My last ten days have been nothing but Teach For America. I started in Indianapolis last week with Induction (which, after all, did not include hazing. Thank goodness). Saturday night I flew back to Phoenix (though it was actually Sunday morning, since our flight was so delayed that I was going to miss my connecting flight in Denver. I opted to stay in Indy at my sister's house and fly out the next morning instead). Here in Phoenix I am now involved in Teach For America Summer Institute where we will be teaching summer school as a kind of student teaching, all while our skin melts off from the inhumane desert heat.

I was so excited and simultaneously terrified to become part of Teach For America. There are few things I believe in more than every child's right to receive a good education and, as a result, to have options in life. I realized after coming that there was absolutely nothing to be scared of except maybe dying of boredom.

Don't get me wrong. I'm still a believer in this cause and, ultimately, this organization. But I have sat through hours upon hours of "sessions" where we've talked about the movement and spent probably what amounts to hours upon hours "reflecting" about our feelings on a myriad of subjects. Oh.my.gosh. We're just barely starting to get into lesson planning and stuff and we'll finally meet our students on Friday. That will be two solid weeks of talking about doing something when really all I want to do is actually do something.

I've been feeling really bogged down by all the incessant chatter the last couple days and this afternoon we got on a bus and headed to the Mesa Performing Arts Center for Welcoming Ceremonies, aka more talking.

I was very pleasantly surprised, though. One of the speakers this afternoon was a thirteen-year-old boy who is currently being taught by a Teach For America teacher. This kid was amazing. I was crying while he was speaking. Not joking. It was pretty embarrassing, actually. He's two years ahead in math and plans to graduate from Harvard, then go on to Yale Law School and pass the New York bar exam. I have no doubt that he will. All because one teacher saw him not as the minority that he is, but as the incredibly smart and driven young man that he is. I was so grateful for this reminder of why I'm in this. I'm not here because it's fun. I'm here because I can change the lives of these kids by partnering with their families and communities to set them on the trajectory towards absolute success. In the hours of "inspiring" sessions I've been in the past several days, turns out it's the kids that do it best.

It's probably not surprising, either, that he was a bit chubby. It's like they hand-picked him just for me.