If anyone wonders why I spend so much time writing these emails, look no further than the two stories of Vanessa Ramirez and Angel Batista

Here's the email Vanessa sent me today (shared with her permission), in response to last night's email with Ryan Hill's speech:

 

Dear Mr. Tilson,

 

THANK YOU for this e-mail.  I find this one to be your most powerful e-mail, yet.

 

My name is Vanessa Ramirez and I am a KIPP alum from KIPP Houston's Class of 2002.  I was in Mike Feinberg's and Dave Levin's 5th grade class in 1994 and have never left their classroom since.  After KIPP, Mr. Feinberg helped me matriculate to Episcopal High School in Houston and wrote a letter of recommendation that helped me gain access to a close-to-free education at Occidental College in Los Angeles.  Since graduating, I've worked for two KIPP schools and am now a part of the KIPP Houston KIPP Through College team.  I am indebted to KIPP for empowering me to be the change agent my community so desperately needs and have vowed to ensure that more students like me are equipped with whatever necessary to tackle the "enemies" Ryan speaks of.

 

When I was offered the position to work in the trenches I honestly thought it'd be an easy task.  I was a Latina who had grown up in the same low-income and educationally underserved neighborhood as the students I was serving.  I had the alcoholic father and a housekeeper as a mother, I had attended school from 7:15-5:00, I had tackled the daily two hours of homework and the summer, winter, spring break and thanksgiving homework packets.  I had attended school every other Saturday.  I had sat through the many speeches about the benefits of a college education and the consequences of dropping out of high school.   I thought that my "been there, done that" perspective would allow me to reach my students at a level that no other teacher had and that the idea of not graduating from high school or matriculating to college would slowly fade after a few months in my class. 

 

Little did I realize that, although my students appreciated me "understanding" where they were coming from, I still hadn't defeated the enemies.  I had done little to help their mothers pay the electricity bill so that they could do homework at night, I had done little to stop their neighborhood friends from hassling them to make quick money by selling an ounce of this or a sack of that.  I had not convinced their father that their child was smart and that NO! he wasn't a "good for nothing piece of trash".   I would lie if I said that there haven't been times that I've daydreamed about returning to the consulting job I left because it wasn't rewarding enough.  And if I, Vanessa, a product of this organization, have felt this way, I assume that many other Big KIPPsters have questioned their own sanity.  I write all of this not to complain about my work (because I absolutely LOVE what I do), but to express my sincere gratitude for the Ryan Hills, Mike Feinbergs and Dave Levins of this world who wake up every morning to fight the good fight all in an effort to give more Vanessas a sense of purpose, witness more mothers' twinkling eyes as their babies walk across the stage to receive their college diploma, and build a better tomorrow for the betterment of this country.

 

And although I believe there is very little Mr. Feinberg can't do (please don't tell him I said this☺), I know that his fight would be all the more challenging without people like you, who have a gift of words and the power to reach a multitude of people hoping to effect change.

 

I was moved to tears when I read: "Anyone who tries to put Ryan (and others like him) out of business or make his life harder or distract him from the incredible work he's doing is going to have to go through me"… because 15 years ago Mr. Feinberg and Mr. Levin told my fellow teammates and I that although it seemed like we were in this alone, soon we would have others join our movement to inhibit national statistics from speaking for us.  I feel so proud to count you as a fellow warrior.

 

Thank you.

 

Your fan,

 

Vanessa

 

Wow…