Letter 72 - Everyone Knew She Was A Failure.

Hello Bregdan Woman!

Ginny here…

I spent 18 years working with high school students. I have endless stories of how they have touched my life, but this one is very special to me. I have changed the identity, but I have not changed the story. I hope it impacts you as much as it did me!

Everyone knew she was a failure.

At least that’s what people thought. That’s what they said. By the time Sandi got to high school she had the reputation as the biggest troublemaker in her California town. She had a long arrest record, mostly for petty crimes, but everyone knew she was on the fast-track to prison.

That’s when I met Sandi. I didn’t know anything about her past, but something in her eyes drew me to her.

Teachers cringed when they saw her name on their class list. Sandi was sullen; sat slumped in her seat and ignored everything going on around her. She had flunked every class in high school, but she kept moving up because not one teacher in her school wanted to have her back again. Sandi was moving on – but she was most certainly not moving forward in life.

No one tried to get to know her. Teachers, and most kids, were afraid of her. No one knew when she would erupt with anger, and fights were common. By her senior year, everyone was simply counting the days until Sandi was gone.

I’d had the opportunity to get to know Sandi in a different setting. I recognized the anger and pain. I understood it, but she had a towering wall around her heart that I hadn’t found a way to break through. She tolerated me more than other adults, but I knew she didn’t trust me. I suspected there was far more to this young lady than anyone realized.

She hadn’t graduated yet, however. I had a chance…

I urged her to do something I was involved in. I got the reaction I thought I would – a scowl, rolled eyes, and a turned back.

Then Sandi did a strange thing. She actually did what I had urged her to do; signed up for a leadership conference I was helping lead. It was designed to get students involved in their communities. I knew it was only because she wanted to get out of class, but change can’t happen until the first step is taken. She took the step. Much to my surprise, something happened that first day.

Perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was. I had hoped for a change, but I will admit I wasn’t confident anything would actually happen. I had my own lessons to learn!

At first, Sandi merely stood against the wall and watched with disdain. She would join the discussion groups but only mumbled a few words when it was her turn to speak or shrugged and turned away in silence.

You could tell the other kids wondered why she was there. Their attempts to engage her were met with cold hostility and silence.

Slowly, the interactive games drew her in. She began to open up when her group was asked to make a list of positive and negative things that had happened at school that year. She certainly had some things to add about that! Of course, they were all negative, but at least she was talking.

I considered it a win.

Besides, she was correct about many of her observations. The other students were obviously reluctant to share anything that wasn’t positive. Sandi had no problem exposing the negative!

You could see the surprise on her face when the other kids in the group actually listened to her. She kept talking – shifting from negative observations to ways to create change.

I was astonished at her thoughtfulness and insights. Behind the anger and thick walls, she had been observing and thinking.

Her group told Sandi her ideas made a lot of sense. They began to treat her like a leader. Suddenly, everyone realized Sandi was quite smart and had some great ideas.

You should have seen her face. She was caught between pride and suspicion. Trust wasn’t a word she used or even acknowledged. No one had ever treated her as anything but a problem before.

Of course, she’d not given them a reason to treat her any other way…

Watching her was like watching a tightly folded bloom begin to loosen its petals.

The next day Sandi continued to share her ideas, signing up to be part of the Homeless Project Team. It was clear she knew something about poverty, hunger, and hopelessness. No one was more surprised than Sandi when they elected her to be co-chair of the team.

Okay, maybe the teachers were more surprised – appalled actually. They came to me and insisted Sandi couldn’t do it, that it was ridiculous to put something so important into Sandi Watkins’ hands.

I disagreed. I went to the principal and told him I believed there was more to Sandi than anyone knew. She simply needed a chance.

The principal, though he’d had more than his fair share of encounters with Sandi, agreed – telling the naysayers they might be surprised. I’m sure he was hoping he was right!

I know I was!

Sandi and her team put together a Homeless Scavenger Hunt. They went to the Homeless Shelters to find out what they needed most. They made a list of things they planned to collect, assigning the most points to those items the shelters needed most.

Sandi found out the homeless rarely get dessert, so she gave high points to cookies, brownie & cake mixes, etc. High scores also went for blankets and coats.

Two weeks later, 100 kids hit the streets of their town, followed by support vans to carry their haul. Four hours later they met back at the school to load everything onto a school bus and take it to the shelter.

Sandi was the one in charge. She handled everything with efficiency and confidence, making certain every item was accounted for.

By the time the school bus was loaded, there was room for only one person – the driver. Every seat and every square inch of floor, all the way to the ceiling, was packed with what they had collected. Coats, blankets, clothing, food, a lot of desserts – it was the most the Shelter had ever received.

The kids and chaperones stood in the parking lot, laughing and clapping, as the bus pulled away. They quickly jumped into the vans and followed the bus.

The shelter residents had huge smiles on their faces as they filed out to help unload the bus. They cheered Sandi and her team. The paper was there to take pictures and tell stories. Sandi was a hero.

Sandi was definitely a changed person. The rest of her senior year she actually talked in class. She made good grades. She put together 2 more projects for the Homeless Shelter, each time bringing them what they needed most. There were no more arrests. There were no more trips to the principal’s office.

Sandi graduated in the spring and went on to community college – with glowing recommendations from many teachers at her school. Two years later, she transferred to a four-year college, with stellar grades.

Every year she led 4 projects for the Homeless Shelters in the town where she went to school.

It was no surprise when she became a teacher for high-risk youth.

It was also no surprise when her student’s lives turned around. They had a teacher who understood them!

Here is what Sandi had to say, “I was on the fast-track to nowhere. I was the only one who could change where my life was going. It was scary, but I knew what would happen if I didn’t change was worse. I learned I really could make a difference. It changed my whole life. And I learned that other people could believe in me if I only gave them a chance.”

Sandi chose to become a Bregdan Woman.

Sandi asked me to share her story to let you know you can be whatever you want to be – no matter what path you are on right now.

It’s always your choice. She also wanted me to tell you that a little belief goes a long way.

One adult deciding to believe in her – to look beyond what everyone else saw – set her free to be who she really was.

She’s hoping you’ll look around today and choose to believe in someone. Maybe that person is someone you know or maybe that someone is yourself.

Will you??

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What will you do to be a Bregdan Woman?

What will you do today to impact history??

We’re on this journey with you… (and have 2 FREE Gifts for you below…)

Ginny & Suess

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