This final day of school was only a half-day. The majority of the students at the school were taking a practice ACT test. The class I was working with had 9th graders, who did not take the test, so it mostly consists on a few last poems and a college panel. Ms. Chen gave the students the opportunity to ask us any questions about college, high school, and what we did in order to get into college. The students had the most random questions I have ever heard mostly because they are freshman and didn’t have really any foundation knowledge about college. The most random question Alex and I got was if we played for the University of Kansas athletic teams. I started laughing because yes we both looked as if we were in healthy shape but by no means sent out athletically inclined vibes. The other questions made sense and were mostly about class size, class attendance, paper length, and tests. They also were very interested in our high school GPA and test scores because they wanted to see what numbers we had in order to get in to the school. Alex and I had different high school experiences and test scores so hopefully it didn’t either reduce the amount of hope but also didn’t inspire them to work hard. Overall the students were excited about college because they would have some flexibility in schedule and the topics of class; furthermore, they were excited about having fluctuation on disciplinary consequences if they miss an assignment or miss class. I repeatedly reminded each class section that even though they hated how strict Muchin College Prep was, they were building important habits and skills that would make them very successful in school. They didn’t understand that and maybe it was because it was only the students first year at Muchin and because they were still very young. I think at my school in Dallas, we also didn’t understand the reasoning behind how strict our school was. This whole week I sat in on Ms. Chen’s advisory class. This was a group of 10th grade girls that she was responsible for since they stepped into Muchin in 9th grade. She played many roles in these student’s lives such as mother, friend, disciplinarian, college counselor, grade regulator, ally, and biggest supporter. She was in charge of helping each student set goals on how to improve, track the student’s academic scores and detentions, and overall set goals for the entire class for improvement. Because the students took a practice ACT that day, we didn’t meet with them individually in the classroom. Instead, the 10th grade teachers, advisers, and administrators held a pep rally to congratulate and celebrate the completion of the test and the improvement of the scores. They rewrote the words of “The Motto” by Drake and rapped it. It was very motivational and the students loved it. They also had a video of each teacher showing what they liked most about the students and also of the teachers favorite dance move. The students were so happy I couldn’t even believe it. Everyone was having fun, and the students were being rewarded for working towards a reasonable goal score on the ACT. The goal was still lower than what most schools in my Dallas suburb expected but they saw growth, which should always be highlighted and rewarded. It isn’t about being the best always; it is about the constant effort of being better and the best you can possibly be. Overall this week was eye opening but I am unsure if I really made a difference or was even fully educated on how the educational system works in Chicago. Hopefully I can find a way to educate myself more on poverty and education but also bring my experiences back to KU.
Beth Boomstein
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