City Year has great founding stories. Our founding stories are creative, inspirational reminders to help keep us focused and motivated. One of my favorite stories is called The Starfish Story. In this story, a young girl was walking along the beach and discovered that thousands of starfish had been washed up during a storm. The little girl began throwing the starfish back into the ocean one by one. A man approached her and asked what she was doing, told her that she can’t possibly save all the starfish, and that she could not make a difference. After a few moments, she picked up another starfish, threw it into the ocean and told the man that she made a difference to that one.
I love this story for several reasons. First, I love it for its reminder to be perseverant. Second, I love it for the reminder of my ability to help children. My students struggle with many aspects with life outside of school, which greatly affect their course performance. Everyday, I see and hear different situations that my students are faced with. However, I must remember that I hold the power to make a transformation in a child’s life every single day. The other day, I worked with a student for hours studying for a math test and catching up on work. Today, I was told his grade went up 10%. The reaction of joy and confidence from him was priceless. The past few days, I realized his self-empowerment had increased and there was a new instilled sense of idealism. Our handbook claims “the idealism of youth is a powerful force for leading change in the world”. This quote emphasizes that this characteristic is incredibly valuable in my students because when they succeed, they can encourage others to do so as well. That reaction is a powerful motivator to my work. I may not be able to change everything that I dream of when it comes to working at an inner-city school, but the small differences I can make, even in one student, are worth it.
Give A Year, Change the World 