Tonight I'm so thankful for the passage of the Minnesota DREAM Act! While we have work to do nationally, this will mean that all students with Minnesota residency, regardless of documentation status, can get in-state tuition at public colleges and universities! I work with a few DREAMers, and I am fortunate to do so. While many self-select into lower level classes and some need a little more nudging than others to stay on top of their schoolwork and make college possible in the first place, we are working to even the playing field. With many of these students coming from low-income families (economics being the major factor in having to leave their homelands), financial aid packages are a crucial determining factor in where, and if these students are able to pursue higher education and open doors to careers they dream of and can become qualified for. This is an affirmation that they are not at fault for what our laws see as their parents' "mistake" of coming/staying in this country without legal authorization, as well an investment in the health of our communities, the psyche of our young people, and future entrepreneurs, academics, dental hygienists, auto technicians, architects, neurosurgeons, etc.

For more information about the Minnesota DREAM Act, NAVIGATE MN is way on top of things: MN DREAM Act Will Become Law. We are hoping to have someone from NAVIGATE come do a presentation for TORCH kids and families sometime this summer to get a better sense of how this will affect them, especially as the legislation will come into effect on July 1st and could potentially be a good thing for our current graduates planning on starting school in the fall too!

I'm thankful that Minnesota made history with such a quick turnaround from a possible amendment that would close the door on the conversation about the possibility of equal marriage in Minnesota, to becoming the 12th state to approve same-sex marriage.

I'm proud of the work OutFront and Minnesotans United have done to encourage Minnesotans to talk about their values, and I'm thankful for the friend who, spur of the moment last fall, said she was phone banking and asked if I'd like to join her. I'm proud of this campaign, and I'm proud to have been able to dedicate some of my time to making it possible for some of my friends and many Minnesotans that I will never have the pleasure of meeting to marry their beloved.

I'm thankful that my home church, St. Luke has been on the forefront of accepting and rejoicing in the love that same-sex couple share, and that a beautiful couple of that community got to stand up with their two daughters and praise God that they could have a wedding this August!

Love has prevailed.

Tonight I'm thankful to have been inspired by the senior project presentations at Arcadia Charter School. This school, by virtue of its small size, project-based curriculum, and emphasis on fostering creativity, growth, and confidence, has prepared their students so well with skills of elocution and grace. Reflecting on my own experience, I was shy (and would still say that about myself) and hated speaking in public all through high school, and it was not until perhaps the last couple of years that I have felt more comfortable speaking with and in front of human beings. I was only forced to take one semester of speech class through high school though, while these Arcadia students, if starting there in the sixth grade, have been working on class projects and presenting in front of teachers and their peers since the age of twelve. By the time they are seniors, that experience is evident, and they are able to talk about their hard work and passion with ease.

And for Arcadia to be able to encourage their seniors to work tirelessly on their final projects of their choice, from building electric tricycles from scratch to glassblowing, to writing their own novels, to amateur documentary photography, and to work collaboratively with an adviser and a mentor from the community, those opportunities are incredible. Basically like Carleton comps, with some projects actually up to that academic level. 

Here are a couple highlights:

- A book of poetry titled "Life and God" because this student realized that was what it came down to for him. "I am a collage of those around me," he wrote. Commenting on his confidence that may come across as arrogance, he adds, "All praise towards me is a direct reflection of everybody who had put something into me." This boy knows where his love and strength come from, and he so delicately walked the line of vulnerability and assurance, and of questioning and faith in his poems.

- An in-depth study of social change and what it means to be an activist. Understanding how to define and contrast social change and social justice, and concluding, in dialogue with another student's study of "Just War Theory," that violence may be a means to social change but is always unjust because it is going against someone else's self-worth as a human being.

Wow. Just wow.

And I'm thankful for the note from one of the advisers "Thanks for being at our school this 'spring,' Kathryn. I wish there were more people like you, in Northfield, interested in being a part of influencing young peoples' lives in a positive way." I'm thankful to have been a part of this environment, albeit just for half days, twice a week for a few months, and I look forward to spending more time with these students in just the few remaining weeks. I am sure I am more inspired by them than they would be by anything I would have to offer, but we all do what we can. 

My students...

So today, I have to air some things about working with my students, with whom I am so fortunate to work through the TORCH program and try to understand more of their stories. I will never know how to walk in their shoes, but I am thankful to try my best to be a resource for academic or life advice, however they need it. 

It makes me sad that when asking students to take home a checklist for documents required to fill out their FAFSA to apply for federal financial aid for college that you have to be sensitive with the words you use; family, instead of parents. That you cannot make any assumptions about who is supporting this student at home, who is actually in the picture, who is financially responsible for these young adults.

It makes me sad that my weekly let's-get-a-life-plan meeting with a student had to get postponed; his life was semi-derailed because his father, who wasn't around much anyways, got locked up, according to my student's text. The actions of families affect a student's academic life perhaps more than they realize. 

It makes me sad that a student shared not one, but two personal stories of siblings in her argumentative essay for an English class - her chosen topic was the necessity of rehab centers and programs for those struggling with addiction. That some of her siblings were born of different fathers, two different fathers not her own sexually abusing her two sisters. That in our office, we have to be ready to love our kids in different ways depending upon what they need: help on their chemistry homework, or a conversation about literally anything other than the mess going on at home.

But it gives me hope how strong these students are. That there may be so much more pain than we'd ever know, but some of them do want to open up to us. That some of them are motivated through it all to graduate to either just get out of there, or because they see education as the crucial link to bettering their life and possibly their family's.     

It gives me hope that a student with a tough family situation has never considered himself homeless because he always has a bed or couch to sleep on.

It gives me hope that filling out the FAFSA means for one student the difference between commuting from home and enjoying dorm life on campus. She practically did a happy dance in her seat when she saw her financial award estimate on the FAFSA confirmation page.

It gives me hope that though it will mean there will be more competition for the high school population in this small town to get jobs, President Obama's band-aid immigration policy DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) means undocumented immigrants who came here under the age of 16 could apply for temporary legal status and permission to work in this country, so more immigrant students whose families came here for more opportunities can legally get jobs and help their families out!

It gives me hope that my students can be accepted into an open enough environment where if a girl wants to wear a tux and take her girlfriend wearing a dress, she can.

It give me hope that I have the privilege to get on a solid enough basis with one student whose heart is in the right place, but his language is sometimes not the most respectful when referring to other people, as he has used terms such as "gay" as a derogatory adjective or "Redneck. It is not in my nature to be comfortable with confrontation, but because we understood and respected each other already, we could have that learning conversation. 

It gives me hope that my student used his disillusionment about his father as his motivation to be a better man than he ever was, and after working with him for just a short time, I'm thankful that I could honestly reply, "You already are."

Snarcasm, meet grace.

Today, I'm thankful that sometimes when you receive crap but return kindness, you receive even more kindness in return. I got a random snarky email from an older man who was attempting to buy prints from my photography website but was having technology issues (and patience issues), so I needed to breathe and try to respond as graciously as possible to try to help him as best as I could through the cyberwebs. Breathe, send out love. I think I was just polite, but he emailed back soon after and apologized profusely for his impatience and frustration with technology and for taking it out on me. He could have slunk away into the depths of the impersonal cyberworld, but he chose to reach out again and ask for forgiveness. That response was overwhelmingly nice, and I'm thankful we both could show each other grace through that process.

Many times the world does not work like this, but in what may feel like all-encompassing darkness, may you be the little light. Or a big light! Whatever you choose. You could have the gift of radiating positivity and love wherever you go, or your light may be more subtle, but whatever you are, you are valued. We're all just doing the best we can.

Zumbathon!

Dearest Blessings Blog readers, this is what all of my time out of work has been dedicated to the past couple weeks (/months). I organized a Northfield Zumbathon, which is an extended Zumba (Latin dance-based fitness) class that serves as a fundraiser for a cause. Aside from being a Promise Fellow, I am also a Zumba instructor (as most of you may know), so I was able to organize a Zumbathon to benefit the Northfield Youth Sports Collaborative scholarship fund. I chose this organization as the recipient of the fundraiser because the scholarship fund is able to help all youth in Northfield participate in sports regardless of income, so contributing to this cause will make it even more possible for many of my TORCH students to play sports. I had the privilege to try many sports when I was young and eventually end up playing tennis all the way through varsity at Carleton, and I had so much support along the way from my family and my community, both financially and otherwise, and you just learn so much through sports - teamwork, responsibility, time management, etc. It was amazing to have the Zumba community come together to take a little of our time to dance so that we can provide more opportunities for Northfield youth to move and groove if they so choose as well! 

I am so thankful for all who helped the Zumbathon come together yesterday! Awesome instructors, friends who I conscripted to help volunteer, everybody who Zumba-ed with us, and those who donated even without being able to come. In our first ever Northfield Zumbathon, we raised almost $900 for the Northfield Youth Sports Collaborative scholarship fund! That's OPPORTUNITIES for youth we're talking about. We're all doing our part to make this community healthier. I had a blast with everyone, and we should do it again sometime :-) 

I'm also thankful for all of the publicity efforts of the other instructors, and how willingly each of the eight (amazing!) instructors, six of whom I had never met before, volunteered their time to help all of this come together. And I'm thankful for snowballing inspiration, like the Facebook post one of the instructors wrote to her Zumba network prior to the event:  

"There are some things we take for granted.... like being ABLE to exercise - having the body that can do it, the awesome benefits it will give us, etc. Some teens really want to be a part of sports in Northfield but, unfortunately, do not have the funds to pay for school fees. We need to ensure ALL our Northfield students get to be involved in sports. This helps us all- builds our community, supports positive behaviors and growth, and makes a true difference for young lives. Thank you to Kathryn Schmidt for doing all the work to make this event possible! Thank you YOU for just coming out and/or donating to support access to sports for ALL Northfield Youth. :-) Come out today 3:30 to 5 to support those who have one big barrier - the money to cover the cost of the sport or activity! OR, AT LEAST DONATE to support our community's youth and growth!"

For those who were not able to join us yesterday but would still like to donate to provide sports scholarships for Northfield youth, you can still do so here: http://kschmidt.zumba.com/northfield-zumbathon Thank you all!  

If anybody would like to see pictures, check out these links:

Northfield Patch follow-up:

http://northfield.patch.com/articles/zumbathon-raises-money-for-northfield-youth-sports-collaborative#photo-14478316

Southern MN follow-up:

http://www.southernminn.com/northfield_news/sports/article_adb503b5-0591-59e0-8ea5-a4420abc697a.html

Thanks be to God! Glory, hallelujah!

Tonight in the midst of the work insanity, I'd like to just share a brief story that I had the opportunity to reflect on for my AmeriCorps monthly progress report.

Since I came into my site in the middle of the year, first volunteering at afterschool Homework Help with the TORCH program, and then landed this Promise Fellow position, I have been playing catch-up in terms of learning students’ names and forming relationships within this community. I have been pleasantly surprised by how many students I have been able to interact with and how many I do know by name at this point. I have been fortunate to work with a number of wonderful students, and I feel it is a great honor when building relationships with students can lead to them feeling comfortable enough to share about their lives with me and see me as a resource they can trust, or perhaps even a big sister figure.

One student had been coming into our office during his study hall for the past couple of weeks to get some things done, and I had talked with him briefly a couple of times to just check in academically, but I was pleasantly surprised, given how quiet and reserved he is, how comfortable he felt talking with me. I ran into him in the weight room at Carleton, when I was all sweaty and gross after teaching a Zumba class, and rather than awkwardly trying to avoid me as some students would rather not see their teachers outside of school, he approached me to talk about prom that had happened just a few days before. He sought my counsel as a young woman because he needed to talk to his date about something and was not sure how to say it, or how to go about it because they hardly have any time to talk during the school day. He told me it is hard for him to open up to people, but he felt like he needed to ask her forgiveness about something because he wanted to be her Superman and make her prom night the most special possible because he so valued their friendship. I was just amazed by how he wanted to open up to me to ask my advice, and it was beautiful to see the heart in this young man, seeking her forgiveness and wanting to make things right.   

His heart just melted mine. I'm so grateful to have run into him and learned more about this young man who said he has regrets about his past, and I'm thankful to have had this opportunity to talk with him about the power of forgiveness. 

I'm thankful life is busy, but busy with good things, and I'm happy for those moments that stand out as clear examples of God's grace can shimmer even when we least expect it, as long as we lay that foundation of living out love all of the time so when we are called to, we are always ready!