Drink the Kool-Aid
It's refreshing. Not Kool-Aid, but being surrounded by leaders, by really, really intelligent, engaging and personable peers and feeling like you are on their level - like you are a part of something that could be great. (But Kool-Aid is also refreshing.)
I mention the sugary summer drink though because in corporate America / my past life, they tell you to drink it. Corporate America has lots of funny adages like that (don't get me started on comparing things, "Apples to Apples"). For those of you unfamiliar, as I once was, "Drink the Kool-Aid," simply put, means, "Buy-In." Listen to what the organization is preaching and believe in it. In so doing, you will find success with clients, colleagues and your career.
I never really knew how to feel about that because my belief in "the insurance game" was never truly genuine. I love the people I worked with, I love the opportunities I was provided through Aon Hewitt, but I never had any convictions in my work. After roughly 48 hours in Teach for America, I feel like I am making up for lost time.
Today, following a few hours of much needed sleep (interrupted by two, TWO fire alarms...), I was able to interact with my new TFA colleagues and get to know the organization a bit. I feel like a kid at a really good summer camp. "Dear Mom, everyone here is soooooo nice. I'm making friends right away. We're doing lots of fun things and the food is good. Xoxo Josh."
But honestly, as I mentioned at the start, I have been truly impressed with the people here, their diverse backgrounds, vibrant personalities and their intensity of purpose. It's infectious (but in a good way, not the bubonic way). A majority of the day today consisted of conversations with small groups about the achievement gap in America, what that means to us and what we reasonably believe can be done about it. As an English major (minor, I prefer to say "major" though - at one time I was an English major, so it counts), and self-proclaimed adventurous thinker, I am reveling in the quality of the conversation. Although I was initially (for just a moment) intimidated a bit by the minds that surround me ("Hi, I'm Jeff, I went to Yale - Hi, I'm Caitlin, I went to Harvard - Hi, I'm Josh, I went to Illinois"... wah wah), my fears were immediately extinguished when I realized how much I have to offer, how respectful people are here and how we are now, together, part of a movement.
When not conducting group discussions, we have been working on group projects or listening to student and alumni panels who share with us their experiences. These include kids who grew up in inner-city schools and overcame barriers to success, and as well as former TFA teachers who have gone on to multifarious professions, such as Senior Development Associate in Program Development at CUNY School Professional Studies, Director of Institutional Advancement & Alumni Affairs at Yeshiva University, Founder of DREAM Charter School, Fellow for Teacher and Leader Effectiveness with the Regents Research Fund, Teacher at The Washington Heights Expeditionary Learning School and Portfolio Director at the Fund for Public Schools (a real group of underachievers...). Again, it's amazing by the talent I feel I am surrounded with and by the collective urgency of purpose. This is going to be an awesome, awesome ride.
In a nutshell, I believe in what I am doing now and that feels really good. Furthermore, the people I am with and the city in which I now live excite the heck out of me (one panel member this evening said, "Enjoy your time as a New Yorker. That's right, I now dub thee, New Yorker." - I really dug that). I'm a bit worried about the amount of work to which I am subjecting myself over the course of the next 24 months, but have no doubt in my tenacity to do it, and do it as well as I can, again, because I'm drinking the "Kool-Aid". And it tastes, so good.
Quote of the day: "If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it."
I mention the sugary summer drink though because in corporate America / my past life, they tell you to drink it. Corporate America has lots of funny adages like that (don't get me started on comparing things, "Apples to Apples"). For those of you unfamiliar, as I once was, "Drink the Kool-Aid," simply put, means, "Buy-In." Listen to what the organization is preaching and believe in it. In so doing, you will find success with clients, colleagues and your career.
I never really knew how to feel about that because my belief in "the insurance game" was never truly genuine. I love the people I worked with, I love the opportunities I was provided through Aon Hewitt, but I never had any convictions in my work. After roughly 48 hours in Teach for America, I feel like I am making up for lost time.
Today, following a few hours of much needed sleep (interrupted by two, TWO fire alarms...), I was able to interact with my new TFA colleagues and get to know the organization a bit. I feel like a kid at a really good summer camp. "Dear Mom, everyone here is soooooo nice. I'm making friends right away. We're doing lots of fun things and the food is good. Xoxo Josh."
But honestly, as I mentioned at the start, I have been truly impressed with the people here, their diverse backgrounds, vibrant personalities and their intensity of purpose. It's infectious (but in a good way, not the bubonic way). A majority of the day today consisted of conversations with small groups about the achievement gap in America, what that means to us and what we reasonably believe can be done about it. As an English major (minor, I prefer to say "major" though - at one time I was an English major, so it counts), and self-proclaimed adventurous thinker, I am reveling in the quality of the conversation. Although I was initially (for just a moment) intimidated a bit by the minds that surround me ("Hi, I'm Jeff, I went to Yale - Hi, I'm Caitlin, I went to Harvard - Hi, I'm Josh, I went to Illinois"... wah wah), my fears were immediately extinguished when I realized how much I have to offer, how respectful people are here and how we are now, together, part of a movement.
When not conducting group discussions, we have been working on group projects or listening to student and alumni panels who share with us their experiences. These include kids who grew up in inner-city schools and overcame barriers to success, and as well as former TFA teachers who have gone on to multifarious professions, such as Senior Development Associate in Program Development at CUNY School Professional Studies, Director of Institutional Advancement & Alumni Affairs at Yeshiva University, Founder of DREAM Charter School, Fellow for Teacher and Leader Effectiveness with the Regents Research Fund, Teacher at The Washington Heights Expeditionary Learning School and Portfolio Director at the Fund for Public Schools (a real group of underachievers...). Again, it's amazing by the talent I feel I am surrounded with and by the collective urgency of purpose. This is going to be an awesome, awesome ride.
In a nutshell, I believe in what I am doing now and that feels really good. Furthermore, the people I am with and the city in which I now live excite the heck out of me (one panel member this evening said, "Enjoy your time as a New Yorker. That's right, I now dub thee, New Yorker." - I really dug that). I'm a bit worried about the amount of work to which I am subjecting myself over the course of the next 24 months, but have no doubt in my tenacity to do it, and do it as well as I can, again, because I'm drinking the "Kool-Aid". And it tastes, so good.
Quote of the day: "If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it."
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