Vandal to Student Leader in Less than 6 Months

Lilly was a young lady who often found herself in trouble.  Early in the school year, she was arrested for vandalizing a historically significant structure in the town.  Although her identity had not been revealed publicly, the student grapevine made the information known. 

Lilly was a student in my "Strategies" class that fall.  I didn’t see her as a trouble maker because she had always been very respectful to me and the others around her.  To be honest, none of the students in the class seemed to be in that category of school trouble maker.  Something about the respectful positive atmosphere of the class made the best side of everyone emerge.  I never realized that I had the students others had trouble with until I saw their names on the school In School Suspension list or until a staff person whisper, “You have him (or her) in class???”

But back to Lilly. I never let her know that I was aware of the arrest for vandalism.  I did use the news of that event as a general topic during the semester helping teens to examine the issue of whether of not we have the right to damage something that is not ours.  She was present for that discussion and listened attentively.  The discussion was non judgmental and non threatening and my hope was that she and others would think before acting in such a way again.

Lilly’s year started on the wrong foot to say the least.  But it improved tremendously.  Prior to the state assessment tests in early May, Lilly was one of several students who volunteered to appear on stage with me as I ran an academic pep rally of sorts.  Our goal was to help the students who were about to take the tests really see the benefit of taking them seriously and how true self esteem can be built by taking on challenges which this test would surely be.

Lilly was right up there with me.  But rather than just being part of the group on stage, she asked if she could say a few words.  I gave her the microphone.  She told the audience of juniors (she was a sophomore at the time) that how they looked at the tests was up to them.  In fact, how we see anything is up to us.  “If you think school is rotten,” she said “it’s because you haven’t been looking for what’s good about it.”  She also told them that she learned in "Strategies" class that her destiny was in her own hands and that she now had the tools to design her life the way she wanted.  She credited the "Strategies of Success " curriculum with helping her change her life.