EXPERIENCES

misunderstandings is the root of all evil,

You can't understand what you don't know,

And you can't learn what you don't experience,

In Harvest Prepatory Academy, there was no pledge of allegiance;

there was only a weekly black national anthem.

The principal would ball a fist and shout “Hotep”,

whenever we passed him in the hallways.

Inside kindergarten classrooms, I saw myself in the hallways from other kids that looked like me.

I saw myself get into arguments, fights, suspensions, expulsions, and onto the honor roll lists.

I got into my first fight in kindergarten due to a kid putting me in the headlock.

He ended up becoming one of my best friends.

We had step shows, assemblies, dance battles,

students fighting students, students fighting teachers,

parents beating students, field trips, beat battles (on the table),

fake gangs inspired by real ones, paper guns,

and experiences that brought us all together.

These experiences caused us to become more of a family then anything.

So I left them.

I went to a popular elementary school in the suburbs of the largest school district in Minnesota.

Right by my house, we heard about it from friends me and my brother made in the neighborhood.

"You should go to sand creek." All the white parents said like it's rated 5 stars. 

At this school, there was a weekly pledge of allegiance that I lip synced the words to

My parents always told me that the suburban kids will be more focused on their education

To my surprise, simple multiplication was seen as a foreign language by the third grade students

I was already used to triple digit multiplication.

At Sand Creek, there was childhood bonds only breakable by time.

At recess, a kid chucked a kickball at my face, so I ended up chasing him down and swinging on him.

He ended up becoming one of my best friends.

After middle school there were two choices, Coon Rapids or the rival high school.

The two were always symbolic for less cultured and a more cultured school.

Only half of the kids went to Coon Rapids.

I was stuck with a few old friends and many new acquiantances.

I decided I didn’t want to be alone, so I was chasing experiences to be closer together with others.

I started hanging out with my brother’s friends outside of school.

One late night in the summer, we had gotten into a car accident after leaving the Movie Theatres.

I was greatful.

Not because I was alive, but because we had an experience to bring us together.

There was still a difference between them and me.

So I left them.

After my dad got an internship in Florida,

me and my brother was given a choice to move with him.

The easiest decision of my life.

At Ronald Reagan Doral Senior High School, nobody recited the pledge of allegiance except the new Cuban principal.

The Miami suburb was 97% venezuelan due to an economic crisis in their home country.

Many of the kids there had found themselves in a new area searching for a new experience.

There was no difference between them and me.

That year I talked more with people that never spoke english a day in their lives, more than I talked to people in general.

We would create new experiences everyday that caused us to become more of a family than anything,

so I left them.

I went back to Coon Rapids to graduate from high school.

Harvest Prep taught me to be uncomfortable with being comfortable.

At the end of my senior year, I noticed a trend that many of my old friends and new acquiantances were skipping class and dropping out;

It wasn’t until this moment when I figured out that Harvest Prep had planted a seed to prepare me for growth,

The desire to keep moving.