Lift Off!

Everyday, I look in the back of my classroom at Oakland Tech - back and center to be exact - and watch as a long, brown arm launches like a rocket into the air.

After doing the math in his head, sketching out the equation on his handout and meticulously typing each number into his calculator to verify the answer, Oscar's long, brown arm confidently shoots up. Before I call on Oscar, I run through a series of possible responses in my head: "The total Cost of Goods Sold is $3.27, Miss Garner." "Are you going to pass out BUILD Bucks, Miss Garner?" "Can my team present our answers first, Miss Garner?"

Each potential answer shows Oscar's progress toward our end-of-semester goal - mastery of advanced business concepts - and shows with such clarity both the development of his own personal awareness and his investment in being a 15-year-old entrepreneur.

This was not always the case.

Three weeks into the first semester, in fact, it appeared as though Oscar's future career as BUILD's newest chief executive officer was in direct alignment with NASA's Atlantis - a failed attempt. He dropped BUILD, added PE, and decided that the only launching he would be doing would be from behind the three-point arc.

As his teacher, this decision brought many questions to my mind: Did the PE teacher recruit Oscar? Does he have some incredible athletics abilities and need PE to improve his performance? Is teaching gym class Oscar's career ambition? Is there anything I can do to change his mind?

Knowing how quickly the drop/add time frame was closing, I capitalized on the only question I could control: changing his mind. After a series of phone conversations, the most convincing sales pitch I have ever created, and a visit to his second-period class, my investigation yielded the following discovery: Oscar dropped BUILD becuse he was afraid.

He was afraid of Microsoft Power Point, afraid of public speaking, afraid that his still-progressing English language abilities would not be articulate enough, afraid that he, Oscar Hernandez Lopez, would fail to launch.

I am still unsure of what changed changed Oscar's mind. Was it that he knew everyone else was afraid, too? Was it my promise of support? Was it that intrinsic voice pushing him to accept the challenge? Was it just our good fortune?

Whatever it was, I am grateful. I am grateful when I am greeted with a firm handshake and a "Good morning, Miss Garner." I am grateful when I announce that "Oscar Her-dot Lop-dot has mastered another round of objectives." I am grateful when I watch him meticulously type in each digit on his calculator and proceed to explain COGS to a struggling classmate. I am grateful when he stands up in front of his 25 classmates and articulately explains his team's marketing plan. I am grateful when I look in the back of my classroom at Oakland Tech - back and center to be exact - and watch as a long, brown arm launches like a rocket into the air. I am grateful that BUILD has the privilege of helping Oscar build his dream, whatever it may be.

He is still on the launching pad, working diligently everyday, but on May 19th, 2007, in front of hundreds of smiling, supportive faces, perhaps even with a 3-2-1 countdown, Oscar Hernandez Lopez will lift off.