Q: Was there a pivotal experience you had as a student?

Some of my high school teachers thought the black students were all incapable and incompetent. But there were also great teachers who expected a lot from us. I remember my literature teacher. I wasn't doing great in class. One day she said to me, "You owe it to your race to stay in this class. Buckle down because you're not dropping out."

After she said that, I saw her in a different light. I thought, "She thinks I can do it, and she had the nerve to say that." It was an incredibly helpful thing to say. When she said that to me, all the lessons I knew about our country and the struggles for minorities -- a lightbulb went off. By the end of the year, I was getting A's. Something changed.


ja si zase pamatam, ako nam stale hovorili vsetci, ze z nas nic nebude :)
alebo jeden ucitel mi raz povedal, ze som naivny ak si myslim, ze budem v zivote robit pracu co ma bavi, ze neviem co hovorim.. well, o rok neskor som uz popri skole zacal robit taku pracu co ma bavila ;)
neviem z coho vyplyva ta slovenska mentalita, ze sa radi demotivujeme navzajom..

ale tesim sa, ked zalozim prve veci pre mladych ludi, tak budem ten, kto bude verit v ich buducnost, tak ako teraz verim kazdemu cloveku, na ktorom vidim ze sa snazi (a tiez opacne, vidim na uspesnych, ze su tam kde su pretoze sa snazili)