"When I hear that, it lets me know that I'm on the right track." "I am a teacher. I've been here since I was born. I've been teaching for 10 years at a number of different schools, and for now 3 different school corporations, but that's a complicated story. I kinda do nerd stuff, y'know, like D&D and Magic: The Gathering, and I try to share those interests with my students to give them an outlet so that they have another way to connect with the school. I stay here in South Bend because I can't really afford to leave. Y'know, there are times when I really love this place, the East Race is amazing. But, there's also a lot that's really heartbreaking, and it's difficult to keep seeing the same problems happen over and over... I've got 27 dead students, and I've only been teaching for 10 years. That's almost 3 students a year that shoot each other to death. Um, I don't know man... It kills me. But I keep going. When I was younger, I used to spend a lot of time going and listening to live music on Friday nights, and that was really formative, it gave me a better understanding of human beings and sorta made me give a sh** about other people. But there's not a whole lot do around South Bend as a teenager, and that's why I understand these kids that end up going out and getting involved in stuff that's way over their head, and they end up dead, or kids that end up so bored that they do drugs. Y'know, I get it. When I was 11, I got started on fantasy gaming, I guess, like, the schools do a great job on reaching out to students who are gonna be athletes or academically involved, but there are some kids who are just kinda left behind. And some of those kids are going to do nerdy stuff, and if they are, cool, let's get them here, let's bring them in, let's have them be in a nerdy after-school club so they can participate and keep them safe for a couple more hours a week. It's one more way to keep them connected to the school, so they don't drop out. And really, connections to the building is the most important aspect of whether or not a student is going to drop out, or fail, or even succeed. When schools find more ways to open up to kids, those kids will get more involved with the school and give a sh** about their grades and their lives in general, and hopefully it's a strong enough hook to keep them in so they graduate. It works for some kids, and I've had a couple tell me, 'If it wasn't for this, I would've dropped out of school a long time ago.' and when I hear that, it lets me know that I'm on the right track."
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July 2018
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