At Risk: Stories of Hope

My son, Andres, just gave me a slice of some star fruit.  I noticed its shape, and I can give you an answer.

There are probably some students in a teacher education program wondering where they might want to exercise their right as an American to serve and improve our country just like my wife and I were thinking in 1983 at Eastern Michigan University when we were in the bilingual ed. training program.

I say choose the poorest population you can find.  You will find few resources, but you will find stars that shine like diamonds in the sky in the eyes of children who can gauge your sincerity.  All children in our nation deserve the best, but personally I was compelled to teach children that looked like me.  Their eyes seek hope.

My wife and I were told that Adrian and Detroit had the largest bilingual ed. populations.  I grew up in Adrian, so I convinced her to chose Detroit.  We gained employment with Detroit Public Schools.  Jerry Garcia of Grateful Dead said it best, “What a long strange trip it’s been.”  Actually, we were the ones that were blessed enough to have met some of the greatest students that climbed Maslow’s hierarchy of learning.

Detroit ranked as one of the poorest urban districts in the nation.  It has always been known to be a hard gritty city that weeds out the weak spirited.  The city has a reputation of having resilient citizens.  Was it rough there.  Of course.  Was it worth it?  Let me tell you about who we met, and where we were privileged to teach.

One of my first students that showed artistic promise was Isaac Moreno who grew up on Chene & E. Kirby.  It was close to Heidelberg St. where world famous Tyree Guyton created art from discarded rubbish on a street that some individuals used as a dump.  Isaac Moreno became my mentee after I met his hard working parents.  They were from Monterrey, Mexico.  We at Earhart noticed that he showed some promise in art.  Isaac started winning art contests, and Ms. Linda Rankin, the counselor at the time, recommended that I deliver a portfolio of his work to Cass Technical High School in Detroit.

He developed under Cass Tech’s strong learning environment, and we would continue to meet at the Detroit Institute of Arts because Hudsons had sponsored Drawing in the Galleries every first and third Friday of the month.  He started drawing a crowd of onlookers.  I would be off in the corner observing his magnetic attraction.  Professional artists were in awe of his skills, and they would encourage him to go to the best art schools in the country, NYC schools.  He chose the School of Visual Arts.

His former girlfriend, Nia Mora, was a photography student.  They got turned onto photography because Gordon Parks held a workshop in Detroit.  Yes, the real Gordon Parks.  Once a student comes in contact with great humans like the late Mr. Parks, something wakes up in a student’s mind.  And it’s good.  Using art to promote social justice is where it’s at.  His retrospective at the DIA was all they needed to have another role model in their repertoire of positive role models.

Isaac is now teaching graphics in Mexico.  Nia graduated from the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan and is now organizing young women photographers in NYC.  If her name sounds familiar, it’s because her twin sister Naima Mora became one of America’s Next Top Models on the Tyra Banks Show.

I met Jonathan Meyer in middle school.  He was an only child, and was living with his mother in Southwest Detroit when she enrolled him at Earhart.  I remember the drawing lesson I gave where he drew large clear light bulbs.  He drew the reflections and captured the subtle values and made them shine without electricity.  I like producing winners not only in art, but in life.  By this, I mean students who achieve self actualization.  They realize the reason they were given passage for being born into our universe.

Jonathan and Issac were regulars at the Drawing in the Galleries.  Jonathan got educated at Western International High School in Southwest Detroit.  I remember getting permission to take him to Siena Heights University to meet a few people in the art dept.  Ms. Rising suggested that I take him to an admissions counselor and a financial aide counselor. That is where I discovered that he hadn’t filled out his FAFSA forms at Western International High School.  He almost slipped through the cracks.  He thought Adrian was a little too quiet for his taste, and I had to respect that.  Something popped into my head as we were leaving Adrian.  I asked him where his father was born and when.  He said that by strange coincidence that his father was born on Oct. 22, 1957 in Adrian.

I sort of freaked out because that is my birth date.  I said his grandmother was in the same hospital as my late mother when we were both born on that day!  Jonathan chose the College for Creative Studies in Detroit.  It is where world class auto designers received their instruction.  Industrial designers and fine artists all will tell you of the top quality instruction at CCS.  Jonathan was just awarded first place as a professional artist in metal arts in the prestigious Ann Arbor Art Fair.

Omar Paulk was yet another mega artist who has experienced some failure in his life.  I thought he was the office aide until I learned that he liked to fight if anyone ever talked about his mother.  You just don’t do that in the ‘hood unless you are ready to verbally battle the offender.  The older generation of African Americans call it “Playin’ the dozens”.  I remember in one of his battles a classmate said, “Oh, Omar I’m sorry your so poor your socks don’t match.” , thinking she inflicted some verbal pain, but Omar responded with, “Oh don’t feel bad _______, I heard that the doctor dropped you on your head when you were born, you can’t help but to be stupid.”  The class roared with laughter.

Back when he was in sixth grade, I recruited him for my Gifted & Talented after school class.  He told me that he probably didn’t qualify since he wasn’t doing so well academically.  I told him I made the rules for my after school program, and I just needed to see interest in art, and that it was my responsibility to shape and guide his artistic development.

Omar soaked up every lesson like a roll of Bounty.  I remember him starting up a drawing from the cover of a Scholastic Art magazine with Albrecht Durer’s self portrait.  The gifted and talented session had ended, and I was washing some brushes at the sink when he asked me the most profound question any middle school student had ever asked me.  He asked, “Mr. Perez, do you think Jesus Christ was Black?”

I dried my hands and wondered how I was going to respond to this deep question.  I said that most of the drawings that can be seen in books were drawn by Europeans and that I couldn’t recall any drawings that were drawn of him during his life time.  As I approached his drawing to see his progress, I gasped as I saw the reflection in the eyes that he had drawn.  He did it with a ball point pen.  It had the tears in his eyes.  At that point in time, I told him that he was a visual genius.

He looked and thought that I had him confused with an honors student.  I told him that the educational system can’t fully measure a student.  Tests can’t measure “ganas” or desire.  They can’t measure hope.  They can’t measure imagination.  They can’t measure how high you will rise as a human.  So it will take education a while to catch up with you and other creative minds.

That is when the Ford Motor Company and the Detroit News began a state wide art contest, the Ford Hispanic Heritage Art and Essay Contest.  Enjoy the photos of the award ceremonies over the years. Omar began an artisic dynasty.  I forgot to tell you that Ford’s first place award was a $5,000 savings bond.  After Omar won, all the students started asking how they could get in on the action.

Omar left eight grade with over $11,000 in U.S. Savings Bonds and a commitment to graduate from high school.  He wants to become an art teacher.  He works as a security guard saving money to go to school.

Nora, Dalia, and Elizabeth were some young girls that had equal success.  I will have to write more about them.

My wrists are getting a little sore from my arthritis, but I wish to tell you about the fine humans that I met before I got to Earhart.  I was at Dr. Ben Carson’s former middle school before I transferred for an art position.

It all seems like a dream to me now.  I am going to get another slice of starfruit to remind me of my former students.  Tell me about your wonderful students so that anyone hesitant about teaching at risk students can see if they have what it takes to serve America’s poor.