Fostering Perseverance

By: Mr. Jesse Lewis

As excited and hopeful as I was to join AmeriCorps this year, I was also anxious about the new experience and questioned what kind of an impact I would have on the kids at Clifton High School as an after school tutor in the Teen Center. My anxieties were soon left in the dust when on my first day of work I met Mia.

Mia walked right up to me and asked with a middle-eastern accent, “Are you new here?” After hearing the question at least ten times already I simply smiled and replied, “No, I’m working here this year to help you guys with your school work.” “Oh great!” She exclaimed as her face lit up and she tossed her overstuffed book bag on the table in front of me, “then I’ve got work for you.”

She explained that she had only been in the United States for a few years and needed help with her ESL class. She sat down and pulled out a revised version of Frankenstein. Her assignment was to read and summarize each chapter. Extremely resilient, she sputtered and stumbled through words. I tore a piece of scrap paper and wrote down each word she struggled with. I told her to look up the words so when she sees them again she would recognize them.

She agreed, and left for home. The next day she came running into the teen center, Frankenstein in hand, shouting, “Mr., Mr.!” So I shouted back, “What, what!” She proceeded to tell me that she got a perfect score on her quiz that morning and her teacher was very excited about her improved grammar and spelling in her summary. Before I could get a world out she slapped the book on the table and said, “OK, today it’s chapter 9.”

She has since finished the book and received a couple more A’s on quizzes, but she continues to come back everyday even more enthusiastic than the day before. It feels so great to see her smiling face and know she’s doing well, that I wonder who is getting more out of this exchange.