Perspective: what it's all about.

The story goes that during a tour of of a NASA facility, (white) President Kennedy asked a (age?race? sex?) custodian: “What do you do here?”. The clever, nameless custodian replied: “I'm helping put a man on the moon”. Like the president, we (teachers, administrators, fellows) ask ourselves from time to time: what is it we are doing here?

We are at a point of the school year when teachers, students and fellows enter something like a 'stable operating condition': the system seeks stability, and finds it. Some of the enthusiasm of the new school year has worn off. The chips seem to have fallen. Structural and relational norms cement in place; patterns repeat. We easily get stuck in the day-to-day and lose sight of the bigger picture of 'putting a man on the moon'.

What is it all about? Ultimately, we work for theworld/society/city we want to live in. We all belong-in and share this world: what we do matters. In my work as a fellow, I'm privileged to connect with the passion and effort of many amazing, faithful people. It's like walking through a garden, noticing what grows.

- Look here!: a Community Coach who volunteers time and expertise because he understands that these middle-schoolers will soon be employees and citizens. What sort of city do we want Harrisburg to become in 10 years? He is like a gardener watering the plants.

- And here! Look at these little sprouts: teachers and administrators asking: “How can we help students own the design and use of the schools' courtyards? What skills will they learn in the process?” These sprouts will grow, blooming into lessons and projects what empower students to engage their world, to improve it.

- See how these teachers, like tenacious vines, weave through daily challenges reaching for the light! Navigating incredibly high demands, they press on for what they know is possible. They continue to grow despite being planted in resource-depleted soil. Becoming a canopy, they provide shelter for their students.

While teachers, coaches, and fellow may not be putting a man on the moon, we are tending our garden: the world we want to live in. Let us continue our careful work with the full awareness that the budding shoots we tend today become the sheltering trees of tomorrow.