This weeks blog is going to be very serious because it touches on a topic very near and dear to me. This idea of the "school-to-prison pipeline" is not new too me though the term is. This immense racial injustice that is present in the public schools today have been sickening and hard to watch. Throughout my educational career, I have been a spawn of the CPS school system. Because of this, I am very aware of the problems that go on with the system. After reading the article "Locating the School-To-Prison Pipeline", I was not shocked or appalled. This is because all these ideas and implementation I have witnessed prior to our last session. It just reminded me of how many children suffer and the challenged of being a minority or a student of color or even just a student in an low income area. This is also very similar to the "Black Makes, Black Dreams" documentary that we viewed during our session. From what I saw in the video, I was disappointed. There is so much potential in each human but because of social standards and inequalities, we have preset ideas that do no give people a chance based on their identity.
So it's time for a story.
Once upon a time, a boy; for confidentiality sake, lets call him...X, was accepted into Lane Tech. X was a 5'5 Hispanic who lived in the southside of Chicago. At this time, I was working for the school as a Freshman Mentor, whose duties were to assist students with their transition into high school from grade school. So X ended up being in my group of freshman and we all had our laughs and giggles. However, whenever in class, X would argue back with the teachers and cause a scene. After a week of this reckless behavior, the teacher pulled me aside saying this: "If X does something else, take him to the office and send him home." But of course, X that day is feeling extra snappy and talks back to the teacher. So I call him out and tell him to follow me. As we walk, I ask him "Hey bro, is everything alright?" He replies, "Yeah." I follow up asking "so... then what's up with that classroom business?" He looks away, and tells me about his school and his parents and his community. He told me about how his teachers told him that he would not amount to anything and that his parents were never there and that his friends all were either selling drugs or in a gang. Then came the part I will never forget. He says "I know I won't be successful so why should I care?" I turned around and he says "Where are you going?" I tell him "taking you back to class." He says, "Why? I thought I got kicked out." I tell him something I hope that he won't forget. "You're worth a lot more than you think. You can give up and I wouldn't blame you. You've been through a lot. But people don't make you into what you are, you do." Now, X is a junior with a 3.7 GPA and in various clubs, with a bright future ahead of him.

As a STARS Leader, there is much I can do to help. First off, there are various schools and facilities that require aid in tutoring and education the minority or the unprivileged. Another way in which I can attempt to address this issue is through petition to the mayor and city council. There has been word that there will be pay cuts and loss of sick days. There is also word of a disbandment of the teacher's union, which would allow for teachers with tenure and teachers with seniority to be overlooked. With all this chaos in the education system, how are students expected to learn? Only though social change and demands of the population will we be able to induce a change among the schools. "Kids are our future" but if we continue to discriminate, our future appears to be bleak at best. Servant leaders are what is necessary in order for change. If I am to attempt to make a difference, i will have to lead by serving. By listening to others problems and placing their concerns on top of mine, I can help to make change through servant leadership.

The empowerment pipeline will offer me the ability to develop my servant leadership abilities, but one in particukar: empathy. In hearing about struggles, I can place myself in their position, in their pain, and help them in a way that I would not be able to otherwise.

As a spawn of CPS, I am anxious to get to know these students. I want to know about their struggles and problems and their expectations of school and college life. I feel nervous because I want to appear as a role model and as a scholar. I want to be as helpful to them as they need. I am very happy that we will be interacting with actual students and that we can share our experiences as a college student and as ex-high school students with them.

This blog was really heavy, so we are going to end on a lighter note! A quote that I love!

This quote by Martin Luther King Jr. was said during one of his many speeches. He was one of the most recognized leaders in social justice. He followed the mindset of Gandhi, this idea of a peaceful protest during a time when Malcolm X and the Black Panthers advocated rising up in arms. Though he was not the first and perhaps not the most important, his social movement sparked a spur of changes following his death.

This quote related to my leadership cause this is what I believe. When leading towards a cause, through all the prejudice or disagreement, what stands in the end is love. This can be a love for the goal or for the nation or even just love for humanity. This quote shows that rash movements are not always the way to go. The love of an idea can bring forth more change then guns ever will.

I though that cartoon was clever. But it also portrays an important subject: social justice. Social justice revolves around the idea of equality and understanding of the values of everyone. It is solidarity between all groups of people. The idea of social justice stems from, obviously, oppression. Social justice is essential in order for the world to get along. During trying times, equality among all reduces the amount of discrimination and promotes society working as a whole towards a higher goal.

I thought the Servant Leadership workshop was very informative to say the least. Prior to this, I would have had no idea of what that phrase even meant. I thought our speaker was very informative and his approach to teaching was very engaging and allowed for me to fully submerge into the idea.

In regards to servant leadership, I believe I possess: listening, empathy, awareness, conceptualization, commitment to the growth and people, and building community. This is just from the list that I received from the workshop. I believe that though I possess these traits, I should still work on them further to develop myself as a leader and as a person. There is never a point when a person is perfect, but we should always strive for perfection. Contradictory but true. Traits in which I plan to obtain were persuasion and foresight. These traits are very essential in being a servant leader. To convince people to do something allows them the choice to not do it unlike through mere power. This is important because a servant leader puts the people first, allowing for them to take priority. The other, foresight, is essential because it allows for me to learn from my mistakes instead of just throwing myself a "pity party". Learning from errors can help aid in situations in the future.

My dream job. That would to become a neurosurgeon far far in the future. Through this career path, I will merely be servicing the people. This is my ideal job because of my love of biology nurtured by my caring personality. I will aid people from illness and put delicate care to each patient.

It's Superbowl so got to end this with a bang!

STARS LEAD has given me the opportunity to develop and polish on leadership qualities that I wish to ascertain or currently have. Because of this, I believe that the STARS program is essential and a great benefit in my goal of becoming a leader. STARS LEAD has also allowed me to have that support to do things that I otherwise would not have had the nerve to do. By the end of the end of the program, I hope to have developed many new skills and have many leadership opportunities open up for me. I also hope, most of all, I develop my public speaking skills as well as my ability to maintain a intellectual yet engaging conversation. At the moment, I would be considered a shy speaker. I don't particularly enjoy speaking in front of crowds or people I do not know. When I do, I tend to fidget or tap my feet. I also try not to make direct eye contact and every now and then i stutter. Hopefully, I will be able to change that and take the initiative to become less of a feeble speaker. Our first stars meeting, in my opinion, was very interesting. Not that we had a lot to say on the first day other then the outline of the program and our requirements, I did enjoy meeting and developing friendships. I think that these things are very essential in the future. Networking that is. One never knows if the person they meet will connect you to your dream job!

The definition of leadership... now, that's tough question. Leadership is being able to take responsibility of task with their integrity. Leader chooses opinions that does not necessarily benefit themselves but benefits the group as a whole. They have a sense of humility and able to make changes when they are wrong. Leaders must be trusted or there is no one willing to be lead. Leaders are strong individuals that others can relay on.

This semester, I hope to have successfully accorded a job and making money to pay off debts. I also hope to have applied to at least 3-5 internships for over the summer. I also hope to improve my grabs and also, improve my overall performance with chemistry. its sounds rather tough for me at the moment but with a lot of work, all of these goals are obtainable.

This quote by Martin Luther King Jr. is a very inspirational part of his speech. It talks about the importance of leadership in starting a movements. He says that a movement do not occur due to unfortunate circumstance, but occurs because of struggle and taking the initiative to go the extra mile.

On to the E-portfolio presentation. I thought that the presentation was absolutely eye opening to me. I was absolutely unaware that I had this ability to create such an amazing portfolio at my disposal. I learned just about everything from how to change the layout all the way to sorting through documents to decide what to use in a presentation to a job or community service group. I guess for me, I would like to highlight my experiences as being a leader and my various experiences in lab environments or in biology. This is essential because it would help fodder my future career choice.

Why is it important to serve others as a leader? Because being a leader gives you a large amount of power. And to dust of a old chestnut, "with great power comes great responsibility". As cheesy as this quote is, it is true. A leader who is not socially responsible and thinks solely of themselves does not lead because the whole group is not intact. A cohesive group is needed for a leader to actually "lead".

I am most passionate about friendship. I believe that this is very important in life and that without it, one could not be who they are. They model you to who you are today. This relates to leadership because in many instances where the friendship is tested, one must be the leader to try and mend the problem. Or know when they are wrong. Though a relationship is a cooperative effort, more likely than not, there is a leader who supports the friendship.

I'll end with a song about friendship and guidance.

So who am I? I'm Willie Ho. I am a Chicagoan and absolutely proud of it. I am an under spoken person.