Going Anyway

Do The Work

Monday, May 8

Nancy walked in this morning, and handed me a bunch of papers. I flipped through them. My pride in this student reminded me why I chose this profession. I felt my face turn red, too. It was so embarrassing. "Girl, how long did all this take you?"

She smiled a little. "I don't even know, but thank you for not choosing a lame book for me." I could see she took pride in her work, which is a huge step.

The fact she got it done early also says something.

I laughed a little. "Yeah, no problem. Thank you for getting this done."

"Thanks for working with me, too."

"You did the work, but you do need to get your work done for your other classes, too."

Her smile left. "I know, I know."

"Nancy, school isn't that hard. You just have to do the work."

"Easy for you to say."

"I grew up in this district, too, and ya know what, I figured it out. I also went to college. You can do the same."

"It costs too much. I wouldn't know what major to have. I'm just doing this, so I don't have to do summer school. My mom had a degree, and that hadn't helped her much."

"Nancy, you can get out of this town, away from the drugs, and college will bring more opportunities than you can imagine. Just think about it."

"Like what? Debt? A job I hate?"

"What do you like to do?"

She thought about this. She really thought about this. "Honestly, I really wanna be a cop. I wanna catch the bad guys."

"Okay, perfect. That doesn't even require a four year degree either. If that's your dream, you can do it. And if your dream doesn't require college, that's okay, too. It's just that a lot of dreams do require college nowadays. You really can achieve anything you want if you put the work in and believe in yourself."

"That's what they all say, Easton."

She was challenging me.

"I know, and very few mean it, but I believe in you, so why can't you believe in yourself? I mean, I can already see that you put the work in. I know you care or you wouldn't be standing here right now. Can you at least promise me you'll graduate in 2021?"

She thought about it for a second. "Okay." She paused. "Okay." She was more confident the second time she said it.

I gave her my hand and she gave me a wimpy handshake. "No, you gotta be firmer than that." We tried again. She did better. "Since we shook, you can't break this promise. I will find out in 2021 if you graduated or not, okay?"

"No, you won't," she told me.

"You wanna bet?"

She smiled sheepishly. "No."

"Good because I'm gonna win." When she didn't say anything, I said, "Really though, get those grades up, and try your best. You have three weeks left for this round. Finish as strong as you can."

Then she looked me in the eyes. "I promise I will graduate." This promise was made on her own.

"That's so great to hear."

Her eyes welled a little. "Honestly, I've been thinking a lot about what you said lately, and I know I can do it." She meant it. She paused. "This school needs you, and I think it's stupid that you're moving."

I swallowed. "I am going miss it here."

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but honestly, I probably wouldn't care at all about school if it wasn't for you."

I put a hand on her shoulder. "Thank you for saying that."

The bell rang, and she needed to head to her class. During my free hour, I checked all of Nancy's assignments. They weren't A work, but I could tell she tried, and that meant everything to me.

I wish my job wasn't so personal. I don't know how I'm going to say goodbye to these kids. I mean, it's one thing to send them to the high school, but I'm leaving the state, and I may never see any of them ever again.

I need to stop thinking about all this because what's done is done; I am moving to Iowa.