“Showing Up and Showing Outââ¬Â to Renovate the Evans Campus: A Council Hearing to Remember
My peers share the hardship of poverty, drugs and violence. Growing up around that and dealing with it numbs you to what is really essential for growth and success; because growth in that world is being hard and success is survival. This is an epic misconception that is making it even harder to succeed.
The Maya Angelou YALC has helped me learn that failure is accepted but success is a choice you make to learn more about yourself. . . . Iââ¬â¢m working on itââ¬ÂŠ. but itââ¬â¢s always good to know people believe that you can accomplish something good in your life, even when you donââ¬â¢t realize it.
Sloan Baxter, a student at our Maya Angelou Young Adult Learning Center, shared the testimony above at a recent roundtable hearing on the disposition of the W. Bruce Evans building (MAPCS-Evans Campus). Students, teachers, parents, supporters and staff of the See Forever Foundation and Maya Angelou Public Charter Schools were lobbying for a much-needed renovation to transform our MAPCS-Evans Campus into a state-of-the-art facility ââ¬â The Maya Angelou Learning Center. This new facility will house our middle and high school programs, as well as a new-and-improved young adult learning center.
Throughout the hearing, D.C. Council Chair Kwame Brown said, ââ¬ÅYou donââ¬â¢t have to ask, plead, or beg. I support the Maya Angelou Schools and I am going to make this happen.ââ¬Â And on March 20, it happened. The council supported our renovation unanimously.
In my view, they also supported the future success of our students.
Looking back at how smoothly the hearing and legislation passed, we probably did not need Baxter, the 12 additional student testimonies, the seven people submitting testimonies for the record and we didnââ¬â¢t need to pack the house with a cadre of supporters.
But, I am so glad that we ââ¬Åshowed up and showed outââ¬Â in support of our school and, most importantly, our students!
The students, parents and staff who talked passionately about the desire for a renovated, state-of-the-art building moved me. Do you know what moved the D.C. Council Chair and other city staff? It was the rallying cry from our students ââ¬â and their families ââ¬â that the Maya Angelou Schools were transforming their lives.
I was so proud to see our mission materialize on this day. We are helping students of all ages, despite their challenges, to see forever!