Day 1: Small Wins

On day 1, MIT Spokes left on time. The weatherman in me is inclined to predict that this will never happen again, ever…  my forecast extends far beyond the usual ten days.

Everything was packed on time; everybody was in the car on time; the driver (me) didn’t make a single wrong turn. Nate’s usual stench was absent, and we didn’t have to go back to the house to force him to put on deodorant. 

This was a serious day though, and the tone of the blog will shift accordingly.

Like in any high school setting: the students at the DC Youth Services Center, a rehabilitation facility for incarcerated youth, express a variety of interests. Again, like any high school, these interests have varying degrees of alignment with the material being taught.

After the first of seven renditions of my festival throughout the day, in which students assemble their own electric motor out of legos, I was disappointed that only a minority of students were successful.

The science teacher at the YSC explained to me, “Small wins are what we’re after.”

My attitude changed. We can’t make every kid fall in love with with what we teach. But, if just a handful feel inspired by it, then we could’ve made a huge difference.

There certainly were stars of the day, including an entire class of boys who managed to build a working motor (it’s pretty tricky to get working). Motivated by the spirit of competition with each other, they sat laser focused as they tinkered for the full hour. Some celebrated their functioning motor and teased their friends who weren’t as successful yet, ultimately leading to what i consider, a “big” win.

I’m especially thankful for Judge Zia Fariqui for creating this opportunity. His direct investment in making learning opportunities available to incarcerated youth is unique. He even expended his entire staff of law interns to help us run the festivals, saving me from the impending doom of trying to manage an entire class on my own. 

Back to goofy spokes plot.

After the learning festival and a drive back to our host’s house, Aarushi and I went to Costco to stock up food for the next two days. I volunteered because I’m a picky eater and want a say in what we buy, We borrowed her uncle’s Costco card, which caused us trouble in the check-out lane. They’ve become very strict in enforcing the rule that the card owner be present. We told a sob story about how her “dad had a terminal illness and couldn’t leave the house to buy himself food.” This worked, somehow, and the food was acquired including Spokes most important necessity: dried mango.

I’m getting sleepy (writing this after our first biking day) so I will TLDR the rest of the Day 0: we packed and went to sleep.

Find out from Nate tomorrow how the first day went…