Bri – Outside Student
I looked forward to the class every morning, and saying goodbye at the end of each class was hard – it felt wrong that people who were our peers inside the classroom were not able to leave with us. I appreciated how the inside students asked about our lives outside with genuine interest, and without bitterness. I was amazed when people were able to acknowledge the frustration and boredom of the inside, yet also refused to allow it to eat them up. I’ve come to care deeply about the people of this class, and I will miss them. I will treasure the friends I made, and I will carry them with me in memory.
Mike – Inside Student
My life will be different in several ways after participating in this class. I am driven now to becoming active within my hometown as where previously I was actively creating problems. I now want to become a part of the solution. I feel empowered by the knowledge I have been chosen to receive and I am ready to storm the gates of hell to try and reclaim what has been stolen from us all: “Our City,” our “peace,” and most importantly our justice and our equality as a species. My life will be different forevermore because I pray I will never view my brothers and sisters of God as anything other than that. I will surely spread this information to the masses if possible even if only one or two at a time. So look for me in the future because here I come world!
Katrina – Outside Student
The most important part of this class was becoming friends with each of my fellow classmates. Without you, this would have been just another class about theories of a better society: interesting and inspiring, but impractical and underdeveloped. Rather, you have challenged me and frustrated me in the most motivating way. I am proud to hold you all as my role models and friends. I expect to meet you again someday, outside these walls, and catch up. To hear about your lives and your families, and about all of the ways that you will undoubtedly be nurturing and shaping the lives of those around you. Whether you decide to fix this system, like I know you all could, or whether you decide to work with youth or others who are vulnerable to this system, or whether you decide to put your energy into your family and teaching them how to do what we did here. Whatever it is, I know that you hold within you great capacity and great integrity, and that you will keep those qualities for the rest of your life.
I cannot possible express how much you all mean to me, and how grateful I am to have been here with you.