Day 1

Programs have begun. Last week was our first week up and running with almost 30 college students flowing in and out of the juvenile probation camp for their first time. Prior to their first day, these students have all met with me one-on-one to be informally "interviewed" and be academically and practically briefed on the background, expectations, philosophy and logistics of the program as I have envisioned it for this semester. But little can psychologically or emotionally prepare someone for this kind of commitment. I am learning, albeit uncomfortably, that each person will undergo and processes this experience differently; I cannot ensure any specific learning outcomes or promise that the ends will justify the means. I must learn to protect against catastrophe and trust the process and the goodwill in people.

In my ethics and orientation training I speak extensively about the complicated issues which we encounter in the Camp AP classroom: privilege, disempowerment and marginalization, racism, homophobia, misogyny and gender-based objectification, teen pregnancy, drug abuse, domestic abuse or absent parents, the failures of our schools, our foster care system, our justice system, and the failures of a society claiming to be “one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all”. When we arrive at the gates of the Camps, I ask my students to remain mindful of these issues and to struggle earnestly with themselves throughout this experience. But I also ask them to walk in without expectations. Without fear, without hopes, without an agenda. I ask them to shake whatever preconceptions they might carry in and just face their classmates as peers, I ask them to just to connect as human beings above all else.