I’m reading (and loving!) her book Cassandra Speaks right now - powerful, timely.

I’ve given that kid more apples than I’ve ever received as teacher - but the smile on his face every time makes it more than worth the cost.

🍎☺️🍎☺️🍎☺️

Things to remember? The native Spanish-speaking student who was in my class for about a week at the beginning of this year before he was transferred out who has recently taken to stopping by to ask me almost daily “¿Traes fruta?” (“Do you have any fruit?”)

I am heartbroken for all the communties who lost the support of AmeriCorps programs, as well as the members who had their hearts set on “getting things done for America” this year but instead got sent home by a rogue billionaire who has no business meddling in their affairs.

I have no idea where my life would have gone without those two years of AmeriCorps service. I was able to pay off all of my student loans from undergrad, as well as fund part of my master’s degree with the education awards that I received.

Now I am about to finish my 22nd and final year as a public school Spanish teacher. I have continued to volunteer in my community and made it a priority to share the importance and joy of volunteering with my own two kids.

I spent a second year as an AmeriCorps Leader, planning trainings and community service projects for my local program, as well as coordinating statewide service learning for interested teens.

The year I spent as a bilingual literacy tutor in two different 2nd grade classrooms improved my own proficiency in Spanish and opened the doors of education for the kids I had the pleasure/honor of working with. It also helped me realize that I wanted to work with older kids.

AmeriCorps has provided young Americans with an amazing opportunity for the last 30 years, and benefits communities all over the country. I love that it provides an answer to the Catch-22 of “I can’t get a job because I don’t have any work experience, but I can’t get work experience without a job!”

Did I really want to move there?? A friend of a friend of a friend visiting from Austin that I met at a barbecue that weekend convinced me that yes, I did! Two months later she picked me up at the Austin airport and I slept on her couch for two weeks while looking for my own place.

I thought I might want to be a bilingual elementary school teacher and this would give me a chance to try it out without a commitment. And if I hated Texas, it was just for one year. The next day, I awoke to headlines screaming from the LA Times: “Tornado outside Austin, Texas kills 32.”

I had a phone interview with a program in Austin, Texas right before Memorial Day. The director warned me that we might get cut off due to thunderstorms in the area, and that he would call me back if that happened. I really liked the idea of working with Spanish speaking elementary school students:

Something brought it back in the early spring of 1997, and I applied to programs all over the country: surely with a degree in Spanish I could do something worthwhile for a year, and earn money to pay back some of my student loan debt at the same time!

I remember going into the career center at my university that December, and breaking down in tears as I poured over binders of job listings.“What am I going to do with my life??” I remembered watching Clinton sign AmeriCorps into law in 1994, but a year spent abroad in Spain had clouded that memory.

Fast forward again to 1996, when I voted in my first presidential election, for Ralph Nader. Clinton was too “establishment” for me as a budding feminist. I had just read Susan Faludi’s “Backlash,” and was hoping to change the world after college graduation.

I remember watching the election returns that night, totaling up the electoral college votes on a map cut out from the newspaper earlier that day. I was so close to being old enough to vote. I was excited and encouraged by his energy and enthusiasm.

I was struck by Bill Clinton’s youth: he was my parents’ age, and his optimism about the future offered a stark contrast to Bush and Reagan before him.

“God’s doors are open to all.”

I have a few spots open in my schedule! Interested families should book a free call via my website to tell me about their student’s needs and learn more about how I can help: www.learningsuccessacademy.com/coach-liz-sc...

Feel free to share this info with others not on Blue Sky 😄