Stronger Together : Go Green & Give!

As a young woman who copes with cerebral palsy, I’ve always aimed to shape my struggles into a story of strength.  Over the past few years, I’ve been involved with UrbanPromiseCharlotte. The ministry consists of afterschool and summer camp programs that provide students with spiritual and academic support to develop into strong Christian leaders who can transform our city.   

Recently, I was invited to join students at UrbanPromise as they shared their own “strength to love” stories.  Listening to these stories of leadership and love was a beautiful reminder that we are stronger together.   The students and staff at UrbanPromise are a significant and special part of my strength.   March is cerebral palsy awareness month.  In celebration of the story we are writing together, I am inviting you to   GO Green & Give TO URBANPROMISECharlotte!

I remember my first day as a summer intern at UrbanPromise like it was yesterday. The first student I ever met was a young elementary school boy who had missed the bus and arrived late for camp.   I greeted him with a smile and told him my name.    He skipped six paces ahead of me toward the cafeteria and said, “Miss Julie, you walk weird.”   His tone suggested that I might not know this and that maybe because my walk was weird I should just stop.   It’s normal for young people to have this reaction but, when they do, I always consider how to explain being different.  So, I let this student eat while I asked a member of our staff to help me explain.  We tried our best to express that no matter how differently I walked, I still loved being a part of UrbanPromise.   It didn’t work.  The student refused to talk to me all summer. After all, I walked weird and caused him trouble!

Nearly three years later, that same student is part of our middle school program at UrbanPromise and always greets me with an enthusiastic, “Hey Miss Julie!”     It’s amazing!   The connection is  an example of what happens when our ability to encourage each other overweighs any reason we might not be accepted. 

Surprisingly, he was also a student who shared his “strength to love” speech.       His words were so powerful. “ I do not always make the right choices and I’m not the easiest person to love… but I’m trying to be better. And coming to UrbanPromise is working. “   It takes so much strength to admit that we are less than perfect and an even stronger community to celebrate us despite those imperfections. 

This student’s story embodies the best part of teaching and learning. In it, we see that we don’t always have to start out with the ability to understand one another perfectly. Instead,  we just need the chance to slowly grow into who we want to be!    This only happens when we create communities like the family that exists at UrbanPromise!  

It’s an extraordinary gift to walk alongside students as they write their own stories of strength. I'm grateful for the way UrbanPromise turns struggle into strength for so many students our city.   It such a life giving experience  be a stronger leader, teacher, and  thinking because I belong here.  We are stronger together! You can support stories of strength & transformation  that happen daily at UrbanPromise by clicking the link below.  

GO Green & Give TO URBANPROMISECharlotte!

https://secure.qgiv.com/for/urbcha/

* Green is the color that promotes CP month

Ps.  If you give to UrbanPromiseCharlotte or just read the blog--- Leave a comment.   I want to know your thoughts and words of gratitude are important to me.   My creative writing teacher used to  say, "writers  can't write in vacuum"...

The Power of Encouragement

This week marked a year since I took the lead in the classroom as a student teacher.  Naturally, I’m wishing that I had my own classroom full of students to teach and encourage.  At the same time, my week started with the opportunity to substitute a middle school social studies class---- It was AMAZING!    As my story continues to unfold, this was a reminder to keep the course.  It also has me reflecting on one of the most powerful moments of my student teaching experience.

Student teaching is by far the most difficult obstacle I’ve ever overcome.   No matter what anyone told me I never felt good enough.   Yet, one of the greatest things about being a student teacher was that I had a fellow student teacher down the hall.    This might sound strange but, it’s always easier to be brave because someone else believes in you or because someone else is along side of you--- even when you don't know them well.   My fellow student teacher taught math and when we met that’s the only thing I knew about him.    Nonetheless, a first year student teacher on my team had encouraged me early on to talk with him about our experience throughout the semester.  So, I did.

Our supervising professor always observed us on the same day.  So at lunch on that first day I wrote him an e-mail that said,  “ You’ll be fine and whatever happens today, I want you to know, that I really really struggled in high school math and that’s an understatement.   I don’t even know the content you’re brave enough to teach!”

It was the beginning of a friendship that led to many more check- ins with each other. Sometimes we vented about assignments and sometimes about snow on opposite sides of town.   We didn’t know too much about one another but we enjoyed the journey together.

On our last day of observation, we crossed paths in the hallway on the way to our classrooms.  We didn’t stop, instead there was this natural moment for a high five   with a “Hey we are  also done!  It was AWESOME!    A true example of how encouragement comes full circle.

And when we finished, I got a text that read, “ You’ve been really encouraging!”  It brought me to tears. As a teacher, leader, and thinker in my community I’ve always aimed to be an encourager--- if I'm not encouraging and helping others as a teacher, what's the point?!

 No matter where we are on our journey there’s always as an opportunity to encourage each other. So even on the days when you don’t feel good enough or brave enough to keep your course....Don’t quit!  You might be the reason someone else gets to the place they’d always dreamed they’d be!