Personal statement
How the G.R.I.N.D. came to be
When the pandemic swept in like an undetected hurricane, it had us all scrambling to board up our homes and create a new world from the pieces of debris that we could safely access at arm’s length. For the first time in my memory, all the certainties of life were put into question. Tomorrow was no longer assumed and today’s best survival strategy was a daily debate. More than halfway through my twenty-seventh year of teaching history to high school students, I was cut-off. I was cut off from delivering lessons, answering questions and discussing and debating world events. My students and I were deprived of the daily musings that we shared over our cross generational differences, and from the warm friendly environment of “school.”
Being grounded, of course, taught us all the value of what we had previously taken for granted, but it also inspired me to look inward for my voice. For the first time in a long time, I had a great deal to say and no one to share it with. My mind turned to ALL the students I had ever taught- the one's in the Bronx, NY, in the burbs outside the city, on the Rez in New Mexico, on the border in Texas and in multi cultural South Florida. It was from this reflection of gratitude that the GRIND was born.
And while I had always reflected on my previous students through their unique gifts across demographic and geographic boundaries, it became clear to me that I need to send them all a positive message of commonality, acceptance, self awareness and connectivity. The GRIND was born as my letter to every student I ever had. It became my way of saying everything I ever wanted each of them to know. That each of them was a gift and that while all of their circumstances may be different , they all have so much more in common than they realize. The GRIND is the recognition of our need to be seen, heard and valued both individually and collectively.