Literacy Festival

I had so much fun today working at our inaugural literacy festival. At first I wasn't excited about working on a Saturday, but when I saw the area I was going to I knew it was for a good cause. The festival took place in Coachella at the Coachella Library. Coming from a small poor town in Northern Michigan, it teaches you to appreciate your surroundings and what you've been given, because even though you don't have the best, there are other places that have it worse and Coachella is one of those places. It amazed me how tiny the library was and what little resources they had. The saddest part was the school across the street. It made Manton look like a state-of-the art rich school. Those of you from Manton know this is not even close to the case. What truly engaged me about this event was not the over 400 children and families that came out to get free books and enjoy cultural entertainment, but the conversation I had with an 11 year old 5th grade girl. She was brilliant, funny, smart and adorable. She also made me thankful for my family and friends as she spoke so highly of her parents and how they support her and how she wants to continue to make them proud and go to a university and become a teacher. When I asked her what grade she wanted to teach she started off with pre-school, but then said that she thought it would be hard to get them to settle down at that age so she wanted to teach kindergarten. She said she wanted to teach this grade because all the kids want to be inspired. She said they all just want to learn and I want to help them learn. She said much more in our 45 minute conversation but that really stuck with him. She also thanked us for being there and giving out free books. It was too cute and a lot of fun. One of the better days of work for me.