Recently, authors China, Amira, and Tyandra visited Excel Academy Public Charter School as part of the PEN/Faulkner Writers in Schools program. The writers shared from their co-authored book, “Our Lives Matter” with a class of thoughtful and insightful 8th graders. The students were so inspired by the story they decided to write their own stories in a similar style. Check out these excerpts and click the links to read the full essays!

Excel Academy teacher, NiLa Austin had this to say about the impact the book had on her students: 

"My 8th grade students had the pleasure of reading Our Lives Matter, which was an inspiring collection of personal stories written by a group of students from Ballou High School. My students were so inspired by the book that they decided to create their own personal collection of memoirs… Instead of designing a traditional yearbook, the 8th grade cohort combined their narratives to create "Deeper Than Words." Our Lives Matter has had such a huge impact on my students because they were finally able to identify with authors who not only understood their trials but also visited their classroom and provided key tips for achieving success."

*****

“I have been through a lot of this stuff this year, especially relationship wise. I have had my heartbroken and it was too much for me to handle. During this time, I started to harbor hate towards my ex but I soon came across this quote by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr...”

– AJ, “I Want Out”

“I am the Black Child, I am a Child of God. I am not ashamed of my skin, Even though black men want women lighter than their mothers, Brighter than their sisters, whiter than their daughters, Different from their cousins, The beauty of Your beautiful brown skin.”

– AH, “Obstacles”

A quote that has kept me going is one by Arthur Ashe in which he said, ‘Failure keeps you humble, success keeps you glowing, but only faith keeps you going.’  I picked this quote because I always thought of myself as a failure but this quote encourages me to believe otherwise.

– AP, “Continued Growth”

“When my nephew passed, I didn’t even want to get out of bed, the pain that I felt from losing him was crippling. But I realized that I was letting negativity win by not cherishing his memories.”

– AG, “Never Take Life for Granted”

“One of my favorite memories with my aunt was when we would go to her backyard and plant flowers. I would help her paint stuff and we would make art for her house. Then we started noticing changes. “

– AF, “Mental Health”

“Ms. Austin and Ms. Morris really held an entire grade level down by themselves. They made sure we got into high school, made sure we had field trips, taught us new academic materials and even helped us mature as young women.”

– DM, “Stay Ahead”

“To many people, I may seem to enjoy social conversations but in all honesty, I don’t like to talk to people. Most 13 year old girls want to be included in everything and are desperate to be the center of attention, but not me.”

– DB, “Someone to Relate to”

“When I get home, all I see is grown men and women, outside in the parking lot drinking and smoking. I take the negative things I see as a sign telling me to go to school, so I won’t end up like the negativity in my environment.”

– DB, “Challenges”

“I’m not just learning how to simply read a passage from a book. I actually learned real life lessons and they were taught to me inside of my very own classroom. This year, we really learned the definition of sisterhood, we maintained a strong bond even through our ups and downs.”

– EG, “Assumptions”

“Adam was important to me because when I was down, he would always tell me to “Keep a smile on my face because that’s what people hate the most!” He was like a big brother to me, he always influenced me to do my best in life because I won’t get a second chance at everything.”

– EG, “Nothing Lasts Forever”

“While I was going through the motions at school, I found out that my cousin died. I cried so much but people are so used to seeing me happy that I felt like I couldn’t express my pain.”

– HB, “Stop Worrying”

“To be honest, something that opened my eyes was when my sister was born, I knew that I had a big responsibility to take on.”

– JH, “Best for You”

“Another reason 8th grade was kind of difficult was because of amount of drama we had. Drama that consists of fights, rumors, and people being ‘fake.’ Let me be honest, I was in a couple scenes of drama. The drama was really petty because it was about being ‘fake’ and ‘switching up on people.’ I kind of let the drama get in the way of other things that were important.”

– JT, “Changes”

“The frustrating part about losing those teachers was that it took almost two months to find replacements, which affected me greatly. It affected me because not only was I being held back from learning the important stuff I should have been learning, but I was not being properly prepared for high school as I should've been.”

– JF, “Prosper”

“Yes, I am thick, but that’s not what I want people to profile me as. I’ve learned how to deal with body shaming, in my own way. People call me fat, I get mad, make a swift come back and then they leave me alone.”

– JG, “Survive”

“My aunt always taught me to follow my dreams, no matter what obstacles jumped my way. She is my role model and always will be because she never gave up on herself, her family or her goals.”

– KB, “Be Strong No Matter What”

“A quote that inspires me is, ‘Empowered women, empower women.’ I chose this quote because I am a big sister and I take pride in teaching my siblings and I always try to lead by example.”

– KH, “Keep Your Head Up”

“She encouraged, sometimes even forced me, to grow and I appreciate her for that. She created a whole high school prep program from scratch.”

– KS, “Be Our Own Cheerleaders”

“As I grew up, the bullying started to get worse. Every time I would get up, other students would try to trip me, just to see me fall so that they could laugh. The teachers would tell them to stop but they never listened. As I grew up, I finally stopped caring about bullies and realized that they are truly ignorant.”

– LH, “Find Happy Moments”

“Can you imagine after 8 long years, to finally see your birth certificate and see that your “mother” isn’t really your mother? My mother then began to explain that she was really my aunt and my aunt was actually my mom.”

– MT, “Finding Myself”

“God doesn’t like us fighting. We all have to learn to get along, that goes for everyone. Black people, white people, Asian  people, Latino people and every other race, we need to learn to treat each other equally.”

– MD, “Unique”

“I just want to thank the friends that stayed with me through the tough times that I couldn’t handle alone. Also, I want to thank the teachers that helped me and encouraged me to make the right choices.”

– MM, “Life is Short”

“I remember the day when day my mom got a phone call from an unknown number, she didn't tell me what it was about, but I had a feeling my dad was in jail. When my mom finally told me, I was devastated, I cried for days.”
– MH, “An Original is Worth More than a Copy”

“You definitely don't want to do bad academically in any grade, especially eighth grade, because you have to get into a good high school. So, my advice for you is to not let your anger get the best of you because it can cause a lot of damage.”

– MA, “Ruin It”

“My mother always believed that there was something strange about me. I agree, I wasn’t a typical girl and I didn’t consider myself normal at all. I didn’t like to wear skirts or dresses. I hated anything that showed my skin.”

– MB, “More Life”

“I didn't really know my mother until I was about seven years old. On my 5th birthday my mother threw me a party at Chuck.E.Cheese. After that, I didn't see her again until I was seven years old.”

– RS, “Stressful Times”

“R. Brown turned 30 years old and she was pregnant with her youngest child, me. On June 30th, she finally gave birth to her baby girl with her childhood friend. My mom and dad lived across the street from each other. They were practically childhood sweethearts.”

– RH, “Don’t Be a Follower”

“The TV cord had a shortage in it so she had to position the cord a certain way in order for the TV to power on. When she was fixing it, she suddenly collapsed. She passed out. I started to panic. I ran into the living room to wake my aunt.”

– SW, “Appreciate the Important People”

“It was raining that day and worse of all we were going across a bridge. My mother stopped on her brakes and since the road was wet, the car started spinning around so fast that I couldn’t think of what was going on at the moment.”

– SW, “Who Am I”

“In my case, I don’t have my mother and my father did not walk out on me. Instead, my mother disappeared and my father stayed to take care of us and I owe the world to him for that.”

– SB, “Deeper Than Dirt”

“I'm scared that as I get older, I will not be able to control my anger and I’m scared that it will get me in a lot of trouble as it does now.”

– SR, “Misunderstood”

“I’ve been putting my mother first for a long time, my uncle told me that I need to stop because at the end of the day, she is the mother and I am the child. I need to enjoy my childhood, it goes quick.”

– TJ, “I am Strong Enough Now”