Brandon Stanton's Blog, page 285

I asked Vidal if I could photograph him in the same place that I...

I asked Vidal if I could photograph him in the same place that I met him for this next announcement. In only four days, we’ve raised over $700,000 for Vidal’s classmates at Mott Hall Bridges Academy. Nearly 25,000 of you have made a donation. Taken together, these donations have provided funding for ten years worth of Harvard trips, and ten years worth of summer programs. Your donations have given a heavy boost to a group of scholars and educators in their battle to establish a culture of success in a disadvantaged neighborhood. There was an assembly today where the full impact of the fundraiser was explained to all of the students, and it was quite emotional. (But more on that later.)

I wanted to announce that all funds raised over $700,000 will be reserved for a final purpose. We are starting a scholarship fund available to the graduates of Mott Hall Bridges Academy. A committee of MHBA educators and administrators will choose the recipients each year. We’re going to use the money from our campaign to get the fund started, but we’re also going to lay tracks so that it can continue to assist scholars for years to come. It will be called The Vidal Scholarship Fund. And the first recipient will be Vidal himself. If you’d like to contribute, you can do so here: https://life.indiegogo.com/fundraisers/let-s-send-kids-to-harvard

“I came from a very poor family. My father was a small farmer in...

“I came from a very poor family. My father was a small farmer in Nigeria. And even though he had no education, he always taught me that education was the most important thing. He told me: ‘When you have no education, it’s like being in a small room with many people. There is little opportunity available to you, and many people are competing with you. But as you educate yourself, the room grows. You have more opportunities, and less people competing with you.’ I always remembered that. My mother died when I was twelve. I started working as a maid when I turned thirteen. I made 5 cents a day, which I saved for school. There was no free education in Nigeria. When I ran out of money, I’d stop going to school and go back to work. Stop, work, go back to school. Stop, work, go back to school. And all along my father would say, ‘You aren’t done yet. This is not your last bus stop. One day you will have so much education that you will teach in America.’”

“I was a teacher in Nigeria. I had 41 students in my classroom....

“I was a teacher in Nigeria. I had 41 students in my classroom. Most of my students in Nigeria had no shoes, no clothes, no food. Nothing, nothing. But they wanted to learn. They showed up every day wanting to learn. When I told my colleagues that I was going to teach in America, they said: ‘Don’t do it. The students there don’t want to learn. They will scream all during class.’ In a way, they were right. My classrooms in America were much different than my classrooms in Nigeria. There were fewer students, and more resources, but there was not the same desire to learn. I’ve had to learn to teach motivation. And I’ve found that the only way it can be done is to show it myself. I try to teach each child as if they were my own. If the students see that I am trying my hardest every single day, many times they will respond by increasing their own effort.”

“I can teach a lot of things. But it’s so hard to teach effort....

“I can teach a lot of things. But it’s so hard to teach effort. It’s so hard to teach want. And there are certain days when it seems like the scholars don’t care, and you feel like no matter how hard you try, nothing is getting through, and the negative thoughts get louder and louder, and it’s easy to feel worthless. And today was one of those days. Normally I’m always the one with a smile on my face, cheering everybody up. But today was one of those days.”

I was visiting Vidal today when we remembered that he was going...

I was visiting Vidal today when we remembered that he was going to be making his big newspaper debut in the Daily News. So we ran across the street to the corner store, and sure enough, there we were! Right under the naked women.

“Sometimes the gaps are so large, you don’t even know where to...

“Sometimes the gaps are so large, you don’t even know where to start. The lesson plan says that you’re supposed to be teaching about tectonic plates. But if they’re going to understand tectonic plates, they need to understand density. And if they’re going to understand density, they need to understand mass and volume. And if they’re going to understand mass and volume, they need to know how to multiply. And some of the scholars don’t know how to multiply. The gaps can be so large you don’t even know where to start. How do you fill the gaps created by years of miseducation? Sometimes it feels so hopeless you want to give up. But I was up at 2 AM the other night, reading all the comments people were writing on the posts about Ms. Lopez, and I just kept scrolling and scrolling and scrolling, and it reminded me that I have a purpose and I need to keep going.”

“I used to be a public defender. One time I represented a man...

“I used to be a public defender. One time I represented a man who was facing thirty years for crack possession. He hadn’t graduated from middle school, and he had a previous record with several drug charges. I worked on his case, and I managed to get his sentence reduced to twelve years. He was always so good about thanking me, and after the case was finished, he wrote me a thank you note. It really bothered me that we live in a society where this man felt he needed to thank me for getting him a twelve-year prison term. I didn’t decide to become a teacher until two years later. But I always think of that note as the turning point. I still keep it in my classroom.”

“I grew up down the block, but I used to get bussed to school in...

“I grew up down the block, but I used to get bussed to school in a white area. There were always a lot of people in that neighborhood who would make us feel like we didn’t belong. They would try to send a message that blacks aren’t allowed. But the principal of the school was a Jewish man named Irving Rahinsky. And every morning, when we got off the bus, Mr. Rahinksy would be standing there at the curb, waiting for us. He would shake each one of our hands as we stepped off the bus, and he made us feel like we belonged. So now that I’m a teacher, I come in early every single morning, so that I can stand right here and make sure my students get a hug and a handshake when they arrive.”

"Vidal is very loving. I sometimes worry that he might be a bit...

"Vidal is very loving. I sometimes worry that he might be a bit too loving, and someone will take advantage of him one day. Anything that needs to be done, Vidal does it. He does laundry. He cooks. He cleans. He always tells me: ‘Mom, you rest. I’ll do it.’ One time he didn’t have any money to get me a gift for Mother’s Day, so he wrapped up some things we had around the house, and gave them to me."

One of the coolest things about this fundraiser is that it...

One of the coolest things about this fundraiser is that it originated with a young man on the street, who chose to tell a stranger about the love and appreciation he had for his school principal. His name is Vidal, and I had a chance to reconnect with him during my visit to Mott Hall Bridges Academy. He could not possibly be a more polite or charismatic young man.

“I want to own my own restaurant,” he told me. “When I was little, I used to watch my mom cook. Then I started cooking for myself when I was nine. I’d get the ingredients myself at the corner store and make something for my brothers. I just thought it was a good thing for an older brother to do. I can make curry chicken, jerk chicken, curry goat, fried rice, macaroni and cheese, and all kinds of stuff.”
“What would you say has been your biggest accomplishment?”
“Getting publicity for my school.”

#BrownsvilleBrilliance

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The fundraiser inspired by Vidal has been an overwhelming blessing for his school, and has raised over $570,000 to help provide much needed programs for his classmates. If you’d like to help expand upon its success, you can do so by contributing here: https://life.indiegogo.com/fundraisers/let-s-send-kids-to-harvard