Birthdays aren’t only for the one being celebrated. Though birthdays normally involve toasts and cute cards with heartwarming notes, and fill the one celebrating with love and gratefulness…birthdays are also for their friends, for their family, for their loved ones and the ones celebrating them. I have several summer birthdays in my life – dear …
Nightwalkers.
There are those who inhabit the night and those who don’t. Some make their way home by midnight and curl up together within the lights and confines of a familiar, comfortable place. For others, midnight passes and they inhabit the wee hours of the morning – the hours when many places are closed and the …
Professional Undergraduate
I wish I could be an undergraduate forever – not because I want to sleep in late and avoid paying taxes or living as a functional adult. I want to be an undergrad because I miss it. I miss being surrounded by people my own age constantly – people with diverse backgrounds and ideals and …
Educator? Student?
I never thought of myself as an educator. Of the past 23 years, I have been an official student for at least 17 of them. I love sitting in class, I love reading, I love documentaries and weird Discover Channel shows and TedxTalks. In college, I adored being a student. I listened to my professors …
1000 Hours.
Today I reached 1,000 hours towards my AmeriCorps requirement of 1700 hours over the course of my term of service. According to the Corporation for National and Community Service’s website, "Since the program’s founding in 1994, more than 800,000 AmeriCorps members have contributed more than 1 billion hours in service across America." I have earned …
An Average Day in the Life of (this) AmeriCorps Member
AmeriCorps members have long days. Some longer than others depending on where you serve. At Apopka’s NDMVA site, members serve in various locations including local high schools, middle schools, elementary schools, colleges and a domestic violence shelter. Though my schedule varies slightly at the high school and for special events – this is a glimpse …
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Hard Times in 5th Period
One of my students lost a friend in a car crash this week. He wasn’t one of mine and didn’t go to our school, so I didn’t know about it until she showed me the news article. Sitting in class, staring at the computer screen, another one of her friends tried to cheer her up …
Good Riddance 2013, here’s to 2014!
If you had asked me a month ago, I would have said 2013 was the worst year of my life. And it was bad – it was a rollercoaster of emotions and change and turmoil. If I never experience another year like 2013, I won’t complain. But each year has its good and its bad, …
Scenes from a GED Class
Two elderly black women sit together with short pencils and workbooks and packets spread in front of them. One woman has a composition book, where she writes notes in tiny, neat handwriting – conserving space, documenting things she should remember. They talk and laugh with a Hispanic man who could be their grandson and me, …
Thoughts on high school, adolescence and death
Last week, University High School – my alma mater and the school where my younger sister is currently a junior – mourned the death of one of its own. Unfortunately, death seems commonplace in high schools today. Apopka High School, where I am serving my AmeriCorps term, lost a freshman barely a month ago in …
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Meghan Mangrum 