Stories of My Heroes

I love baseball and the San Francisco Giants…I probably give them more attention than I should. Many would consider sports stars their heroes. Based on the amount of time I have given some sports, I could be one of those folks…this of course isn’t a great place to offer “hero” status based on the level of consumption, greed and abundance(in MANY areas) this supports and encourages our culture to aspire to.

With all that being said, I believe I have located my true heroes. As I have mentioned, I am currently teaching Adult Education at North County High School. My students are the ones that fell through the cracks of our educational system and have now built up the courage to try finish what they started…some of my students started their High School education almost 20 years ago. Some were just slackers through HS, but most either have been in prison, had some form of learning disability or were forced to work in the fields to help their parents make rent. A couple of their stories in the past few weeks that have broken and inspired me:

The young man who acknowledged his addiction to REALLY hard drugs and spent the last few weeks in rehab. He is now back in class, but lacking any motivation and sleeps constantly. I talked to his sobbing mom yesterday as he admitted a relapse…

The young woman whose attendance was terrible because she had to work in the fields with her father everyday. 3 months ago she found out her dad had cancer and he died a month later…she promised him she would graduate, so she is now highly motivated and only works in the fields when we don’t have class

The young man who has a learning disability and parents recently died. He has somehow mustered the courage to stay in school and I just got to sign his diploma! He was just accepted into a education/work program in Utah.

The three young woman who have recently gotten pregnant and chosen to carry their babies to term and continue to work with me on finishing their HS diploma program.

I could keep on going…these are my heroes and I get to share in their story everyday.