Measuring Your Life: Miles Driven, Hours of Sleep, Days left at Institute

 

The Stone Arch Bridge, mountain bikes, and the mighty Mississippi.

  
     I am now in my last four days of Teach for America's summer institute in Tulsa. Five weeks has flown by, and I am always amazed at how quickly time passes. Saturday I will be back in Denver, and Sunday- on to Crested Butte!
     This past weekend I pulled a marathon drive to Minneapolis to surprise my brother Luke for the 4th of July. Let me tell you, 750 miles from Tulsa to Minneapolis through the night is no small feat of endurance! I arrived at my cousin Nina's house at three in the morning utterly delirious and ready for bed. I woke up after a glorious 5 hours of sleep ready to pounce on Luke when he walked in the door. There is something entirely special about brothers who are reunited after a stint apart, and this was no exception. All I can say, is it felt good to be back with one of my best friends.
     I don't have time to bore you with the details, seeing as writing this blog is already a means of distracting myself from lesson planning. Instead I'll just post some pictures from the weekend. Minneapolis is a special place, and I absolutely loved spending time with Luke, and my sweet family Nina, Andrew, Liam, and Scott. Shout out to the Wiskus clan for helping to make the trip affordable.

Halfway to the equator, halfway to the North Pole. 

Liam- the coolest kid around and my birthday buddy to boot.

      This week is testing week at Webster High which is my summer placement school. My kids are on track to test at a level significantly higher than where they began at, which is exciting. Even more exciting is the fact that I feel as if I have significantly broadened what they believe to be possible in their own lives. Whether it was through conducting college spotlight Fridays, or through millennium challenge problems. I leave you with two pictures of yours truly. The first is me giving a seminar last week on helping students articulate goals, which is a lesson I feel all of us could stand to benefit from. The second is of me at Tulsa's premier bottle shop. Special shout out to my homeboy Nate van Dyk- I drank a brew (or two) for you my friend.

      I am excited to head back to Colorado. I have yet to find a a place to live, but that sounds like an awfully fun adventure. For those of you I get to see next week, expect big hugs! Especially a certain bleach blonde vagabond. You know who you are. 

No flannel today.

Diamond in the rough.

 I'm off to my glorious five hours of sleep a night. No rest for the weary. . . .

Ps. My good friend Ronnie was in a horrible bike crash yesterday. He has extensive facial trauma and is currently in critical condition. Many of you know him- please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

Bixby Rodeos, Ozark Adventures, and Millenium Problems

     

   The Bixby Rodeo and College T-Shirt Day

     Three weeks in Tulsa have flown by already, and the five am wake ups, bus ride to school, sweltering heat, and gloriously freedom filled weekends have become a strangely routine rhythm. I find that there are two highlights to everyday. The first highlight is when I get to teach my morning class. Our class is learning about ratios and algebraic expressions, and you can imagine just how riveting a class of fidgety 7th graders finds that material. However, this week, every day I have explained one of the millennium problems to my class. Millennium problems are problems which have gone unproven or unexplained in mathematics. These problems are considered vital to continue the progress of science and engineering in the decades to come. Solving one of these problems comes not only with fame but fortune- the mathematician who proves these theorems will earn 1 million dollars. Upon hearing this, my top student immediately lost any interest in solving our most pressing class problem concerning ratios and promptly declared he would rather solve a millennium problem. I told him we would work on it together at lunch.
     After class we typically have afternoon professional development classes. I won't bore you with the details here. 'Nough said. However, the day typically gets only better from that point on and the second highlight of my day is a lazy bike ride along the embankments that hug the Arkansas river. The evenings are thick and humid. In a way they are distinctly beautiful and unique. There is none of the evening Pacific coolness that I became accustomed to while in the Bay, only the scent of old hardwood forests and ripening corn in the sun.
     Today I escaped school, lesson planning, and planning in general and hit the road bound for Arkansas and some backwoods, river gorge climbing. All I can say is, holy smokes. Arkansas is an absolutely stunning, verdant place. The green wrapped hills are punctured by dramatic red sandstone canyons that plunge into rivers. The Ozarks ain't the Rockies, but they'll do just fine during these 5 weeks! I climbed with a few fellow Colorado core members at Horseshoe Canyon Ranch, and it was a fine day of scouting sandstone lines. Check out the pictures!

 Clippin' bolts

 lil' layback for y'all

The Outstanding Ozarks

      One last bit of unbelievable serendipity. On our way home from climbing, I was driving and looking for a place to grab a dinner away from the dining hall (let's just say fried catfish isn't my thing). As we hurtled through yet another tiny Arkansas town, my eyes spotted what appeared to be a shady Thai restaurant- Thai City! Perfect! I quickly pulled our car into the lot and we strolled inside and took a table. No sooner had I taken a seat than I hear a voice behind me. "Ben Bradshaw?" Disbelief shrouded my mind. I turned around only to find an old friend, Austin Hindrichs standing behind me. Unbelievable. From Temecula to Tulsa and still finding people I know.
     Tomorrow begins another busy day of lesson planning. But, before I do that I think church and a mountain bike ride are in order. Priorities. . . .

     Thinking of all the friends and family I have been blessed with. Thank you for your prayers and support!

 

Look Ma! No hands!

  
  Summer in Tulsa, what a whirlwind. Teach for America's summer institute is in full swing and over 600 corps members are now distributed throughout many of Tulsa's toughest neighborhood schools. Most of these schools have a student population characterized by 50% grade level proficiency rates. The neighborhoods are painted with different shades of poverty. Our first week of institute consisted of long days and an increasing sense of urgency. Summer school doesn't start until Monday, so much of this past week was spent understanding the landscape into which we were entering. Seminars focused on developing the tools and characteristics we would need to be successful in the tough classrooms we will lead starting Monday.
     The school I am teaching at is called Webster High. It lies on the western banks of the Arkansas river, and is actually beautiful, old campus. While I am teaching high school in the Fall, this summer I will be teaching 7th grade math. Looking through the campus directory, I was able to see the ID photos of the kids I will be teaching- they are young! I teach the class alongside one other "collab", who is also a first year Teach for America Teacher.

I was able to snap a "back to skool selfie" while on the bus the first day at Webster High.

A typical neighborhood home near Webster High School.

 Today was the first day I was able to escape the "lovely" (note the text sarcasm) University of Tulsa. I went with a couple of friends into the backwoods alongside the Arkansas and did a little bit of climbing. It felt damn good to be a lost boy in the woods, and as it so often happens, I made some awesome friends out at the crag while doing so. Check the dirty south (is Tulsa the south or mid-west, I still can't figure it out) climbing in the backwoods.

John rock.

    It has been an amazing experience being with so many passionate people on a daily basis. We all have the same feeling of destiny. This is a journey that is sometime scary- many core members don't have placement schools yet for the Fall, many have not passed their credentialing exams, some are just downright terrified of setting foot in a classroom that has been cast aside as hopeless. But alas, this life is a pilgrimage that requires faith in the midst of uncertainty. All we can do is buckle up and enjoy the ride.

Until next time,

Ben

A Pilgrim Again.

   It seems that the wanderlust in my blood has gotten the best of me once again. In the past two weeks I packed up all my earthly possessions in a totalled Honda Accord and drove halfway across the country to begin my new life in Colorado as a Teach for America Corps member. Along the way I rode some of the best trails the west has to offer, showered in the Colorado river, and generally embraced my inner vagabond. Leaving Oakland was bittersweet. While I never felt entirely like the Bay was my permanent home, I will miss all of the incredible friends I made during my time there.
     My past three weeks on the road have been fantastic. Leaving the Braemar house in Oakland and packing all my belongings in a car was just ridiculous. How I managed to fit everything in my car is beyond me, especially since my good friend Nate came along with his bike and bags to join me for the first part of my journey. Over these first five days our plan was simple- mountain bike our brains out. Tahoe. Moab. Fruita. I don't have time for details, but needless to say it was epic. See the pictures below if you need proof.
     Arriving in Denver after all of our excursions was a liberating experience. It just feels like I am once again on a grand adventure. I was also able to spend some time with my favorite med school student, which has been an absolute blast as we have been able to mountain bike, camp, and eat great food together.
     I am currently sitting in Colorado Springs at Teach for America Colorado's induction. It feels like I am back in college! For the past 48 hours I have met tons of like minded individuals, many of which I am sure I will grow to be close friends with over the next two hectic years. It's an exciting beginning to what will be a grand adventure. Tomorrow some of my new friends and I will caravan to Tulsa for the five weeks of TFA summer institute, aka teacher boot camp. We are camping in Wichita, an experience which should be. . . .interesting. Expect pictures and updates from the road!

I am running out of time, but I will leave y'all with some pictures from the past few weeks. Feels good to be a pilgrim again!

My last morning on Braemar. The Bay fog decided to roll in this day, time to head east!

 The man, the myth, the legend. Nate "ER" van Dyk. Captain Ahab Trail. Moab. Spectacular.

 Obligatory mirror air and desert shot. The open road in forsaken Nevada.

CCC. Cast iron skillet. Camp fire. Colorado river. 

Fruita was magical.

My favorite student doctor with her franken sweet potato.

 Denver. Feels like I am home.

Until next time,


Ben