I Remember

Brenda Kearse

"We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face... we must do that which we think we cannot." - Eleanor Roosevelt

Overcoming our fear of writing was an important first step in completing this project. Most of us write letters or emails, but this project was more empowering because the students were writing contributions to a book. The students, parents, and staff were given the task of taking what they had learned about the writing process and to make it relevant to their lives. As you turn the pages, know that the words have meaning for the writer as well as the reader. For these words are from the hearts and minds of students, parents, and staff members that worked together to make a difference in lives of so many students that participated in the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program titled “Building Bridges.”

This is our second publishing project and I know that the rewards that will come from having the students parents and administration share their deepest memories from the Building Bridges program will enhance the growth and horizons of students, most of whom have never met an author but can now say they themselves have authored pages in an anthological collection that would not have happened had it not been from the 21st CCLC program.

The knowledge gained from understanding the process of moving from thought and ideas to a paper document that we could all be proud of for years to come, is one that students can take into their language arts classes, their friendships and relationships as a guide for communication and into the future as the foundation of an accomplishment they can build on. “I REMEMBER” documents that each of us were here for a moment and that those moments mattered.

Brenda Kearse
Program Director
21st CCLC

"The 21st Century Building Bridges after-school Program has been an incredible journey for the students at Snively Elementary School of Choice."

- Dr. JoAnn B. McKinney: Principal Snively Elementary School of Choice

The luminous joys we share,
The embedded memories that reminds us who cares.
Every day is an essential lesson learned,
Oh, how we focused, oh how we yearned.
A feeling of fulfillment embraces me every day,
Knowing that I did the best that I could, honestly, in every way.

- Janeane Maxwell, Co-Site Coordinator at Bartow Middle