After School Programs: Our Next Line of Defense by Shelbi Wuss
Do you know what it feels like to have an intense fear of going home because you don’t know what mood your parents are going to be in?
Do you know what it feels like to have pain constantly reminding you that you haven’t eaten dinner in two days?
Do you know what it’s like to live in a house that makes the Warsaw Ghetto look like the Palace of Versailles?
Do you know what it feels like to cry yourself to sleep because you don’t know if your dying dad will ever call you his “little angel” again?
If you’ve ever gone through any of these things, I am truly and deeply sorry. If you haven’t, consider yourself lucky. Consider yourself lucky that while you might not get the pair of boots you wanted, someone else might be working sixty hours every week just to put food on the table.
We should consider ourselves lucky that we have parents who support our decisions. It is proven that parental encouragement can improve grades and raise self-esteem. Abusive or absent parents don’t encourage their kids. So where does that leave those kids?
We must not allow those less fortunate than us to wither away believing no one cares about them. Even something as small as the words “How are you feeling?” can make a huge difference. Even something as simple as sitting next to the girl with the red cheeks and scarred arms during lunch can make a huge difference. When my father was having open heart surgery, I internalized all of my pain, all of my fear, and shut a lot of people out. But one day, this one girl I had barely ever spoken to came up and asked me if I was alright. You’ll never know how much those words can truly mean to someone until they are said to you. Sometimes that’s all we need to hear. Sometimes that’s all anyone needs to hear.
Many think that helping one person has no impact–that it’s not that important–but it is. Don’t worry about not being able to change the world or the lives of one hundred kids. As Mother Theresa most eloquently said, “Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest you.”
I think it is great how I am starting to see more and more programs, like the Interact Club and Natural Helpers, which are geared towards helping those who are less fortunate. But there is still so much more that we can do.
More action must be taken to fight the effects of a decimated home life. Did you know that Huntington Station alone has 21.5 percent of its child population living below the poverty level? Did you know that a study conducted by Former Secretary of State Colin Powell found that half of high school dropouts had lost someone close to them? So why aren’t we doing more to combat the effects of these harrowing situations? There is so much that we can do.
We can create after-school programs where kids will be able to play a sport and escape from reality at least for a little while. This sports program can give kids an alternative to the constricting and time-consuming sports teams that they might be unable to participate in. Teenagers can be carefree and not have to worry about what might be happening at home. Sports saved me after my grandfather’s death, and they can certainly help save someone else.
Guidance counselors and student services help those who come to them to talk, but what about those who don’t? What about those students who receive reduced or free lunches but never talk about what actually happens at home? It should be a policy that these students meet with their guidance counselor at least once a month. These students need to be able to talk to someone about their monetary situation or their life at home. As I said before, just asking people about their lives can make them feel like they matter.
I understand that the budget is a major issue in our school district. However, tell me there isn’t at least one teacher in this school who is willing to volunteer his or her time to supervise students playing sports. And isn’t it a Guidance Department’s job to help all their kids, especially the ones who need it? If Guidance can make time for college meetings with students, then they can make time for the students who are struggling in their day-to-day lives. Or maybe student-run support groups can be created during lunch periods. These support groups would allow for kids to meet other students that have gone through or are going through the same situation as them. We all must make the initiative, no matter the cost.
For hundreds of years, people have been helping those who are less fortunate than them. Harriet Tubman helped slaves escape the Southern plantations. Oskar Schindler helped save over a thousand Jewish people from the Nazi concentration camps. People like Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and Malala Yousafzai have fought tirelessly for equality amongst all religions, ethnicities, and genders. I am in no way comparing the genocide or the enslavement of millions of people to the problems of one person, but to that one person, the pain they feel is their Holocaust. They are enslaved by the hunger or the hurtful words thrown at them, with no means of escape without our help. We must continue this legacy in our school and in our lives because no good deed is too small. Every action can make a difference.
In the words of Gandhi, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” If we do, that will make all the difference.