I wrote this under the guise of a cover letter....It's unedited, raw, and emotional, but I wanted to share it.

When I left for the Mississippi Delta, the endeavor was viewed by many as a sort of experiential personal growth- a charitable adventure to help break me of my idealism. In reality, I will depart tearfully from the Delta having gained far more from my students than they possibly could have from me, and leaving with them an important piece of my heart.

I have been furious with them, stayed up all night preparing for them or thinking about them, mourned their stories and my failure to mend the broken parts of the system- to offer them what they truly deserve. I have shared meals with them, spent hours in the car with them, taken them to colleges, coached them on runs, driven around town in search of them to deliver make-up work when they’ve gotten themselves suspended, or college recommendations just in case one of them decides to beat the odds. I have cried for them- in front of them. I have made a fool of myself to demonstrate any of a thousand concepts, rapped about mitosis, the kingdoms, prokaryotes, eukaryotes, DNA, biogeochemical cycles. I could spend days on end retelling the stories that have held me wrapped up for two years- the most intense and important years of my short twenty-three.

What I have found is an entire world of love and passion- a beautiful fight for the little flame of potential in a million kids with a million stories. I have seen that sometimes- and despite everything- a little ground can be won: a victory like no other, small as each tiny success seems.
I will depart from Rolling Fork, Mississippi, from Anguilla, from Leland, from the Mississippi Delta itself, with impossible goodbyes on my lips. Moving on, though, will I hope mean moving toward opportunities to make a greater difference in an area of broader influence- opportunities to interact with other creative, passionate people, to write, to brain storm and pool ideas- to change the world. It is more important to me than it ever has been- in fact it is one of the few important foundations upon which I want to build my life- to make a difference. I prepare to leave in May- bracing myself for the impact- with my ambitions to help affect change deepened by the realities of inequity, by the fire of potential and desire that still exists in our children in beautiful, incredible ignorance of the fight they face, and by the blissful victory of the occasional success. Those successes can be in the the classroom, on an athletic field or court, or more subtly- in minds or hearts of a student who inches a little closer to making the most of a talent, an intelligence, a secret strength that will make his or her life better.