Phew. This Season Always Gets Me. There Will Be Much to Celebrate this Weekend, and the Updates Are Arriving in Stereo.

In 2014, stressed about a nation no longer funding the great work of the National Writing Project, I set out to create a youth model, so that every young person who came to write with us each summer, would also fund another young person who couldn't pay. We had 9 young people in Ubuntu Academy that first year, and I hired two graduate students to run it: Jessica Baldizon under the mentorship of Kaitlyn Kelly. We had a basic idea of what we wanted to accomplish and we used Kwame Alexander's The Crossover to provide first steps...this was before a Newberry and with faith the book would speak to new arrivals.

Fast forward. It's 2023, and Abonga Ndemba, Congolese, first in his family to get a high school diploma, was recommended to us through his ESL teachers at Bassick High School. He came to our programs for two years and I've enjoyed hiring him and his brother for house sitting and dog-walking when I have to go out-of-town for conferences. 

Last night, he sent me this photo from Southern Connecticut University, proving he's also now the first-generation college grad in his family as he pursuits a degree in medicine and nursing. Those of us who started on this educational journey with him in 2014, always knew he was a song for knowledge, devoted to his personal excellence, a loyal son and brother first, an focused on his goals. 

I'm now channeling memories of yesteryear (including extracurricular yoga lessons with Charlotte Pecquex), first interactions with U.S. teachers, and the promise of what it takes to achieve in the wonky, high-stressed, often neurotic arena of higher education in our nation. 

I'm proud to say, this young man achieved what he set out to do. 

Today, we'll see 300+ graduate students earning Master's degrees and tomorrow, over a 1,000 undergraduates. It is the seasons of graduations, but for now I'm savoring this moment. Always loved this young man! and I always will!