"I make a difference, now what about you?"

Exactly one year, one month, and five days ago I was part of the Teach for America 2012 corps awaiting to enter a classroom in Atlanta.  I had grown up in Atlanta, attended public schools in Atlanta, was taught poorly in Atlanta, and, by the saving grace of my parents, allowed to leave Atlanta for a top 10 university.  Many of my peers did not have the luck that I had.  They attended community college where they were unprepared for the workload and ultimately dropped out to work at our local grocery store.  I grew up knowing I wanted to change the world, knowing I wanted to empower people to speak for themselves, knowing I wanted to tell my classmates that they were smart, that they were worthy of what the world had to offer, and that they deserved everything I was so lucky to have. I am now in Chicago, very different from Atlanta, though facing the same challenges of empowering intelligent urban youth to realize that deserve everything I was, and am, able to achieve. Exactly one year, one month, and five days ago I saw this video. I am so inspired to join a community where I can help, and work alongside kids, to realize that they are worthy.