“My parents’ support was always very important to me when I was in school. As a kid, I was really good with multiplication, but I struggled with addition and subtraction. It bothered my mom that I had to count on my fingers when adding and subtracting. So one summer, she bought me flash cards, and she would quiz me until I hated them. I still shudder when I see a stack of flashcards. But I learned them before I went back to school in the fall. In our house, graduating from high school wasn’t a big deal. It was expected. College graduation was the big deal. I hope to do the same for my child. I hope we see a change in our community and we build a culture of learning like I had growing up. Not just where parents and teachers want kids to learn. But where kids want to learn.”