What is after-school you ask?
It’s an answer 14 years in the making, although the recipe was already baking long before I came on the scene!
After-school is a THING!
Not a time in the day where you play,
Bring out some board games
And close out the day. After-school is a thing to be seen.
Something to look back on and say,
“Remember when…,”
With a tear in your soul.
Not a timesheet to track,
Or a paycheck to hold!
After-school is a thing that happens to you,
Transforming one’s attitude about learning
From what it is to what it could be!
After-school is a thing
That brings people together,
For worse or for better,
Those that the system found lacking
And asking all those within reach,
“Is this the best that we can do?”
After-school is a thing,
Not a time to be wasted
On lack of engagement,
But with a hands-on, hearts-on, minds-on
Attitude that inspires
And causes all synapses to fire in our brain!
Let that sink in as you think
About what after-school is!
It is a thing that swings doors open
And lets in opportunity and ambition!
The good kind, that is, that moves
Young people from apathy
To urgency!
That moves them from the sidelines
To the frontlines of making a difference.
That is something!
It is someone who became something
Because of that one THING
We’ve called after-school!
Author Profile @carlossantini
Image credit: Best Buddies Delaware, Turnagain Elementary School