For everyone who puts so much of his or her heart and soul into WriterCoach
Connection, I wanted to relate something I heard this morning. It
goes to the heart of why you support this program.
I was visiting CP Academy teacher Susannah Bell’s class at
Berkeley High and amidst the buzz of coaching, Susannah pulled me aside and
said, “I just want you to know that what happens here goes beyond just writer
coaching. “ She then described a few examples of what her students are
dealing with in their lives. Two homeless students. The student whose mother
tried to kill her and is now serving a life sentence, and whose father, feeling
the student was “too vain,” shaved her head. And there was much more.
“The attention the coaches give these kids is saving their lives,” said Susannah.
I had been staring off down the hall, trying to absorb what Susannah had been
telling me, and when I looked back at her, she had tears in her eyes.
Right next to us were four examples of what Susannah was talking
about: coaches Christina Redse, Mack Levine, Teddy Bell, and Melissa Solano,
working with their students IN THE HALLWAY because there was no room for them
in Susannah’s crowded classroom. Nor were there even enough chairs. Christina
spent the entire coaching session crouching next to her student, and Mack
coached his student while both were sitting on the bare hallway floor.
Photographic evidence attached.
Annie Johnston, CP Academy Coordinator, is a
tireless fundraiser on behalf of the school’s Writing for College program and
WCC. I’ve been invited by Annie and Susannah to speak on behalf of WCC at a CP
Academy presentation to the board of directors of In Dulci Jubilo on Dec. 17,
and to thank them for supporting our program. I’ll be honored to do that, and
to tell them, in the meantime, what a privilege it is to work with Annie,
Susannah, and their colleague Ariel Morris. That privileged feeling is also
generated by working with our BHS site coordinator Sahib-Amar Khalsa and all of
her colleagues at our other sites, not to mention our hundreds of volunteer
coaches. What was happening today at CP Academy, and what Susannah described to
me, is happening at every one of our schools.
I believe that your dedication is well placed.
Robert Menzimer
Executive Director