Make a Difference

The other night I woke up not feeling that well, so I came downstairs to have a snack. I turned on the TV, and I was watching CNN or MSNBC. . I can't remember (it was 3:30am in the morning) Anyway it talked about changing the perception of teenagers have on the world. In today's world teenagers have this view of "me me." They start in early grades trying to be the best trumpet player, best quarterback, best volleyball player etc. . by the time they reach high school--they are only concerned about themselves excelling. With colleges becoming more competitive, they want more than straight A's and sports statistics. Many higher ranking colleges last year admittance essays focused on how the student has impacted the community, or someone else’s life outside of school.
Many high schools and middle schools are focusing on community by this exchange of extracurricular activities program. Here's how it works: if you are in cheerleading and basketball, then you have to sign up for so many hours of community service projects based on how many activities you are involved in--it is actually a class. What an excellent idea!!! The community projects are completely separate from all clubs and sports, which this expert says is "key" to get the correct message. The message is that if you want to participate in activities--you also need to give back to the community. Life is bigger than how many yards on the football field a teen gets on Friday night. They are even starting this in middle schools.

I think this is an excellent idea, especially from my point of a high school teacher. I could totally relate to their message. You would hope parents would instill these values in their children, but in this fast paced world it doesn’t happen anymore.

Lastly, they ended with this story about this elderly woman who had no family and these high school students would take care of her lawn and sit and have cookies with her through this program. Eventually she died, over 50 teenagers showed up to the funeral – some missing a state baseball game and other activities. They interviewed one of the teens. . . I don’t remember the exact quote, but he said, Life is more important than anything; there will be another game next week, but only one chance to make a difference today. He got it, do you??