My Educational Career: Urban Charter School

Growing up, I was constantly surrounded by people of the same ethnic race and culture. I was raised in the small city of Temple City where a lot of older generation Asian immigrants resided, which resulted in my schools being mostly dominated by the first generation Asian American population. Because of this similarity of race and culture with my peers, it was fairly easy for me to bond with other students as well as feel comfortable within the realms of my schools and neighborhood. I had little trouble learning and participating in classrooms and also was able to be very involved in leadership positions in extracurricular programs at my high school which was a good learning experience for me.

I didn’t have to physically fight in school and I wasn’t subjected to overt racial discrimination. However, I was discriminated against on an institutional level by attending public school in Compton, CA and in a rural desert town in LA County called Lake Los Angeles. Demographically, Lake L.A. was mostly poor White but we were part of a wave of minorities that began moving there because of the cheap houses on large sections of land. There was limited access to rigorous curriculum and I remember not feeling engaged in school as a child. I was naturally curious and wanted to learn so I was always self-motivated and succeeded in school. However, there were very limited opportunities or access to college prep courses or Advanced/Honors sections of courses. I never even met with a high school counselor once. I was self-motivated enough to make sure I earned good grades in my classes but I had no idea what the application process for college was all about or what A-G electives were. I was caught up in a numbers game and I wasn’t one of the few who were given the additional resources and support needed to be prepared to attend a four year university right out of high

Growing up poor and African American, I quickly realized the disadvantages I was faced with. That becomes evident when I reflect on the lives of my childhood friend Jonathon and mine. We were both creative and smart young men, but got into a little trouble at school. At the age of 13 we built a go-kart using junk parts and anything we could find in the garbage dumpster. I always believed young minds like ours should have been nurtured and supported. But rather than help us or get a better understanding of why we’re not behaving in school, we were punished.

For generations African Americans have been disadvantaged in America and effects of these injustices have made a lasting impression. Education is one of the leading problems in the black community. Though there have many reforms in education over the years, racial injustices still exist because no attention in placed on how legislature affects people of color. I was raised in a middle-class family of educators. My entire life I’ve been told to “stay in school, get an education, and work hard so that you can beat the system.” Recognizing the structural forces in my life has helped me understand my place in society. Being able to “understand everyday life, not through personal circumstances but through the broader historical forces that

Urban Prep Charter Academies is a three campus charter public school in the city of Chicago. Urban Prep is located in the West, Bronzeville, and Englewood communities. The three campuses have grew the name of getting 100% acceptances into college, with the population of African American young males. “Urban Prep’s mission is to provide a high-quality and comprehensive college-preparatory educational experience to young men that results in our graduates succeeding in college” (About Urban Prep, 2012). Upon my discovery, Urban Prep counseling department consist of academic counselors, personal counselors, and college counselors. Each department work together towards fulfilling the school’s mission of providing and assisting in implementing a high-quality

From Kindergarten up to my sophomore year of High School I attended a private school. My elementary school and high school were slightly diverse. The majority of the student body was Caucasian and the rest were made up of several other races. My school environment was very structured and controlled. I had some great teachers and one or two bad teachers. Around fifth grade I started to notice the way teachers perceived me and the challenges I would deal with due to the color of my skin. There were

I spent most of my time at underprivileged schools. Being from a school district where every student received the same education without considering the student’s race, gender, and/or ethnicity. The one experience that has stood out to me was when I was helping a fifth grade student with his math homework. This student was really struggling with multiplication. I recalled working on more advanced math when I was in the fifth grade. This opened my eyes to see that these children were more than likely not receiving the same education I received when I was their age. After spending all afternoon with this student, he thanked me for taking the time to help him, saying that no one, not even his parents have ever invested that much time into his education. This was one more thing I did not experience; I had two parents who were constantly helping me with homework even to this

Coming from a family of 7 teachers, education was crucial to us growing up. Private schools were far more superior over the public schools especially in the languages and social studies fields. Attending such school, has educated me on the Arabic, French, and English languages and culture. Learning three different languages and cultures has educated me heavily on the importance of diversity, open mindedness and adjusting to new things. All of which became very important to me when I learned I’m moving to Canada at the age of nine. Knowing three languages helped me enormously while transitioning from Lebanon to Canada since I could communicate with my new classmates. Also knowing different languages and cultures makes it very hard to be closed minded. Knowing so much about many different societies at a young age develops a habit of accepting others. Also learning Arabic since preschool, French since kindergarten and English since grade four prepared me to quickly and constantly learn different things without much

In many aspects of life, it is essential that you work with other individuals as a team. You can work in a team whether it is school, work, or your personal life. This year I started working for Inner City Education Foundation public charter schools, specifically ICEF Inglewood Elementary Academy. The school has approximately 40 staff members that were all placed together by the director of the school. There are multiple classifications at my job such as instructional assistants, teachers, office staff, intervention specialists, operations, and janitors, but we all operate as one unit. Through the five stages of team development, our team developed and continues to develop into a successful team.

“A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.” This quote by Jackie Robinson has been a major influence in my life as not only a baseball player but as a man who has had an opportunity to make an impact on the lives around me. As an African American man we as a society are undermined and are looked down upon by society due to misconceptions and what the media portrays as an African American man. One obstacle that I’ve had to deal with my whole life is the concept of being the only African American student in school. When I was young I made outstanding grades and ended up entering high school at the age of 12 years old. Besides being the youngest student in High school I was the only black student that the school had attending

Since stepping foot into Georgia State University, ingratiating myself within the school campus was my way of evolving my student leadership abilities. I always had the feeling that I underperformed in my high school years and that I had little to almost no involvement in social issues or extracurricular activities. That really was the engine starter that propelled me to finally come out of my comfort zone and be something of a positive force that can touch not just me but everyone else. I believe to categorize myself as an underrepresented student because not only am I Nigerian-American, I also come from an underrepresented economical background. I was already coming into a public university with a chip on my shoulder. It is this chip that

Since I’m black, it is as if I have unknowingly signed a contract that restricts me from being intelligent. I must automatically talk “ghetto” and be and only be interested in sports. Consequently, when I get good grades, I’m called a “try-hard” and when I speak properly, I’m asked, “why I talk so white”. This brings me back to my proudest achievement, being accepted into the National Honor Society. The National Honor Society at my school is competitive because many students seek admission. It is looked as one of those clubs that colleges love on your application; therefore teachers are very selective when it comes to accepting students. Students must have at least a 3.5 GPA, 80 community service hours, leadership roles, and 2 teacher recommendations to even be considered. Being accepted into the National Honor Society served as a slap in the face to the absurd stereotypes that my peers possess. I showed them you can be a black student and still be intelligent or a white student and exceed in athletics. You don’t have to adhere to the stereotypes that others have about your race. Just be

For years, I struggled in an education system that only served to teach students of crime, where day by day, I would roam my high school hallways in search of peace, which I could only find in a few of my class rooms. I visited many schools during high school through a variety of programs that I was part of and through this I got to interact with students of more privileged high schools in New York City, where the Caucasian population was

But as black student at UWL my road was much different. I didn’t form any meaningful relationships besides maybe 2 people who were black just as if I were. Not being able to interact with my peers was difficult sense I felt that there was no one to turn to. And the majority of my academic downfall came within my science classes. Two science classes shouldn’t determine the identity of my ability as a student. All my other classes were taken care of and GPA my second semester was significantly higher than my first semester. It’s one thing If my GPA remained the same and I showed no change. But I really did try my second semester to the best of my ability. Another factor was income and family. I come from a one parent household and don’t have much contact with my father. In order to pay my education, it comes from one parent who works two jobs. Me and my dad didn’t talk for the majority of my first year at UWL. That took a toll on me when you have only one parent to go to when you need advice. Or if I needed extra money my mom had to break her bank in order to provide for

My dad and my mom left south and come to North after the world war 1. They said the land in the North is the “Free land” as other blacks which can let everyone get jobs. I went to public school in New York City. There were no black teacher in my school. Teachers changed very frequently. Many of my friend lost their attitude on study. “Separate education” was an education idea published by government which stats black and white will have separate equal education. But the lack of teacher and experience made the equality hard to accomplish.We even don’t know what’s the point of education since no one really care about us and pushing us to study.I am lucky because I met a fantastic mentor teacher. At the first day, he told us that “There is nothing you can’t do and study.” His education system was so different that willing to encourage us also to changeable ourselves.I started to realize that color is not the factor to hold us back, instead, we always limited ourselves because of afraid to be judged by others. Black can also be smart if they have opportunity to get the education that they should have. We all worked very hard and finished high school in 3 years with extremely great grades.