Finding Yourself

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”?

~Mahatma Gandhi

Last Monday was John Rivers Ingram Day and bandfest. Our annual opportunity to thank John and Stephanie Ingram for all they have done for our school, and to showcase many of our talented musicians. With poetic appropriateness, John and Stephanie have insisted on taking the focus off them for this day and making this an opportunity for the entire school to give back to the community. So, for many years we have had a successful canned food drive in support of our friends at Second Harvest.

John Ingram delivered an inspiring message, sharing examples of profoundly successful individuals who had learning differences. He reminded students that, like his own daughter, although you do have obstacles to overcome, you also have “superpowers” that can catapult you to lead productive and fulfilling lives.

The day is always a calendar highlight that has many extraordinary moments. As any parent knows, such moments are a regular occurrence here at Currey Ingram. Hundreds of times a day students experience personal bests, firsts and? aha moments, realizing through repeated successes that yes I can do that. One particularly moving moment happened on stage in front of the entire school last Monday.

In keeping with the spirit of the day, we have students from each Division share some words on the importance of giving back. William Cox represented the Upper School, Mann Smothers spoke on behalf of the Middle School, and Jai Bansal and Jake Dungan represented the Lower School. All of them rose to the challenge, spoke with conviction and expressed their gratitude.

For the Lower School students there was an unexpected small miracle. Unbeknownst to me and almost everyone present, Jai and Jake were supposed to tag team their presentation. Jai was to read, while Jake was to help by turning the pages of the book.?

Jai did a wonderful job reading his message to the school. And then Jake came up to the lectern and asked me if he should read the book. I said, “absolutely, you have got this” -- thinking this was the plan all along and thus just offering Jake a little bit of encouragement. Jake went ahead and capably read the book in front of the 300-400 people gathered for the event.?

Here’s the thing. Jake was not supposed to read the book. Jake, like so many of our students, came to our school with significant reading challenges; the prospect of reading a book (with some challenging vocabulary) in front of the entire school, even just a short time ago, would have been unthinkable. It is really quite moving when you think about it. Jake, right there in the moment, decides he can take the chance to read a grade level book in front of the whole school.? I only discovered the full spectre of the story after the fact when Jake’s parents, with tears of joy, came up to me so pleased that Jake was able to do something they thought would never happen.?

In an email sent to me by Jake’s mother the next day, she said, “He is so proud of himself now! He told all my family and showed them the video. He won’t let my husband tell his parents until this weekend so Jake can be there and show them the video too. Jake’s self-confidence has grown so much. We are so grateful for CIA.”

Talk about finding yourself in the service of others...