to begin I want to start off with me in
middle school
eighth grade to be exact as I walk into
advisory classroom the teacher poaches
me and hands me a piece of paper and a
pen she tells me that I’m going to write
a letter to myself she says you’re going
to write a letter to yourself I want you
to write about what you expect yourself
to be in four years I’m gonna send you
the letter at the end of high school
graduation as I write a new sense of
hope begins to fill the page I set my
bar high my goals include getting into
college becoming valedictorian meeting
the love of my life becoming an
international supermodel and most
importantly becoming so famous that I
could potentially meet and marry
Leonardo DiCaprio I thought it was
capable of becoming anything I want to
become you see no one had ever told me I
couldn’t in this middle school mostly
made up of high-income and white
students we had an endless amount of
resources textbooks teachers technology
you name it we had it here I felt like I
could conquer the world
flash-forward two months I’m fourteen
years old sitting in on my very first
high school assembly the principal has
just been introduced to give up
motivational speech he starts by asking
three questions he asks how many of you
have family members who have been in
jail almost every student raises their
hand how many of you know someone who
has died due to gun violence almost
every student raises their hand how many
of you have family members who went to
college very few students raise their
hand he ends his motivational speech by
saying a third of you will not be here
for graduation some of you will drop out
go to jail or die
do not be one of those kids in a moment
all the feelings I had in middle school
began to feel distant would I be able to
graduate was there a chance one of my
peers would drop out where one of my
classmates gonna end up dead
this feeling of hopelessness would not
end on the very first day of school you
see in this high school mostly made up
of minority and low-income students we
often go classes without textbooks are
expected to teach ourselves and yes we
experienced the loss of a classmate due
to gun violence I felt in a moment these
feelings of hopelessness I was stunned
confused angry
I wasn’t sure with what my life had
ahead of me in that short transition
from middle school to high school I not
only began to see the inequality and
resources but I also began to see the
inequity in belief that educators had in
students the experience of a high school
principal telling a group of students
that a third of them would not graduate
the game became typical one math school
teacher was notorious for creating such
a bad climate that students no longer
wanted to learn math I asked the I asked
the teacher she could clarify a couple
of questions she looked at me she said
looks like your parents wasted resources
on your education for nothing in a
moment I didn’t know if I could become
anything if my very own teacher didn’t
believe I was capable of succeeding then
how could I if it wasn’t for my parents
belief in me as well as the belief of
other educators and mentors I would not
be here where I am today I would not be
a freshman at Yale University I began to
look beyond myself I want to see if
other peers had experienced the same
things as I did so I asked I asked one
of my classmates why he didn’t try
harder in school he looked at me I said
he didn’t try because no one had ever
told him he could he didn’t believe in
himself I had a light bulb moment I saw
the connection between how much students
believed in themselves and how well they
succeeded this experience encouraged me
to be
the first student on the New Haven Board
of Education as well as a student on the
Connecticut State Board of Education on
my time on the Connecticut State Board
of Education I began to see a trend in
underperforming schools that were able
to turn around their data just in
Connecticut some schools are given extra
resources if they are willing to meet
certain requirements despite these extra
resources only some low-performing
schools are able to actually improve
their data one school in particular
stood out
Lincoln Bassett school in New Haven I
wondered how the school was able to turn
around its data so quickly so I asked I
asked the principal how she was able to
meet growth targets for 94% of her
students in just two years she looked at
me and smiled she said that she focused
on creating a school culture in which
hired the expectations for both students
and educators she said she used the
power of words to do this
she used the acronym soar feeling safe
staying on task being held accountable
and being respectful to show educators
and students that they could succeed and
that they were being held accountable
she championed professional development
on class and race issues so that
educators could learn how to best
empower students and lastly she ended
each each morning with the same phrase
Lincoln Bassett a school where eagles
soar and failure is not an option you
see with words she took away failure as
an option if there was one thing I
learned in my educational experience it
was that educators and community members
have to believe in student potential in
order for them to succeed and with this
I call to all educators please be wise
about the words he used you have the
power to dramatically impact a person’s
life use that power with intention
I call upon policy members to fund
public education and to fund it equally
and to create cultural competency
courses for teacher certification
I call upon students please encourage
each other and use words positively in
the classroom together you can succeed
and lastly
I call upon anyone listening please do
not make assumptions about someone based
based off of their background the power
of your words can dramatically shape
their life if we do not solve this
problem the impact will be an increased
disparity that will hurt American
education as a whole because the power
of words is the power to change lives
thank you
[Applause]
middle school
eighth grade to be exact as I walk into
advisory classroom the teacher poaches
me and hands me a piece of paper and a
pen she tells me that I’m going to write
a letter to myself she says you’re going
to write a letter to yourself I want you
to write about what you expect yourself
to be in four years I’m gonna send you
the letter at the end of high school
graduation as I write a new sense of
hope begins to fill the page I set my
bar high my goals include getting into
college becoming valedictorian meeting
the love of my life becoming an
international supermodel and most
importantly becoming so famous that I
could potentially meet and marry
Leonardo DiCaprio I thought it was
capable of becoming anything I want to
become you see no one had ever told me I
couldn’t in this middle school mostly
made up of high-income and white
students we had an endless amount of
resources textbooks teachers technology
you name it we had it here I felt like I
could conquer the world
flash-forward two months I’m fourteen
years old sitting in on my very first
high school assembly the principal has
just been introduced to give up
motivational speech he starts by asking
three questions he asks how many of you
have family members who have been in
jail almost every student raises their
hand how many of you know someone who
has died due to gun violence almost
every student raises their hand how many
of you have family members who went to
college very few students raise their
hand he ends his motivational speech by
saying a third of you will not be here
for graduation some of you will drop out
go to jail or die
do not be one of those kids in a moment
all the feelings I had in middle school
began to feel distant would I be able to
graduate was there a chance one of my
peers would drop out where one of my
classmates gonna end up dead
this feeling of hopelessness would not
end on the very first day of school you
see in this high school mostly made up
of minority and low-income students we
often go classes without textbooks are
expected to teach ourselves and yes we
experienced the loss of a classmate due
to gun violence I felt in a moment these
feelings of hopelessness I was stunned
confused angry
I wasn’t sure with what my life had
ahead of me in that short transition
from middle school to high school I not
only began to see the inequality and
resources but I also began to see the
inequity in belief that educators had in
students the experience of a high school
principal telling a group of students
that a third of them would not graduate
the game became typical one math school
teacher was notorious for creating such
a bad climate that students no longer
wanted to learn math I asked the I asked
the teacher she could clarify a couple
of questions she looked at me she said
looks like your parents wasted resources
on your education for nothing in a
moment I didn’t know if I could become
anything if my very own teacher didn’t
believe I was capable of succeeding then
how could I if it wasn’t for my parents
belief in me as well as the belief of
other educators and mentors I would not
be here where I am today I would not be
a freshman at Yale University I began to
look beyond myself I want to see if
other peers had experienced the same
things as I did so I asked I asked one
of my classmates why he didn’t try
harder in school he looked at me I said
he didn’t try because no one had ever
told him he could he didn’t believe in
himself I had a light bulb moment I saw
the connection between how much students
believed in themselves and how well they
succeeded this experience encouraged me
to be
the first student on the New Haven Board
of Education as well as a student on the
Connecticut State Board of Education on
my time on the Connecticut State Board
of Education I began to see a trend in
underperforming schools that were able
to turn around their data just in
Connecticut some schools are given extra
resources if they are willing to meet
certain requirements despite these extra
resources only some low-performing
schools are able to actually improve
their data one school in particular
stood out
Lincoln Bassett school in New Haven I
wondered how the school was able to turn
around its data so quickly so I asked I
asked the principal how she was able to
meet growth targets for 94% of her
students in just two years she looked at
me and smiled she said that she focused
on creating a school culture in which
hired the expectations for both students
and educators she said she used the
power of words to do this
she used the acronym soar feeling safe
staying on task being held accountable
and being respectful to show educators
and students that they could succeed and
that they were being held accountable
she championed professional development
on class and race issues so that
educators could learn how to best
empower students and lastly she ended
each each morning with the same phrase
Lincoln Bassett a school where eagles
soar and failure is not an option you
see with words she took away failure as
an option if there was one thing I
learned in my educational experience it
was that educators and community members
have to believe in student potential in
order for them to succeed and with this
I call to all educators please be wise
about the words he used you have the
power to dramatically impact a person’s
life use that power with intention
I call upon policy members to fund
public education and to fund it equally
and to create cultural competency
courses for teacher certification
I call upon students please encourage
each other and use words positively in
the classroom together you can succeed
and lastly
I call upon anyone listening please do
not make assumptions about someone based
based off of their background the power
of your words can dramatically shape
their life if we do not solve this
problem the impact will be an increased
disparity that will hurt American
education as a whole because the power
of words is the power to change lives
thank you
[Applause]
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