The day we visited Hollandale, MS and Sunflower County, MS was the most emotional day so far for me of the trip. During the first half of the visit to Simmons High School, I sort of thought the school looked nicer than what I was expecting, but in the afternoon when I saw a class or two, I realized that at least some of their teachers did nothing but sit in the room silently as the kids colored and socialized. I wasn't really struck, though, until we visited the Sunflower County Freedom project. The Freedom Project is an after school and summer program for kids in the county who attend schools where there are extremely limited extra-curricular activities and very little preparation for college. When talking to the kids, some of the questions we were asked to discuss included:
1. How many books do you have in your house?
2. What's a negative about your school?
When a few students' response to these questions were "no books" or "no books other than the bible" and "gang violence" or "the teachers are always on their cell phones," I felt incredibly disheartened about the state of schools in this country. I almost felt ashamed to answer those questions because I didn't want to ruin someone's reality or norm. I also realized that while these schools in Mississippi are in need of help, so are many in Baltimore and that I should start seeking out those in order to make a difference in my own community.
Ellie Stern, Park School
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