Moments to remember, to share and to reflect

Some moments in life are more remarkable, more satisfying. Getting married, birth of a new baby, family reunion, vacationing are all milestone to treasure, to look forward to.

I had some little but memorable moments the last few days. Moments that represent small victories in a world where  there's always plenty of equally nagging moments. In short, they were profound and extraordinary in every sense of those words.

On April 7-8, I participated in the 36th annual spring conference of Illinois Community Colleges Journalism Association, a two-day event that brought together 17 schools and more than 140 attendees.

Many student journalists have won individual awards on that occasion but most of all, The Uptown Exchange, the newspaper I then served as a staff writer, garnered third place in Overall Excellence in the Layout section.

Then the Community Service Awards came, where my colleagues, The Uptown Exchange staff and I were awarded individual certificates in recognition for civic engagement and service learning, at a dinner party, on April 28, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

A day later, I was awarded two diplomas at a Scholar’s Luncheon, an event organized to recognize high achieving students, and held at Marcello’s Restaurant, a cozy restaurant near downtown Chicago from 1 p.m. to 3p.m. One diploma was to honor my contribution, participation and completion of Trio Student Support Services’ socio-cultural and leadership seminars, and the other for maintaining an exceptionally high GPA.

But the most significant moment of all came on Wednesday May 11, at a Graduation Pavilion when I was asked severally to rise for achieving the highest honors, for being a lifetime member of an honor roll society and to receive a college degree thereof with the rights, honors and privileges that come with it.

To be recognized four times in a span of about thirty days is in the least humbling. As for me, I feel truly appreciated in the community I’m a member of and in the duties I rise to perform every day. It’s also a new challenge to keep up the efforts that led to those moments, to maintain the momentum and to inspire others to follow, much more to lead.

Last but not the least, it’s a moment to thank those who, by design or default, contributed to those honorable moments whether teachers, friends, workmates or family. In the end, I feel these are moments to remember, to share and to reflect.

Same Journey…Different Endings

I was riding the Red Line on my way to school today at around 8 o’clock. A standing passenger who wanted to talk to me drew my attention. He was a twenty something man with curly hair and brown eyes.

I responded to him with hi.

“Do you know me?” he asked

“I guess I do” came my answer. I didn’t quite remember him then; however, I ran through my mind to get clues of who he was and where I met him.

 As we interacted, he reminded me that we took a class together a while ago. Of course that was my first class at the college during my freshman year.

Fekadu has failed the class and has since dropped out of school.

He asked about me and what I did after that class and I explained to him that I kept moving on despite the challenging workload and that today was my graduation.

He was intrigued how fast time has passed that I was now finishing college. We both smiled.

Nonetheless, I explained to him that failing a class should not be an end in itself. Rather, it should be an opportunity to reevaluate oneself and to decide on what changes should be undertaken. That he can always access free tutoring services on campus. Additionally, what’s more important is that he can sign up for other classes, which he can certainly perform exceptionally better and that would encourage him to move on.

 Looking back, Fekadu and I embarked on the same journey, the same time but we arrived at different destinations. Neither of us had an easy ride. We both were immigrant youth navigating through a culture and society was new to us. We both were limited English language skills.

I firmly believe that Fekadu had burning ambitions. It’s those ambitions which brought him to school to enroll for a math class and to pay for it out of his pocket. Yet again, he needed support and as it appears he did not receive immediate help either because he didn’t know where to find it or he was simply distracted by other more challenging aspects of life.

In the end, everyone deserves an opportunity to earn an education that works. Challenges on the way to accessing quality education are many and are more pressing on those on the periphery of society whether these are the poor, the new immigrants, the disabled, minority groups, women among others. It would be good idea if institutions targeted those groups of society that need the real support without taking away much from those who have the drive  and the capacity to achieve their dreams.

FAITH AND HOPE

 I met two middle aged men sitting before an old high rise building while I was out to shoot environmental photos for a class assignment, on Wednesday, Apr. 4, from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. I started a conversation with them in which each responded differently. One seemed uninterested while the other whom I will refer to as Bill continued to chat with me. I asked Bill for an opportunity to pose for my photo shoot and he agreed.

As I took one picture after another, he began to ask me questions on why I was taking the photos and what I would do with them afterward. Questions I answered honestly.

Interestingly, he opened up to me and even shared that he was a student in the same school whose project I was working on some 30 years ago, at a time when I was not even born. Then he wanted to study for a degree in Registered Nursing but failed to secure admission due to stiff competition for limited seats. Nonetheless, he still nurses the idea of coming back to school to finish his education and he even encouraged me to work hard at mine.

I advised Bill to listen to his inner call and find his direction in life even if that means going back to school he quit three decades ago. Unfortunately, Bill also acknowledged that he fell through the cracks and was now past his prime age. So going back to school would not be an easy task.

Bad things happen to good people. Life’s experiences are however sweet lessons for reflection. Two things one needs in those circumstances are faith and hope. Confidence in your own skin and trusting yourself are the first steps to build a strong faith, not only to start but also to accomplish any project. Once you have a sense of faith, hope that, despite the difficult challenges of life, you can get through is essential. Hope thus helps you endure hardships until you finally earn the fruits of your endeavors.

            For a related story of hope, please check out: http://www.guideposts.org/personal-growth/advice-finding-hope-after-catastrophic-loss

NEWS ABOUT THE WORLD

Anything that has a beginning must surely have an end. When I first started blogging, it was a cold Saturday afternoon in the third week of January, just a week after spring semester started in full swing. I began publishing, mostly, news articles on my blog, then an experiment in an unfamiliar territory known informally as blogosphere and I had to do it as part of a web production project for an advanced journalism class I was registered for. Surprisingly, it turned out to be a passion I wanted to pursue.

Five months later, I made about 27 posts on the blog I then named Truman, Uptown and Beyond (T.U.B). Over the course of that period, my blogging was limited to events that happened on campus or on the immediate vicinity of the school. Nonetheless, weekly blogging has helped me cover hyper-local news and I have certainly mastered the art of blogging, (Do I have the right to brag?) to say the least. Now it’s a warm, bright May Day outside my office and the semester has come to a sudden, unexpected end. More interestingly, I’m shy of two days before I’m awarded a college degree in journalism at what would be a colorful graduation ceremony coinciding the centennial anniversary of the school, and with the presence of luminaries from the public and business sectors. Call it another milestone!

And now the hard part comes: breaking those old, school habits (of course, I’m no longer a student) whether that was following professor’s instruction or seeking instructor’s support when necessary. Moving on to establish myself and to do something constructive with my training, before even finding a job in my field of specialization is my new drive. To achieve this goal, I need to take several steps as pertains to this blog:

First, effective today, my blog will be renamed, even though it will remain a news blog, News about the World and the URL address changed to IIBAASHAAL. Future change of name may be indispensible to respond to the demands of time and circumstance.  

And last but not the least, T.U.B ceases to be a school project. Rather, it will be a professional journalist’s platform and will thus cover news, commentary and analysis about the world in a very engaging and relevant way.