – Jane Addams Vocational – as an oasis in the asphalt jungle – staffed, I soon discovered, by a faculty of passionately dedicated teachers, many who became lifelong friends. And all who shared one mission – to educate kids who were among the most disadvantaged in the city, pulling them up by their bootstraps, and giving them the compassion and support they deserved. (See Magazines for the Principal, The Diary of a Young Girl, The Parking Lot Seniority List, Mr October, and Educator of the Year – Remembering Milton)
Our student body was predominantly Black and Hispanic, many were recent immigrants who spoke little English, and most whose families were on Welfare. In addition to lunch we served our students breakfast, a meal many would not have gotten at home.
And our school was one of a few in the city that ran a day care program in the building so students who were young mothers could finish high school while their infants were well cared for.
Many of our students were from broken homes or single-parent families, some lived with grandparents or older siblings, some were victims of abuse and neglect, and some were involved in the court system.
We also had students who lived in homeless shelters, and one of them was Tanesha.
Tanesha was bright and determined to make it despite all that was stacked against her, and with the help of her teachers and counselors she did.
Tanesha graduated with honors and would go on to college, and on the day she walked across the stage to get her Jane Addams diploma there were cheers in the auditorium and few dry eyes.
– Dana Susan Lehrman
Dana Susan LehrmanThis retired librarian loves big city bustle and cozy country weekends, friends and family, good books and theatre, movies and jazz, travel, tennis, Yankee baseball, and writing about life as she sees it on her blog World Thru Brown Eyes!
www.WorldThruBrownEyes.com
A wonderful success story, Dana. We need to hear those to help keep our spirits up!
Thanx Betsy, you’re absolutely right, let’s highlight more of the success stories!
This brings me back to the kids I worked with in day care–younger than the ones you were writing about here, but many of them facing similar challenges. I always remember going around at circle time with a group of 5 year olds (just before Thanksgiving) and asking each kid to answer, “what would you say if you were a turkey to the people who are celebrating Thanksgiving.” Many said variations of “Happy Thanksgiving” and “I hope you like the way I taste.” But Courtney said, “I have glass in me!” No one was going to eat him! He had figured out how to be a survivor.
It was nice to hear about your oasis, and always good to be reminded that the vast majority of educators are truly dedicated to their profession and to the children in their charge.
Thanx Dale, I admire the creativity you used with your kids.
And yes it’s good to realize how many dedicated educators there are working tirelessly in schools. I had it easy running the library, while my colleagues were on the firing line in their classrooms every day!
Bravo for Tanesha for overcoming such long odds and to all of the teachers would educated and encouraged her.
Amen Laurie!
Dana, what an expansive opportunity your job at the Jane Addams Vocational School gave you , not only to see how the other half lives, but also to be able to contribute to their search for a better life.
As a teacher, I know how even one student like Tanesha can make up for so much other frustration we witness in schools. Really a good, moving story.
Thanx for your kind words Jim, you are so right – the frustrations inherent in teaching, especially at-risk kids, are balanced by the quiet victories like Tanesha’s!