“You’re Allowed to Fight”

When I tell people that I am passionate about advocacy, they forget that advocacy is a skill and not every professional uses that skill.
Sometimes I am amazed how organizations or agencies frown on advocating for clients beyond the scope of that agency’s specific services.

In graduate school, I went into middle schools and co-facilitated groups of teenage boys about improving themselves in and out of school. They were enrolled in English Second Language classes, which isolated them from their peers but also gave them an opportunity to connect with their unique language and cultural differences.

Something came up and I found a school system attempting to expel an award winning student. I met with administrators and other community leaders to find alternatives. I became the go-between guy for school and alternate program staff. When one of the administrators left an enraged voice-mail on my supervisor’s phone, I knew I had done my job. I broke the status quo for how things had always been handled before. That case is my most memorable.