The Practice Project

PRACTICE What Does It Take to Get Good at Something?

Interviews and photographs by Chicago public high school students

A project of What Kids Can Do (WKCD) www.whatkidscando.org Kathleen Cushman, editor –––––––– Student contributors attend Academy of Communications and Technology (ACT) Charter School Meg Arbeiter, teacher Prosser Career Academy High School Jessica Stephenson, teacher Westside Alternative High School Will Okun, teacher ––––––––

MADE POSSIBLE BY THE MCCORMICK TRIBUNE FOUNDATION

INTRODUCTION

What does it take to get really good at something? Are people experts because they are born with talent—or do they get to be expert by practice?

The question goes to the heart of achievement in every field, in school and in careers. So the national nonprofit WKCD recently asked three classes of Chicago public high school students to set about exploring the answers through interviews and photographs.

The students looked for ordinary adults who had special mastery in a field, and asked them questions about how they gained their skills. One eleventh-grade student, an aspiring drummer himself, quoted from his interview with a church organist, who told of seeking critiques from other musicians: “They have been through it. They know what it takes. So they can be an honest critic, and actually take you into step-by-step critique.” A basketball player interviewed her coach, who talked about his own experience in high school basketball: “Oddly enough, we would sit down and talk basketball for the most part, prior to playing—talking about how to recognize different situations when they come up.”

And because many students also have expert skills, they also talked to us about that.

What inspired them to put in the time and effort to acquire them? Could they see any connections between their out-of-school interests and their academic skills? “You need a hater, and you need a motivator,” a 16-year-old girl declared as the ingredients to mastery. “A hater, that’s the person that puts you down, assuming you can’t do it, and you try to prove them wrong. And your motivator, that’s who supports you, and so you do your best to try to make them proud.”

WKCD’s “Practice Project” took place in spring 2008, with support from the McCormick Tribune Foundation. Here we present the narratives and photographs that resulted from students’ interviews with adults. Visit www.whatkidscando.org/practice.html to view an audio-slideshow of students reflecting on practice, and for a curriculum overview of WKCD’s process in developing this project. We also welcome your feedback about the project, and inquiries about WKCD workshops and presentations for educators—write to us at info@whatkidscando.org.

Daniel Brown, church organist Interviewed by Cleven Minter, ACT

To hear it completed My mother was musically inclined, and she wanted her children to be exposed to it. So she got us all started in music. But it wasn’t until I heard some bad music that I really wanted to continue on and be good at it.

I just loved to hear the sound of music.

And I didn’t want to rely on someone else to provide it for me. I wanted to do it myself. So that kind of pushed me to fight through it! I wanted to hear it completed.

Music is kind of like ABC’s. Step by step, you gonna have to catch the basics.

The more letters you know, the more combinations and clusters you will be able to apply together to learn bigger words. It’s the same with music! Harder musical pieces are like big words.

Anything that you want to learn and be good at, you have to be steady at it.

Things that you find hard, that doesn’t come as easily, you might be inclined to skip it and quit it. But you just have to have discipline, a self-determination to fight through that, to learn how to play it, to practice every day or at least several times each week. Practicing is really what pushes that forward. The more time you spend with anything, the better you can become!

I was inclined by different things— experiencing different types of music, playing with different people, going to a few different venues, spending that time playing by yourself. Soft music . . . the female species enjoyed that. There was

“Mistakes always let me know exactly where I was. Am I really learning it, am I making the correct moves, is my fingering in the correct places?

the thought of playing gospel in church—the idea of doing something useful, to help a ministry. Also it was rewarding financially—there are opportunities in music to travel and go places. So that helped inspire me to keep going and raised a desire to learn different music.

I was able to read music at a faster pace on sight and not make so many mistakes, to play certain pieces very fluently and with speed and accuracy. Mistakes always let me know exactly where I was.

Am I really learning it, am I making the correct moves, is my fingering in the correct places? It varied with what style of music I was playing. I play the piano – it’s not too much difference to play a church organ. Haven’t learned a pipe organ, but I will maybe one day!

At one time, I kind of became a little stagnated. I didn’t have so many venues open to me that would push me to go even further. I tried to challenge myself to find more difficult pieces to try to learn, things that sound so great to the ear. That just inspired me to move forward and try to complete them!

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The main goal is to get in front of people who have been in different industries and on different levels—to allow them to hear me, to find out exactly, from a professional opinion, where I might stand in the eyes of the public. Do I need to go back to a certain place to get to the next level? Do I need to find me another teacher who can help unlock hidden talents that I still haven’t mastered?

Everybody is a critic. Somebody just saying “I don’t like it” — what if they’re saying you sound bad just because they’re jealous? But those who play have a deeper understanding. They have been through it. They know what it takes. So they can be an honest critic, and actually take you into step-by-step critique.

Photo by Ronetta Bonner, Westside Alternative High School

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Leticia Chavez, hair stylist Interviewed by Ramiro Chavez, Prosser Career Academy

I like to keep trying What I’ve been doing since I was around five is styling hair. When I was at home in the bathroom mirror I used to play with Barbies and that’s how I got started.

I was excited for my accomplishment as I braided the hair on my Barbies.

Years of experiment helped me get better at it. At the hairdresser and the beauty salon, I would ask them questions and they would explain it. When I got home, I would do it on myself. At school, people would ask me “Oh, who did your hair?” and I’ll be, “Me.” I just wanted to do it more often, and to try new hairstyles on different people.

I do my family’s and friends’ hair. It helps me try different hairstyles, and they give me their honest opinion. I trust them if they tell me something doesn’t look right. (Except my little sister— just to get me in trouble with my mom, she would always say I would pull on her hair and try to cut it, which is not true.)

If they didn’t like it, I would feel upset with myself that I didn’t do a very good job, but I will feel that I tried. I’m a perfectionist. I like to keep trying, no matter what. I’m not a quitter, and that makes me feel great about myself.

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Sabrina Hill, author Interviewed by Brandi Hill, Prosser Career Academy

Learning more about the craft I could go back as far as when I was in the military on active duty, and we would sit and write letters back home to our family and friends. I realized how humorous they were, and based on that I wanted to learn a little bit more creative writing. I’ve always had a passion for the entertainment world as a whole, and I decided to go to the Chicago Screenwriters group. Back in the early nineties, I took a course there learning how to write for movie scripts, so that’s where it pretty much started.

The hardest was you have to know how much to plot, literally just making sure that my story went in sequence. Where it connects to make sense, so you’re not writing a story people can’t follow. My goal was to try to complete the story in a timely fashion. Practice actually helped me get better at it, learning more about the craft. I looked up a lot of things on the Internet, I asked a lot of questions, and I let other people critique my work.

Friends and family helped a lot in just the formation of it. They told me their true feelings, and whether they were good or bad, they’ve always been encouraging.

“On this current project, I knew I had to invest eventually on a more professional level, in order to get it to a better market.”

I knew I was getting better at it when I got good feedback from other people. I felt that I didn’t have to prep the story, to try to feed it to them and wait on their feedback and hope that it’s the same. If people are coming to me and saying, “Wow, I really, really like this part of the book,” or “I appreciate how you wrote this part because I can relate to it,” then that shows me that I am doing good. That’s a good feeling. I realized what I had in me as far as the writing part.

On this current project, I knew I had to invest eventually on a more professional level, in order to get it to a better market.

It felt good knowing that somebody that I don’t know liked my book. Of course it needed some work in some places, but overall it was a good story. I was very proud of my work. It has a more defined look to it, because of the way it’s laid out, since there’s a professional publisher involved.

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Photo by Jeremy Johnson, Westside Alternative High School

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Officer Sanchez, Chicago police officer Interviewed by Kelvin Medina, Prosser Career Academy

You use what works best for you You feel good about it right away. You wanna be the top. You’re the police, you’re new and fresh, you wanna make a good arrest, you want to prove to yourself that you got what it takes to be a good police officer. And once you start learning and getting better, it is rewarding.

Roughly fifteen years ago I took the test to join the Chicago Police Department.

Two years later, I was accepted to the Academy. Nobody helped get me into the job, I just took a test. I have military experience in the Air Force, in the area of electronics. I was trained at Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi, and then I was sent overseas to Spain, where my unit and I worked in open hills. The police department is familiar for anyone with military experience. It’s like the military, rules and regulation, general orders.

The first five years of my job were, to me, the most crucial, the most rewarding, and the most exciting. I was seeing things and observing actions that people would do on the streets, which will reveal to some extent or another what they were doing. By looking at their body language, I can formulate questions to ask them when it came down to a suspicious activity. You see what their answers are, and if they’re lying to you, then you know. You get the

“You know when you’re getting good or not. You use your best skills, what works best for you.

Once my eye started to develop for the streets, I started to get better along the way

feeling something’s wrong and you keep going until you get them to admit what they did. I observe a lot. There’s times when I’ve been on the street and I’ve seen somebody do something that other guys won’t take notice of it.

Suspicion and doubt come to my mind and something’s not right, and I go questioning this guy’s action. And based on what he just did I’m able to find if he has a gun on him, or he tossed something, or he has something on him.

You know when you’re getting good or not. You use your best skills, what works best for you. The best advice I get is from the people I work with. You form a team of two or three guys, you ask to work with each other, because you know each other. Once my eye developed for the street, I started to get better along the way. You get better at seeing things, you get better at watching

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people and interpreting their movements and their actions. For instance, three or four people standing on a corner: You watch from a block away and you see what they do when they spot you, and based on the actions they take, you learn how to follow up as far as what to ask them or how to proceed. You may see them pull something out of their pocket and toss it, but when you come up to them you ask them different questions.

You get them somehow to tell you what they did, without actually asking, “Did somebody toss a gun?” You learn how to question people’s actions, people’s body language. You learn how to ask better questions, you develop relationships with the people on the street. They confide in you, they trust you, and once you get that trust from them and you treat them fairly, then they open up to you and can’t lie to you. They have to be straight with you, because they know what you’re doing. They’re not going to try to fool you, because they can’t.

I guess I been lucky. I have seen many people after I arrested them. But I’ve been fortunate that they don’t have any grudge against me, because I have a habit of treating people fairly. I would never put anything on a person to get them convicted. When I caught them for instance with narcotics or guns and put a case against them, they knew they did the wrong thing. They can’t blame me, they can only blame themselves.

You think everything is on the up and up. You think if you make good arrests you’ll go somewhere, that people will recognize your good work and reward you, but it doesn’t happen like that. The most satisfaction I get out of this job is that I did something on the street that could have saved someone’s life. To know that I’ve done something for someone is rewarding for me. They look at you with respect, and that’s what I like, respect. I’m good at being a Chicago street cop.

“You learn how to question people’s actions, people’s body language…you develop relationships with the people on the street. They confide in you, they trust you, and once you get that trust from them and you treat them fairly, then they open up to you and can’t lie to you.”

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Photos by Loretta Coleman, Westside Alternative High School

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Anthony Cardillicchio, record player repairman Interviewed by Berenice Sanchez and Joey Marsala, Prosser Career Academy

It was a challenge When I was about five years old, my grandmother had a restaurant. She would always give me little half dollars to play the jukebox, and I got interested in music and playing records. I got my first record player around Christmastime, and I just got more and more interested in record players, the different styles and designs. So I kept teaching myself. If I saw one that was broken, and I couldn’t figure it out, I would keep trying to make sense of it, playing with them until I could figure it out.

The easiest part was taking the record player apart. My curiosity got me to do that—ha-ha, just unscrew the screws inside and see what makes it operate!

That was so simple, no problem. The hardest was trying to know how to take apart the pieces that I would need to in order to make it work, if it wasn’t working properly. Some items I would have a hard time figuring out, so I would just put it aside. Then I would go back to it and try to figure it out again. I would just go back and forth—back to one, and back to the other.

The more I did it, the more I would enjoy messing around with them and trying to figure it out. It was a challenge.

Sometimes one would sit for six months.

Then something would kinda be similar, and, wait a min, it was like the old one that I put aside, so let me get that one.

“The more I did it, and the more feedback I got, the happier I would get. Then I would get more determined to get better at it.”

Okay, that’s what it is: The A wire does not go with the B wire. So I was finally able to figure it out, to get it working.

That’s when I knew I was getting better, because I could better identify the problem.

There is always a different type of problem with any record player, new or old. Even today, I’m constantly learning.

I’ll have my bad days. One time, I was working on one, and I forgot that I had it plugged in. When I went to cut the power cord, because I needed to replace it, I shocked myself. This made me think of not doing it any more, because that’s very careless. But those days that I feel like quitting, the love for what you’re doing makes you want to go back to it.

This is a dying breed, so to speak.

People don’t really look for record players anymore. They are into CDs and

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MP3s. The people that I sell to, out there looking for the old record players to be in good working condition, they’ll be brutally honest. They are paying you money to do the work. If they give you feedback that they are very satisfied, that you did top-notch work, you know they are telling the truth. So the appreciation they have gives me reinforcement.

The more I did it, and the more feedback I got, the happier I would get. Then I would get more determined to get better at it. I just enjoyed it so much that I actually looked forward to doing it. It did not feel like a job; it just came naturally to me. It felt, actually, more like a hobby. I didn’t feel like I had to go to work. I definitely think it was just something I was born to do.

Coach Brown, football coach Interviewed by Darius Tippen, ACT

My desire pushed me through it I first learned to play football playing street games with my brothers. Ever since I was a kid I liked the bumpin’, the bangin’, knocking people down, running people over — just something about it made me feel good. I didn’t mind the bumps, the bruises, or the aches and pains. Depending on the weather during the summertime, practically every day there was a moment where we tossed the ball around, we figured out some way to play. If we didn’t play, it was probably because it was Sunday and we had to go to church.

It only became hard when I started playing organized football. I was a freshman in high school, I had to practice with all grades from freshmen to seniors. Not being on the level that the older guys were and still having to compete with them, it got a little tough. I wasn’t used to the conditioning to

“Having a love for the game allowed me to pay attention to the details of how to play.”

actually get in shape to play. But my desire pushed me through it. Having a love for the game allowed me to pay attention to the details of how to play. I just wanted to be the best at what I do.

The funny thing is, in the position I played, offensive and defensive lineman, my footwork is what made me better. I learned how to tap dance at an early age, so I knew how to move my feet since I was yay high. That carried over to the game of football.

My freshman year was a big-time learning experience. During the summertime going into my sophomore year, I noticed my speed increased and I started beating people to the punch.

Before, I wasn’t very effective against

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some of the guys I had competed with, but during this particular stretch I started beating these guys. I started looking like I was a real football player.

Of course it feels great to get better, but the thing for me was getting recognition for it. The first game of the season, I thought I would still be on the freshmansophomore team. Then, when Coach was

calling out starting lineup for the varsity team, he called my name. That was the proof in the pudding that I had gotten so much better. My coaching staff had recognized and moved me up to the next level. I stayed on varsity for the full season and ended up playing every game, and almost staying in all game long, whether it was close or a blowout.

It just made me feel good.

Photo by Bryan Jones, Westside Alternative High School

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Vernceal McNutt, nurse assistant Interviewed by Lonya McNutt, Prosser Career Academy

It can be a matter of life and death Sometimes we’re very very busy and everybody needs something at the same time. They’ll say, Oh, I need milk for my baby, Oh I need Pampers, then you’ll leave and they call you again. It’s just a back-and-forth situation, and sometimes it gets very frustrating. However, it feels great when you can see the outcome, that you really helped someone. It’s very rewarding. I really enjoy helping people.

I have been a certified nurse assistant for the past 20 years, and I truly enjoy my job, but I must say it wasn’t easy getting to this point. I had to attend a nursing program for three months, where you have to learn a lot of medical terminology. The hardest part was the abbreviations. For instance, you say CBR, and that would be “complete bed rest.” You hear them yell PNF and you’re like, Uh, uh, uh, “patient needs food,” and so on. I was determined to finish the program and I did.

Once you start “hands on,” you’re there with the patient and you’re learning as you’re going along. I learned a lot from the registered nurses. You follow them around and you see them do certain things— start IVs, give injections, talk with the patients— and that’s how you learn to do a lot of things. It was very interesting watching other nurses, and now I can say it was very rewarding.

“Once you start ‘hands on,’ you’re there with the patient and you’re learning as you’re going along.”

With time I got better, more comfortable with what I was doing. I knew what I was doing, so it became a routine.

When I became more confident to go in the room by myself with the patient and say Good morning, my name is Vern and is there anything I can get you, I knew I was getting better. If someone sees that I’m not doing something correct, I’ll appreciate being corrected, because it can be a matter of life and death. Maybe not at that particular time in front of the patient, but outside of the room, they can say, You know, you should have done that differently.

In doing my job, I feed the babies, change the babies’ Pampers, and give the babies a bath. They do a lot of crying, but sometimes we let them cry because it exercises their lungs. We make sure we have done everything like feeding and changing, and if the babies continue to cry, that lets me know that something is wrong. When this happens

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we check their mouths because their gums can be cut or swollen. We look in their ears, and then we press around their ears because they may have an ear infection. We check around the privacy area for swollenness or redness because there can be some irritation down there.

Now, if the babies are still crying then something is seriously wrong and they are immediately taken down to x-ray. I can remember one particular time, a baby suffered from belly tangling, when

everything in your stomach is knotted up together. The child received surgery twice and we almost lost him. Thanks to God, this child pulled through.

I can say that I am proud of the work that I do. I have wonderful co-workers and I love working with the babies. Even though it’s the same routine, it’s different patients, which makes the job seem different every day. The job never gets dull.

Photo by Lonya McNutt, Prosser Career Academy

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Photo by Donlaya McCullum, Westside Alternative High School

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Alex Mendez, teaching artist Interviewed by Patrick Streeter and Joseph Norris, ACT

I wanted to work on it We never had art in middle school or high school. Graffiti was my main source of inspiration. Back in the eighties, I started out sketching graffiti illegally. It gave me something to do, running around tagging and spray painting. I was really interested in the graffiti around me and I saw all the different writers and what they were doing and how they were doing it. That made me want to know how to do more arts —different types of art, like painting, photography, and pottery.

It was only when I got to college that I took art classes. When I did photography, the hardest part was not having time to do it as much as I wanted.

With painting, it was difficult finding out what I had to do and how can I do it right. I was used to making drawing flat and abstract, but when I tried to make it look real or 3-D, it was hard. How they were teaching me wasn’t a good way to make my drawing look real. It was a challenge, but I enjoyed doing that—it was interesting.

I kept doing painting, photography, and pottery. I stepped it up and did better and learned more about those things. The more I can look and say that “I made this,” I can say, “Wow, I learned something.” When I was doing pottery on the wheel, I was trying to make this object. It was dark but had a little bit of light, but I just went on and did it. From that point I knew I was getting better. I took three courses in pottery, and then I talked to my professor to give me an independent course. I spent more time in that class than in my other courses, because I wanted to work on it.

Now that I am an art teacher, I actually trust students to tell me how I am doing.

I ask students when we finish things, “What did you learn, what was easy, what was difficult?” In terms of being an artist, I trust mainly myself, my wife, teachers, and peers. I will show them some of my artwork and say, “What do you think?” And they will tell me, “Yeah, that’s really good stuff.” That means you got something, some skill or ability. If I do have that ability, I need to do something with it

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Photo by Kentrail Fonville, Westside Alternative High School

Rubi Dominguez, cook Interviewed by Michelle Degante and Rosalie Burgos, Prosser Career Academy

You get better and better Mmmm … I made some BBQ ribs in high school. They were so good I still remember the taste. How did I learn how to cook? When I was little I used to watch my mom, my aunt, and my family cook, so I used to want to be able to cook, too. I had to take care of my brothers and cousins, so I had to cook for them. I was kinda small—I was like 11—so it was hard. But I knew that when I grew up I’m gonna have a family, so obviously I’m gonna have to

“I know that I’m getting better at it, because people actually eat my food now.”

cook for them. And I felt good because I was helping someone eat.

One time my mom and my aunt gave me a recipe, some kind of tomato soup, and

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I was trying to follow it. And some of the ingredients I didn’t measure them right, so the food came out nasty. I had to throw it out.

My second year of high school I took culinary arts. They help you cook different stuff from around the world.

It’s a one-time experience, with a bunch of people, we all cooked the same thing and it was pretty nice. I used to get D’s, because I didn’t know how to cook well.

But my senior year I got better at it, so I felt pretty good. Everyone likes it when first you don’t know how to do something, but then you get better and better at it. I trusted my culinary arts teacher because she wanted the best for me, she’d tell you the truth.

I trust my mom ’cause she’s real picky—the food she don’t like, she’ll tell me that she don’t like it, and what

changes I could use to make it better.

When she would cook I would go up to her and ask her questions and she’ll be helping me, telling me what ingredients to use and what not to use. And I used to always be with my aunt Erica, because she has two little kids. She used to always make spaghetti for them, because that’s the only thing they would eat.

That’s how I learned to make one of my spaghettis. My grandma helped me, too.

She would make tamales and stuff, and I used to help.

I know that I’m getting better at it, because people actually eat my food now. But even though I took culinary arts, I don’t know if that’s what I’m passionate about. I want to do something else, like nursing. But cooking, I think we all need that, because sooner or later we’re all going to be cooking.

Photo by Kassey Griffin, Westside Alternative High School

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Lauren Parets, dancer Interviewed by Jenean Faulkner, Prosser Career Academy

My body was understanding more It started off with me being very shy and just dancing on my front lawn, with records because at the time it was the eighties. I had so much inside myself, and my mom put me in dance school. I took a couple of classes and my love grew for movement, because it really helped me express who I was and my emotions.

My first class was ballet. It was a little too structured for me so I went on to jazz, which I really love because I really got to express myself more. So I started to take more classes after that.

It did come easy to me in many ways but the structure of it was a little bit more difficult for me. I feel it, but what came more difficult to me was the technique of it. I had to remember to lift up your center and point your toes.

I pushed myself. My passion, my drive kept me going. The way I felt when I was dancing, it was meant for me to dance. Practice, practice, practice made me get so much better, believe in myself, have the confidence to persevere. Even after people told me my feet are too little, or You do too many faces when you dance!

My theater teacher always believed in me. He believed in the creativity I had, he believed in the performer I was, and the being I was. So he helped me, by really just believing in me and inspiring me.

In college I just felt like I was flying higher. My body was understanding more, I was letting go. Then I hit this point where I was like, I’m not growing anymore. But it was all in my head.

When I was older, I just let everything go and let the movement take over.

Because when you don’t think about it so much—the movement comes, and everything else comes after that.

Movement sometimes is forgotten about, because we have so much in front of us all the time. But I think dance is one of the most important aspects of life.

Movement and being comfortable with your body and with your skin—because this is all we got, man! So let’s love it, let’s embrace it and let’s not be ashamed or self-conscious. I’ve really come to grow as a person through movement because it helped me to be comfortable with my body and self-expression.

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Photo by Ronetta Bonner, Westside Alternative High School

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Thomas Ivey, basketball coach Interviewed by Tacara Edwards, ACT

Whatever I ask you to do I really didn’t start playing basketball until my freshman year of high school.

My first sport of interest was football. I just grew quickly, and the coach said let me teach you the game.

I didn’t know how to shoot or catch.

Dribbling was extremely hard, seeing that I was tall. So I knew that there were certain positions that I wasn’t going to play. I was going to play the four and five position—center and power forward—in which I didn’t have to do a lot of dribbling, but I was learning how to rebound.

I didn’t know much about basketball other than what I saw on TV or other people playing. I really didn’t know what to expect. When I first started playing, my high school coach asked me, Do I trust him from the standpoint of teaching me how to play? I said yes and he said, Whatever I ask you to do, I need you to do it. Being able to trust someone like that, it’s hard. I did it in the classroom, did on the basketball court, did it in life in general. The trust factor was huge.

It really turned for me in my sophomore year of high school, in listening to what my coaches were asking of me. The biggest part of that was they stopped asking a lot from the basketball standpoint but they asked a lot from the classroom standpoint.

“When my coach showed me a game tape, I used to pout.

But seeing it on tape just really changed how I conducted myself on the court.”

I used to have the worst attitude in playing, whenever I received a foul or someone missed a pass or missed a shot.

I used to get technical fouls all the time, because I felt like I couldn’t do any wrong. I really wasn’t a hot head off the court—I was more of a hot head on the court. I can smell a player a mile away. I always thought the refs never gave me a fair call. When my coach showed me a game tape, I used to pout. But seeing it on tape just really changed how I conducted myself on the court. He pretty much said, “You’re at a basketball game and everyone sees you — fans see you, coaches see you, scouts see you — and they don’t want to be bothered with that type of player. So if you want to take your game to the next level, you have to change this.” That was the hardest thing — consciously coming out and being more of a positive team player, not feeling the joy and the happiness only when I’m doing well, but thinking about how can I make my other

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teammates better. Once I improved on that part of my basketball game, it got even better during my junior and senior year.

One of the assistant coaches would come and meet us at the school, myself and two other guys that were my class, and he would just work on our game. If we had a free weekend or a free evening, he’ll say, “I’m going over to the gym, who wants to come?” We were always there thirty minutes before he would get there, and we would beg him to stay hours later. Oddly enough, we would sit down and talk basketball for the most part, prior to playing. What does the game look like—understanding the game through talking about how to play and how to recognize different situations when they come up. He really helped me understand the game from a different lens.

“Oddly enough, we would sit own and talk basketball for the most part, prior to playing. What does the game look like— understanding the game through talking about how to play.”

Early in my junior year, we played in one particular game. I had for the first time two guys guarding me. I was frustrated—at first I really didn’t understand why. And then: Hey, they know that you are getting better now.

They need to stop you in order to win the game. I was, like, Wow, did I make it?! That was also hard, because I had to help my other players get open shots, so then the pressure can come off of me and they can guard me one on one.

My coach always said, There’s life after basketball, and what is it that you want to do when this is all over? I thought, well this will be over when I finish high school, ’cause I’m going into the Army.

But as I continued to put more effort into it, colleges started calling and writing letters. I saw that I possibly could go to college versus going to the military.

When more and more schools started calling, I started to get better. I even focused more.

Toward the end of my senior year of high school, I went on a couple of college visits. I was looking forward to playing in college, because I was going to a high school that had no superstar teams coming together and playing. In my freshman year of college, one of the juniors told me that the coach was going to start three forwards. If I wanted to take the other third forward slot, I might have a chance, because our seven-foot center wasn’t playing well. When, I heard that, that was motivation to get out there and play even harder.

At times I was frustrated, because I felt like I wanted to do something different on the court. But when I did do something different, the end result wasn’t what it should be. It was what I wanted, and I was proud and successful.

But I was only successful from my lens and not the team’s.

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Janna Gartland, high school teacher Interviewed by Andris Wofford, Prosser Career Academy

It’s almost a craving now, I really want to get better My brother had a really hard time in high school. He had a learning disability, and he hated school—he wasn’t good at it. His high school teachers really didn’t understand his disability, and they never connected with him. I didn’t feel like they understood who he was and cared about him. So when I was learning how to teach, I just kept seeing him get F’s in all of his classes. I was so frustrated that there weren’t any regular teachers out there who could really understand his problems and really care about him. I decided to become a teacher, so that other general education teachers were out there who understood learning disabilities.

Since I’ve been teaching for several years, I’ve seen ways to handle situations and ways not to handle situations. I did a lot of journaling and reflecting, especially in student teaching—that was a part of my grade. I had to write down what kinds of things I did. I also had to write down how I felt about it, so that made me better.

I also had several mentor teachers. I think that that was the most important thing for me getting better. For the sixteen weeks that I student-taught, I had a supervisor who had such a huge impact on my teaching. We had a tense relationship in the beginning—she gave me all of her classes, and she didn’t want to give up her students. But she taught me so much. She was so precise about the things that she was wanting me to

“We just kind of talk it out, learning from our mistakes.”

do: “Does it really matter that there’s no period there? No, it’s more of the idea.”

She really helped morph me into a better teacher. I still email her today and ask her questions and get her advice about things.

I have friends who are teachers, so they tell me about their classrooms, and problems that they have with students.

We just kind of talk it out, learning from our mistakes. Also I do a lot of professional development activities.

With the Terra Museum of American Art, I spent a whole summer working on art projects for students, and how to get them doing things that are more creative.

It’s almost a craving now, I really want to get better. When I started off teaching, I was much more focused on me and my classroom and what I’m doing and getting good at that. Now, I’m much more interested in observing other teachers and what kinds of lessons they’re doing. There’s a lot of sharing that started to go on between myself and the other English teachers. I really trust the head of my department, I go to her quite often to ask her for advice. She really wants to see me succeed, and so

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when I come to her with problems I always know that it’s something that she’ll really take to heart. And when I’m wrong, she tells me in a very nice soft kind of way so it doesn’t feel like we’re against each other. And it’s reciprocal, so it feels like a two-way street, more than just her having all the answers. I really don’t think any of us do have all the answers.

school range. I think I can relate to them pretty to them well and get them motivated and get them to work. I’m so frustrated at students some days. Last year I had a student who was difficult.

He cut class most days, but when he’d come to class he was very violent, and he ended up pushing me several times.

Moments like that made me question being a teacher.

I feel like all of the students that come to me need so much. I’m constantly thinking about school and what’s going to be best for my students—a lot of times, waking up in the morning I’m dreaming about it. I think the hardest part is trying to find that balance— knowing when to leave stuff at school, and what to do more of. Letting go of some things and making time for my friends and family.

But then there’s that one thing that happens that makes it all worth it, and I feel like I’m doing something good here.

One of my junior students, who had failed my first semester, wrote me the nicest letter about how he felt like I really cared about him and his progress in class. I still have that that huge letter up on my bulletin board at home, so that when I’m working on my computer I can look up and see it. I get students who want to be here, and it makes me say I am here for a reason.

I think I’m pretty good at teaching, especially with teenagers in the high

Photo by Andris Wofford, Prosser Career Academy

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Meah Gordon, sales representative Interviewed by DeMichael Brown, Prosser Career Academy

I can trust their feedback I started selling Mary Kay about seven months ago. My co-worker asked me was I interested in selling Mary Kay. I was thinking I could use some extra money so I said yes and I started selling Mary Kay since then. It started off easy because I didn’t have to do much. All I had to do was just help others and talk them into buying Mary Kay products.

It began to get harder when I didn’t have any clients to buy Mary Kay. So I came up with a plan to throw makeover parties. I invited my friends and family, then my sister called some of her friends and they called their friends. It started off good. I gave samples of the makeup, such as lip-gloss and mascara, so they can see how it looks on their faces. They

liked it, so they started buying right on the spot. I kept throwing makeover parties and at the parties people were buying the products of Mary Kay. It made me feel like a better person and it felt good because I accomplished a goal.

I only trust a few people to tell me how I’m doing with my Mary Kay products. I trust my mom, my co-workers, and my family. I can rely on them and trust their feedback because I know they have my back when it comes to recruiting clients to sell my products. They encourage me to do better and to not give up, so I look up to them

Photo by Shaqueta McToy, Westside Alternative High School

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Timothy Davenport, poet Interviewed by Darnell Davenport, Prosser Career Academy

It’s just keep on writing When I first started writing poetry I knew I had to have a name . . . Well, without further adieu, ladies and gentlemen, I am Tim . . . I don’t want to be known for my name. I want my words to bring fame . . . Open my mouth, out come fire. If anyone needs I got words for hire . . . So when you hear my words, there’s only one way to act. As I exit stage left, it’s with a clap. And my words are like that beat that make you dance, like that pretty fine woman as she walk away, you get that last glance . . . My words are like a dip in the pool on a hot summer day. Or like if you win a game on a last second fade-away.

I started writing poems when I was about 26 years old, and that one is called “My Words.” It was one of the first ones I wrote. It ain’t published in a book or nothing. I just do it for my own thing, and I let a few other people hear it.

That’s it.

Poetry you can do anytime. I always got a piece of paper and a pen, and I can write it down. I can’t play basketball while I’m at work. But when I get free time, at work in between work periods, I’ll just sit down and write poems to help pass time. I don’t know if it’s learning. It just came out. That’s what I do.

I did it on my own, nobody helped me. I write some and then I ask people how I sound, how this sound and that sound.

And some of them say it sound good.

They said, “Okay now, that’s a good one right there. That was real good there.”

I really wouldn’t call it practicing, it’s just keep on writing. If you feel like you want to do it, you just write and you just keep on writing, you know. If it sounds good to you, keep it. If it don’t, then you scratch it off and then start over again.

Before I really write down, I go through it in my head, what I’m about to put

down. And then I put it down and most of the time I might change a word. But other than that, I just keep it like it is.

I do romantic. I do funny stuff.

Whatever come to mind, I do it. If I’m writing a romantic poem, it’s about what I’m going through romantically. If it’s something about a girl, okay, I’ll write that about her. When I get free time, I’ll just sit down and write poems to help pass time. I don’t know if it’s learning. It just came out. But that’s what I do.

The hardest thing is, if you trying to make it rhyme or if you just writing, trying to find the words to go to the next line, to the next line, to the next line.

You keep practicing, you get better at stuff. It feel good whenever you get better at anything—like if you trying to get better at basketball.

I trust friends and family to tell me how I’m doing. Whoever I give it to, I tell people to be honest. If you don’t like it, tell me. If you think I should change something, tell me. Some poetry I like, and some I don’t. You like something, you gon’ keep doing it, being creative.

You using your own mind. You using your own words, telling how you feel.

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Zury Arroyo, nurse assistant Interviewed by Zarai Arroyo, Prosser Career Academy

We all helped each other I am a CNA, which stands for certified nurse assistant. I first got interested in this career when I was little. I like to help people.

I went to school for five months, and I took my clinical at the hospital for a whole month. When I started to study, it was difficult. First of all, it was very different to learn the things you have to do as a CNA. Then, having hands on, everything is different—the expectations are larger. My instructor was great. She was patient and she had a lot of experience. She taught us exactly what to do, and how to do it the right way.

She never said no to any of us when we needed extra help. You could tell that she knew what she was doing. She was not afraid to tell us what we were doing right or wrong.

My classmates all helped me—in a way, we all helped each other. Some girls were good at taking blood pressure and some were good at taking pulse and respirations. I guess we were all good in our own ways. All the practice made it better, and it’s a lot easier now to take care of patients.

After getting good at what I was doing, I had a great feeling of accomplishment. It was my first step to my goal. I’m looking for a job in hospitals, to get more practice. I need about four to five more years, because my ultimate goal is to be a nurse-obstetrician. If you keep in mind what you want you can achieve it.

If you set your mind away from your goal, you slack off. And that’s when failure comes in.

Jessica Klasek, swimmer Interviewed by Jennifer Leon, Prosser Career Academy

I try to get better at it When I dive in the water, I feel the rough water hit my face. Swimming has always been a part of my life. My parents first taught me to swim when I was seven years old. They bought a swimming pool and put it in the backyard. They taught me to swim by holding on to me while I moved my arms and legs to try to swim. I started

getting better at it every day and never gave up.

When I became a freshman I decided to join swimming, to learn new things about how to swim and different ways to do it. My coaches taught me every day after school, and I knew I was getting better.

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I chose to swim because it looked very interesting, challenging, and fun at the same time. What was challenging about swimming was learning how to swim and also getting the rhythm of the strokes and being able to breathe. I usually go to the park to practice my swimming and try to get better at it. I have gotten better at swimming by the practices that I’ve been doing, from my coach, and from freshman year. Once I

started getting good at it, I felt like I could’ve gotten better.

I love when everyone screams at me because it lets me know what I am doing wrong. I trust my parents and my coaches to tell me how I’m doing, but I trust my teammates more. They watch as I make any mistakes, and tell me about it afterwards. I know they will tell me the truth. If they make any mistakes, I know I’d tell them about it, too.

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Nicole Waters, cook Interviewed by Mario Waters, Prosser Career Academy

I did better than expected My mother taught me how to cook at the age of eleven. She wanted us to fend for ourselves, so me and my sisters wouldn’t have to starve when at times she had to work late or she was running late to get home. I learned young. It was interesting and I knew when I grow up and have a family of my own I’ma have to know how to cook.

The hardest thing is getting the seasoning right in your meat and your vegetables. I also had to practice learning how to measure the seasoning—what not to put and what’s too much to put. I trusted my mom to tell me what I’m doing good and bad, and unfortunately my husband because we cooked together, before. I cooked a

Sunday dinner and my mom told me how good it was—everyone in the house told me how good it was. I had a sense of accomplishment and it made me feel better that I did better than what I expected and what someone else expected of me.

My favorite dish to prepare would be a well seasoned steak baked to a juicy perfection, with diced smothered onions and butter, and a side dish of ear corn.

Nicole Waters continues to cook for her family. As her son, my favorite dish that she prepares for me is pork chops with either white rice or string beans and corn as a side dish.

Photo by Kassey Griffin, Westside Alternative High School

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Barbara Robinson, communicator Interviewed by Brianna Robinson, Prosser Career Academy

I began to inform myself The skill of being a good communicator gradually came to me. The hardest part was understanding how different people might feel, and being able to communicate. I was not always good at socializing with people who were not like me.

I realized that if I wanted to be able to communicate with these various people, I had to become more educated.

Language being a key factor in communication, I told myself that I would learn the next dominant language, which was Spanish. I’m still bettering myself by staying committed to my promise, by learning a new language.

a district manager for a series of clothing stores, I still have to be able to communicate with others. I don’t display arrogant attitudes. I’m always smiling and friendly.

I’m always looking for new ways to improve. I learned that I had to be careful not to offend people religiously, so I also began to inform myself. I asked others about certain religions, such as the Muslim religion. I have learned that people respond better when you are respectful to them. I’m very good at communicating with people of different nationalities and backgrounds. I am this way because I did what most are afraid to do . . . I educated myself.

I’ve always had jobs where I was forced to deal with other people. Although I’m

Glenda Coria, artist Interviewed by Mayan Coria, Prosser Career Academy

I felt like drawing a lot Drawing came easy to me since I was little. I was an only child until the age of seven, so I would get bored a lot. There weren’t many things that I could play by myself, so my mom would tell me to draw something for her. That would keep me entertained for hours. I would take drawings to school or I would show family members, and they would tell me

I was good. I loved receiving praise from people.

At first it was mostly little-kid drawings—houses, stick people. Then in maybe third grade a special art teacher was brought in for about a month. She taught a very small group in which I was included. During that class I was taught

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to draw animals, and faces. I drew real animals in their natural habitat, and the best one was of a momma lion and her cubs. After that class some of my drawings were exhibited at Lincoln Park Zoo. This was many years ago, probably more than 20 years.

The hardest thing when I started was proportions, and also having the drawings look realistic. I can’t say that I actually practiced for a certain amount of time in a week; I just drew when I felt like drawing, and I felt like drawing a lot. I developed a love for drawing. It made me happy when I finally finished a good drawing, one that satisfies me enough to show someone else. I liked receiving praise from the few people that I would let see my drawings—friends and family.

There were times when I was very inspired, usually when I was expecting a baby. I have lots of drawings that I did

“I developed a love for drawing. It made me happy when I finally finished a good drawing.”

for my children before they were born. I keep them, so that I can show my children when they’re grown.

Now I can draw faces, animals, and I also enjoy drawing cartoons. I have four children, and I don’t have as much time, but I wish I did. All of my children are artistic in some way, but my third little girl is the most. She uses my drawing as inspiration for her own artwork. I think that I got my artistic ability from my mom. She would draw with me when I was little, and she was also artistic in other ways, like poetry and singing.

I guess that a good thing about drawing is that there are no age limits. I see myself drawing even when I’m old.

Aside from the fact of it being a perfect way to express myself, it’s also relaxing.

It helps you express your feelings in a positive way. It most definitely got me away from boredom.

Photo by Mayan Coria, Prosser Career Academy

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Julian Murray, basketball coach Interviewed by Darius Edmondson, Prosser Career Academy

The coaches circle I went to Prosser and graduated in ’97, and went on to Southern Illinois and came back to help the guys that go here.

I was a big guy as far as surveillance on the court, so I understand the game well, and I’ve been around a lot of guys pretty successful in the game. When I was here, I played sophomore year, junior year, and senior year varsity. I had three different coaches and learned different things from each of my coaches. They were pretty good coaches, all three. I think I got my coaching skills from them. I would say in my mid-twenties I really started to become the coach I am now.

I can always improve, but a lot of kids tell me that I am a good coach. I am a motivator: You can do anything you put your mind to. Sometimes kids’ talents and what they are blessed with physicalwise are two different things. I have seen kids with the size who didn’t have the heart, and kids with the heart and no talent or size. But if you just motivate kids that don’t feel they can do certain things, you can help them do it.

“It’s not about me getting all the accolades or me walking around with my chest all high.”

Motivation is the key to success. Kids need different motivations, and different coaches use different types of motivation. You teach a kid for a long time, like, Okay, I want you to do this and do that, then A B and C can happen.

And the reward is them actually doing what you tell them to do, and being successful at it. When kids do it and see the results, they are happy.

It’s not about me getting all the accolades or me walking around with my chest all high. And for the money coaches make, I could just wash clothes or anything. It’s that nothing’s better than seeing a kid happy from the results of hard work and other things I am teaching them. Kids come back and be like, Thank you for everything you have done for me—you really motivated me to do this, do that. That is what I do it for.

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Tellis Parnell, bowler Interviewed by Brianna Collins, Prosser Career Academy

Trial and error is the best teacher Bowling is one of those sports where people who been doing it, they don’t want you to be better than them. They only give you a little bit at a time, so mostly everything I learned, I learned it on my own.

“I faced a lot of ridicule, but the better I got, the less ridicule I got and the more praise I started to acquire.”

I first learned how to bowl right after college, around 1999. I had an older cousin who inspired me to bowl. He started out taking me to the bowling alley with him. It was a way to keep me occupied and keep me off the streets.

Since I was going, he felt that I should bowl as well.

I knew I wanted to get good at it. By watching others around me bowl I started to score well, and win money.

The more you score the more people acknowledge you and the more money you make. The hardest thing is staying focused on what I was trying to do when I was out on the lane, not just concentrating on the monetary aspect of the game.

I started out with an older crowd, so they showed me the basics of the game. I began watching other people around me bowl. But the more technical things I learned through DVDs, books, and trial and error. Trial and error is the best teacher. I started to see my score increase and my handicap decrease.

The people I really trust are the people who I been bowling with for quite a while, those that got a very good understanding of the game of bowling.

Teammates, and a lot of friends who I been bowling with for five and ten years.

When I first started bowling, the hardest part was not throwing the ball in the gutter. I had a fascination with wanting to see the ball hook, to see the ball curve. Instead, I threw a lot of gutter balls. I faced a lot of ridicule, but the better I got, the less ridicule I got and the more praise I started to acquire.

Like anything else in this life, if you going to be good at it you got to practice, you got to practice, you got to practice.

It takes practice and dedication, long hours, if you going to be go

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Photos by Walter Fobbs, Westside Alternative High School

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Andy Williams, change agent Interviewed by Joshua Foster, Prosser Career Academy

I will just do it Being an agent or a catalyst for change, you constantly have to keep growing, you constantly have to keep moving, and I don’t mean you keep moving. I’m always looking for information, no matter who it comes from. So I’m constantly going to keep growing, I’m constantly going to keep learning, I’m constantly going to keep empowering myself, because I want to know more so I could relate to more. Giving hope, helping others, smiling, bringing light to a dark area, turning the other cheek.

I looked at what angered me most, what did I not like or what I was passionate about. And I’m passionate about change.

I just want to see everyone treated equally and fairly and not be judged because of their background. Sometimes things happen to you, and instead of complaining about it, you do something about it. I just felt like there’s got to be hope for this generation and that made me want to say, Hey, I’m gon’ be that hope. I’m gonna be that light. Instead of talking about it, I will just do it. For the next eight years, I plan on being a good family man—being there for my daughters and my wife—and I’m going to law school and becoming a Supreme Court judge.

I got cats like Gandhi, Tookie, Martin Luther King, MSNBC, [who] educated me on the politics. The chief of police helped me—arrested me, and now we’re friends. Of course there are some people who helped me like my wife, and I got a friend. But more than anyone, I trust my

personal spirit—that’s number one. I think it happened in ’95: I got some readings and it was a blueprint, like a vision, and I stuck to that vision. And in ’97 I got a prophetic word, and it was God talking to me. And for the past ten or eleven years, I’ve been on this journey of changing.

Say if we were talking about changing my relationship with my wife. I knew I was getting better at it when she said something that would normally trigger a reaction and I didn’t react. And my kid would come and say, “Dad, you doing it!” And they would give me my props.

In the mortgage business I knew I was getting better because my income increased. Those are areas that you could measure change and growth. I look for my confirmation in my wife, because I could talk to her about any idea, any concept, and she gives me her explanation from her love for me, and not judging me.

I could go into a dark room where people are negative and I promise you, by the time I leave the people will be a little bit happier. You ever heard “He the life of the party?” That’s me. I’ma get in and do what I do. I’m good at listening to people without judging them, not making a decision without all the facts.

And really, I still don’t need to make a decision—because if you talk it out with an individual long enough, they will come up with their own answer. It may take a while—but hey, we have eternal life, so we have all the time we need!

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Eric Morris, basketball coach Interviewed by Patrick Grandberry and Isaiah Luckey, ACT

To prove something to myself, or to others I started playing basketball in the street when I was young in the projects, and I just went off from there. I love the game.

I thought I could take it as far as I could take it, before I get too old. It really wasn’t the money—more like just saying that I did it. Because in some parts of my life, people said I couldn’t make it, or I would end up in jail, or I would be dead.

I tried to prove something to myself, or to others.

When I was in high school I always shot ten or twenty free throws a day, at the end of practice. My coach said to do that every time you work out, just to work on your form and your breathing and on pacing yourself throughout the game.

I will never forget when I was trying to go play pro ball, and go to all the free agent camps. I took two months out of my summer to work out and to lose weight. I moved out to Nashville, worked out with an agent who I really didn’t know, who had a trainer who was a pro body builder. I ate a lot of oatmeal that I wasn’t used to eating. I came back really trim, my body ready to try out for these different pro teams.

When I first started coaching, I was 24 years old. I did summer league at Northwestern University. Then at about 28, I was assistant coach at Rockford College. Now I’m a head coach here at ACT. I’ve been here for three years.

“Coaching is a lot different. It’s giving the instruction, instead of taking the instruction.”

Coaching is a lot different. It’s giving the instruction, instead of taking the instruction. You’re behind the scene, not putting the ball in the basket. You’re not in control of the players out there—not in control of their attitude and their actions. When you’re playing, you’re out there, you have the ball in your hand.

You have more control.

I’ve watched a lot of legends like Magic, on television. The legends got tapes that no coach never sat down and said, “You shooting free throws wrong.” We know Shawn Marion got the worst looking shot, but he is in the NBA. It looks like it’s ineffective. But somebody paying him to shoot like that!

I tell my players that the basket doesn’t move. I tell them to use their legs and incorporate their elbows and the correct finger movements, as far as rotating and a back spin on the ball. Coaches try to correct things, but sometimes it’s hard to break kids when they’ve shot bad for six or seven years. You try to add a positive to the bad shot, to see if they can work with that. You know, Shaq started out as a bad shooter, but they told him “Just tuck your elbows in,” and it kind of helped him. I use that philosophy.

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Migdalia Aviles, dancer Interviewed by Yesenia Trice and Nicole Perez, Prosser Career Academy

Live for dancing You hear the music and the rhythm just starts pumping and then you’re there, lost in the melody. I started at the young age of seven years old. I was put into a dance group for an Española dance.

Dancing was a great way to express myself. I loved the attention I got from everyone, which then made me want to practice and get into it more. Watching people dance made me want to learn new steps and different cultural dances.

When I was young nobody ever told me that I was improving in my dancing skills. I never really asked anyone; they either liked it or they didn’t. Simple as that, I didn’t care, because everyone has their own opinion. One person that truly inspired me was Michael Jackson. He was my all-time favorite dancer of that time, with his little kicks and his little screams. My mother, on the other hand, was also a great Spanish inspirer to me.

I was in many battles growing up, with my dance groups. One battle I can remember was a hip-hop one. My team and I practiced for a long time—three times a week, at least four hours a day.

Fridays and Saturdays we’d all go to the different hot spots. The other groups would want to battle us, and they would call us out on the dance floor, and we would do the same for the other groups that we wanted to battle. My dance group consisted of 20 girls and 15 guys

that I personally knew. But we’d also get kids from all around the Chicago area.

When I used to battle and go to the clubs, the music was not like it is today.

My music had a better beat to dance to and wasn’t all about sex. This was a better way for my partner and me to connect. If we didn’t connect, basically I wouldn’t stay with them. But when we did, we cleared out the dance floors. Our all-time favorite dance was salsa and merengue. Because we could lock the turns and all the foot movements it’s just great, and the closeness of you and your partner was amazing. The feeling of just walking into a club and everyone just knowing who you are puts a smile on my face. Knowing that everyone enjoys how my dance partner and I dance is a wonderful feeling.

Now that I’m older and married, I hardly dance. My club days are over, simply because my husband couldn’t dance to save his life. I have three young girls now, and I dance with them. When dancing, it’s like getting lost in another world. You become stress free, no worries whatsoever. I can close my eyes and hear any beat, especially in Spanish, and just start dancing. No music, just the rhythm I feel.

The Practice Project | WKCD | www.whatkidscand.org

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Thelma “T” Robinson, crocheter and knitter Interviewed by Jade Foster, Prosser Career Academy

It’s mind over matter My niece taught me how to knit, and she’s still teaching me. We’re doing preemie caps and blankets, because one of our friends works in neonatal in one of the hospitals in the city of Chicago.

Knitting is new for me. The only difference is the use of the needles: You use two needles, and in crocheting you use one hook. There’s really not that much difference between the two, except for the usage of the tools. I have to learn how to decrease and increase. If you ask me crocheting is easier, but knitting has a more professional look to it. The projects, they vary, and it all depends on what you’re doing. But either way, it’s great.

As far as crocheting goes, I did quite a few projects there. I like crocheting, and I know how to read the patterns. I did sweaters, granny sweaters, shawls, caps, scarves, ponchos. On some of the knitting, if it’s simple, I can read those. My niece use to “put me on the little yellow school bus” all the time.

I had, you might say, little temper tantrums with myself, because I couldn’t do it the way it was supposed to be done. But once I learned how to

“I had, you might say, little temper tantrums with myself, because I couldn’t do it the way it was supposed to be done.” cast on, it was easy. One of the hardest things with knitting is you must count every stitch, but once you learn how to, it’s a breeze.

I think it’s mind over matter, not matter over mind. I was determined to learn, and I wanted other people to learn how to knit also. It teaches you patience and hand coordination. And I like the way the projects looked that I knitted.

After I finish a project, I feel fantastic, elated, proud of myself, because I accomplished something that I thought was an impossible task. I felt more relaxed, and then I was able to want to teach someone else how to do it. If I could do it, anybody could do it.

The Practice Project | WKCD | www.whatkidscand.org

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Photos by Jade Foster, Prosser Career Academy

The Practice Project | WKCD | www.whatkidscand.org

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Academy of Communications and Technology (ACT) Charter School Located in Chicago’s West Garfield Park, the Academy of Communications and Technology Charter School opened its doors to students in 1997 as an independent public school. It prepares inner-city students who wish to attend and complete college, with a program that emphasizes the communication arts and technological literacy. ACT students live in and around West Garfield Park, a neighborhood chronically plagued with gangs, drugs, unemployment, and violence. The school currently serves over 300 students in grades 7 – 12.

Prosser Career Academy High School Near Chicago’s Oak Park neighborhood, Prosser Career Academy prepares students for the world of work and college. During their first year, students enroll in the Freshman Academy, which eases the transition into high school. After freshman year, students enroll in the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme or an Education to Careers (ETC) cluster. In 2007-2008, the high school had an enrollment of 1,383 students.

Westside Alternative High School Westside Alternative High School (WAHS) is a charter school that offers a full high school curriculum, vocational training, and specialized academic and supportive services to students who have either dropped out or have been dismissed from regular public high school, but desire a second chance to earn a diploma. Its student body of roughly 260 students, ages 16 – 21, come from a number of the city’s West Side neighborhoods.

What Kids Can Do, Inc. What Kids Can Do (WKCD) brings to the widest audience possible the voices, vision, and accomplishments of adolescents, especially those marginalized by race, poverty, and language. Through its website, WKCD documents “powerful learning with public purpose.”

Through its nonprofit publishing arm, Next Generation Press, it produces books and multimedia with youth as co-authors. Through strategic partnerships, it collaborates on a range of youth projects, in the U.S. and internationally.

McCormick Tribune Foundation For more than 50 years, the McCormick Foundation has been serving the needs of children, communities and country. As one of the nation’s largest public charities, it has granted more than $1 billion to organizations in local communities across the country. A belief in civic health unites all aspects of the McCormick Foundation’s work, from investments in human services, journalism, citizenship and early childhood education, to investments that deliver programs and services to hundreds of thousands of people through Cantigny—its public park—and the Foundation’s three museums.

The Practice Project | WKCD | www.whatkidscand.org

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