This semester I got to start my major specific classes. All my older friends and even my advisor were screaming down my throat that I needed to take a certain professor for my EDUC 2010. It was on Tuesday, at 8:00 a.m. and 2.5 hours long. I instantly went into defense mode and had my walls up for this class. Upon entering, he made us put out chairs in a circle and all introduce ourselves. Then he told us about something called a "Cosmos" and went on with a story that would change the way I looked at people.

He told us about his family and the struggles he had growing up, he told us about his heartbreaks and the adventures he embarked on. But these stories, there were no cliches, they were not always happy. He had so many failures and faced so many trials, but that's what made him the man that stood in front of us. He then told us we would do the same, we would bare ourselves to a classroom of 35 strangers. I was racking my brain for ways I could drop this class but still move on to my first block, or how I could avoid laying my heart on that table for others to dissect.

He went on to tell us about a program he had created for "troubled" youth, the SPARK program. The program was designed for kids who had been in trouble with the justice system and just needed a chance, needed somewhere to be who they are and allow expression while receiving positive attention from others. "If you want to be in my SPARK program, you must be real with me. You cannot fake or put on this mask that makes you who you think I want you to be, you have to just be yourself." That terrified me, but college is about chances, right? Branching out and discovering who you are?

So, I went to interview with Dr. Peterson. I only spoke for five minutes, and choked my way through that. I told him things I had struggled with and where I was from, just a little bit of an insight on me. He then stopped me and said, "I think this program is going to be good for you." I thought he said it backwards for a couple weeks and then we began this amazing journey.

Once the dust settled, we had approximately 12 youth and 12 college students. We were all so scared at first. The kids worried these were just some uppity college kids out to judge them and tell them the things they had heard a million times before, and we feared these were kids we wouldn't be able to connect with. All it took was hearing these kids speak to know that wasn't true. In the very beginning, we were asked to state our name, school, and one goal we had for life.

As we went around the room, people said travel, graduate, and so on, and then two students changed it all for me. "I just want to get my family out of the struggle" and "I'm trying to make my mama proud." I didn't pity them, I related to them. I was the first in my family to graduate. My mom and dad had never even seen a college campus until move-in day. I thought back to what Peterson said that day in his office: "this program is going to be good for you." Then, I thought he meant I could be an example, a role model for these kids; and to an extent, he was right.

The more cosmos were told, the more we learned about each other, and with every seemingly silly activity, I felt a bond form. I saw kids who wouldn't talk or smile upon entering the program laugh and cut up with others. I saw college kids adapt and push themselves to reach out to these kids. The most important thing was, we were all so there for one another. We were supportive, we were kind, we were honest, open and helpful.

These were kids who were supposed to be menaces to society, kids who were just troublemakers and just not care about anything that's going on in the world but they're just people. People who needed love, who needed understanding, who needed to be shown the things they're capable of. It's been three and a half months of knowing these kids and I can only tell you why one of them is there.

Their labels didn't matter, whatever they have done that brought them into our world, it never mattered. All that mattered is every Monday at 6:00, I would get to see some of my favorite people and we would just be there for one another, have fun together and give each other an outlet we didn't know we needed.

All I know is the more I talked to these kids, the more I learned about myself. I’d text my mom or my boyfriend every night after the program and go on and on about how much I was realizing and learning. I found it so easy to communicate, which I had always struggled with. As a teacher, there were lessons to be learned in this; but the things I'm taking away as a person, are things that will impact me for the rest of my life. The program has continued for the last 12 weeks, and it's come time to say goodbye to these amazing souls who have taught me so much about the world, society, relationships and myself.

So, kiddos, this one is for you, to the other people I have shared this experience and program with, to Dr. Peterson for the oppurtuinity, thank you.