Update on the Writing Team
I had not yet had the opportunity to visit the writing team and so I made it a point to get in on their time on Sunday at ILA. Time and time again I am just blown away by the impact City Impact is having on these young men and women who attend the Impact Leadership Academy.
The writing team is working on practicing what to do when situations arise where they will have to give other teens advice. The time began with Mr. Mark (who is the writing team leader/teacher) giving the girls a little rundown of what they were going to be doing with their time that night. He began by asking if they remembered the article they had read the last time they had met and then went on to say they would be reading another article this week and then writing a letter to the author of the article, all in practice for their advice blog which these girls have created to help other teens.
The article is titled “Desperate to Fit In” and It is written by a young teenage girl named Colleen. After the article was passed out to everyone they took turns reading out loud. I want to give you a little taste as to what this article entails
Colleen is a young freshman girl who finds herself desperate to fit in, she begins the article by telling us how she does not know when everything started and then takes us back to a memory of sitting in a police car. Colleen becomes accustomed to drinking and she is a bulimic binger. When high school comes she really wants to fit in and meets a very popular girl Kathy who leads Colleen into a crowd she should not be in. The drinking and binging worsens and Colleen is caught by her parents when they find a wine bottle in her closet. A friend calls Colleen’s mother to tell her about Colleen throwing up all the time and then at her lowest point she is caught shop lifting. Colleen states that secretly she wanted to get caught, but she desperately wanted to fit in. She later states that the friend who called her mom did one of the best things she could have done for Colleen. When she hits her lowest point she makes some decisions for herself and finds that getting a new group of friends is a good idea. She finds a great group of Christian friends and finds they love her for who she is not who she tries to be. After recovering she is tempted again and falls into sin again. The article is ended by Colleen telling us that a few years have gone by and she is not interested in the party scene anymore.
At one point while reading the article Mr. Mark stopped the girls and asked them to think about cause and effect of the article, asked them to think about why she ends up the way she does. Mr. Mark also asked the girls to go back to a place in the article where Colleen talks about secretly wanting to get caught. The girls responded by saying that Colleen wanted to stop what she was doing but she knew she could not do it herself. When they were all finished reading Mr. Mark set a little scenario telling the girls that Colleen had written their blog asking for advice about her situation. He asked that the girls turn to a fresh page in their journals and begin writing a letter to Colleen.
After the girls were done writing the letters to Colleen they read them aloud. I was so touched by what each girl wrote that I want to share what all of them said.
Dear Colleen,
If these people you were hanging out with were really your friends they wouldn’t care how you act or they wouldn’t care if you choose not to drink or shop lift they would do their best to support your decision. I’ve been in your situation were some of my friends shop lift and my best friend moved away and I was desperate for new friends, I really wanted everyone to like me again so I began hanging out with the wrong people getting into fights and getting in trouble so I know how you feel when you need to make a decision that is best for you. Just stay with the right people or friends and keep your head high and don’t let those kids get to you.
CC
Dear Colleen,
I understand how you feel, fitting in is very important to some people, I have always wanted to fit in with the popular, cool, pretty girls. But really it gets tiring to do that cause people only need at least one person close who they can be their self around because that is their real friend. Drinking isn’t the answer it just makes things worse and having a eating disorder is common for people that think they are not thin enough. You just have to learn that not everyone can look the same. I just want you to understand that trying to fit in is normal just try and be yourself because if people cant accept you for who you are then they really wont be a good friend. Good Luck.
Ashlee
Dear Colleen,
If you don’t love yourself you really should and don’t let anyone take advantage of you because obviously you are hanging out with the wrong crowd and that’s okay because everybody does at one point in their life. You should be trusting God and believing that he can change your life because he has a plan for you.
TT
Mr. Mark encouraged the girls by telling them what they had done well and what they could improve. He encouraged them to remember to think of God while they are writing their advice.
I walked away from being with the writing team that night and was just so happy in my heart that these girls get to learn how to give other teens advice, and not only that they are learning what God thinks about them and by writing to others they are teaching themselves how to think of who they are. I began to think of how much I would have enjoyed something like this when I was a teenager. It is wonderful that these girls have the potential to impact lots of other teens. --Evian Schindler, youth Program Communications Coordinator
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