The Super Seven

Meet The Super Seven.


Alicia
Dominic
Isaac
Daniel
Justin
Marcos
Esteban


These lucky sophomores landed in my Money 101 class for the summer session of Upward Bound at East Stroudsburg University. 


[more on Upward Bound later]


Just for today, I want to shout out to these kids who believe they're worth investing six weeks of precious summer vacation to attend academic classes while learning to get along well with others.


And they do. Get along well with others.


Especially me, their teacher. what a great group of grateful kids


Truth is, I'm the lucky one. 
I wasn't sure me and Money 101 would be a good match.    
Writing, yes, but money and me? 

I'm not an accountant, or math major. I worry plenty about money, something this class is teaching me to let go of...but what the hell, I handle money every day and I know more than I give myself credit for so I rolled up my sleeves and decided to teach it my way.


there's no other way to teach


The Ms. Jackson version of Money 101 meant we were going to write...about money (and other things). Money and our relationship to it does not live in a vacuum. We are whole people with a trillion ideas, thoughts, feelings about everything. i love that.


These guys show up every day
smiling
respectful
funny...
open their notebooks and starting writing...


money is... 
people with money...
if I had money I'd...
what we're grateful for...


Because you can be a quintillion-aire, is that a real number you guys?, and not have one grateful bone in your body. 


These kids practice gratitude. They aren't whining for things, contrary to what many people think teenagers are all about. 


more more more is not the mantra of

The Super Seven.


I'll share some of their writing over the next weeks but for today, here's a piece from Alicia that is simple and true. 


She wrote:


My attention isn't really on material things like most people. A lot of people go to one thing, leave it, and go onto another thing. Their attention is in what things can make them happy. 


Things cannot make you happy. 


Only you can make yourself happy.


~ namaste, you guys.


with gratitude,
ms. j