�This is our time – to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth – that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can’t, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes we can.� � Barack Obama, Acceptance Speech, November 4th, 2008

There have been a few magical experiences in my life where I wish I could instantly gather everyone in my life and allow them to be there in that moment with me. Wednesday at Harlan Academy was one of those experiences. I knew Obama�s victory on Tuesday night would ignite an electric spirit among the students on Wednesday, but I couldn�t understand how deeply that spark ran until I arrived at the school. As I slipped under the metal-detectors at the school�s entrance, I could already hear the �Yes We Can� chants coming through the cafeteria where many of the students had already gathered for their state mandated breakfasts.

I smiled at their untouchable euphoria. �When was the last time America�s inner-city teens had something to universally celebrate,� I wondered. My smile was mirrored by Ms. Happ�s as I walked into the AVID classroom.

�There�s a present for Dreams for Kids waiting for you upfront,� she proudly explained. I looked to the front of the classroom where a box bursting with canned goods was resting. Two weeks before I had invited the students to participate in the �Halloween for Hunger� initiative where they asked for canned goods during their trick-or-treating. We had to cancel our Dream Leaders workshop on Halloween, so I didn�t have the chance to remind the students of the project, so my expectations were low. But here before me was the box of cans the students had collected. These students, who themselves have so little, took the time on their Halloween night to do something for others. How much we all have to learn from them!

The Dream Leaders topic of the day was how to be your best self. How appropriate, as it is just what Mr. Obama asked of us the night before. Students listed qualities that described themselves, and then determined which of those qualities they should focus on to be the best leader (their �star performer� qualities, as we call them) and which they need to tone down (their �waiting in the wings� qualities). Then, we discussed what it means to be your strongest self, or using your �strong side.� Students then took this notion of your �strong side� vs. your �weak side� and developed skits that they performed for their peers.

Through these skits, students battled real issues such as teasing, teen pregnancy, racism, and drugs. During one of the most poignant skits, the �weak-sided� character pretended to be laughing at a text from a friend that said �Obama won! Go make fun of a white person.� The �strong-sided� character explained how much that was against everything Obama stands for. She explained that the reason Obama was such a powerful figure was that he was breaking down all that black/white nonsense and represented the world coming together as one! It was so encouraging to watch these students tackle these ideas that they really experience.

It wasn�t until third period, though, when the seniors met for an attendance check in the AVID classroom that the day turned to one I will forever remember. The students were still buzzing with excitement from the assembly they had just attended where teachers and students alike had the opportunity to discuss the implications of Obama�s victory. Ms. Riley, a young teacher who cares so deeply about those students that she is often brought to tears when telling them how proud she is of them, stood in front of the class to debrief the assembly.

�Don�t cry, Ms. Riley,� one student lovingly teased from the back of the room.

�Oh, I probably will, but that�s okay,� she smiled. �I just want to make sure you are all fully immersed in this moment. I want to make sure you understand the struggles your moms and dads and grandparents and so on had to endure so we could all be here in this moment today. They had to stand against the fire houses, the arrests, the hatred and constant fear, so we could be here today. Black people didn�t always have the opportunities to be in schools like you are in today, and it�s so important that we remember that. We can�t take that for granted.

And I know, I truly understand, how much you all have to deal with. You�ve been through so much, and you keep showing up. You keep showing up every day, because you are determined to make a future for yourself. You keep pushing. You keep fighting, and that makes me so proud.� Her tears began falling, but she continued.

�I�m so proud of Felicia whose grades were so bad last year that she wanted to give up. I�ve seen her grades this year, and she�s turned it around. She�s been working so hard, and she refuses to give up.

I�m so proud of Tanoya who got up in front of all of her peers at the assembly and told them flat-out that if they had time to throw dice outside of school, they had the time to fill out college applications. I�m so proud of the way she told her peers that she refuses to watch them throw away their future and end up beggin� for change at the gas station on the corner, because she knows you�re all better then that. I know you�re better than that.

We are so blessed to have an amazing leader before us, but we are still accountable. You all need to keep working hard and keep fighting those struggles, even though I know it�s so hard, because you have it in you. You all have it in you. I�m so proud of you all. I just need you to know that.�

I was embarrassed that tears were rolling down my own cheeks. I had only been working with the students for a few weeks and felt almost guilty that I had been so fortunate to be able to spend this moment with them. Then, I looked around the room and noticed that just about every student shared those same tears. They weren�t tears of pity either, but the much more powerful tears of hope. I realized, as was hope for Dream Leaders from the beginning, that out of many, we were one. A suburban white girl, two hundred south-side students�we are one. The school, the community, the country�finally, out of many- we are one.