I try my best to make each day a little better for vulnerable youth. Serving at a place like JASMYN and coming face-to-face with the consequences of everyday cruelty, ignorance, and bigotry makes it impossible for you not to acknowledge the privileges you’ve been given just by virtue of your own birth.

I can’t do anything about the complex societal factors making my students “high risk” for violence, and sometimes I feel helpless when I see the barriers preventing me from reaching them. It is frustrating when kids dismiss what I have to say. But even though I can’t change my students’ friends, their schools, their families, or their communities, I can listen. I can answer questions and address doubts. And I can hope they’re listening to me too.