Lots to be Thankful For

There is so much for me to be thankful for at this time of the year. I am thankful for your encouragement, your support, and your commitment to Student U. I am thankful for the belief our collaborative partners continue to demonstrate in the power of this program. I am thankful for the guidance of our parents and for their willingness to share their children. I am thankful for our students, our brilliant middle schoolers who continually teach us new lessons. And last but not least, I am thankful for our teachers, our college students who dedicate their time, their energy, and their talent to Student U. each and every week.

This has been a busy month for Student U. To go only with the weekly academic enrichment activities, there have been many other exciting events taking place. Rain in November kept us from going to the ropes course at Duke, but a trip to Wheels for some roller-skating made up for the disappointment. Students and teachers enjoyed speeding around the rink and dancing to the music during the fun Mentoring Event.

The following day, the Triangle Youth Jazz Ensemble and the John Brown Quintet put on a show for students, teachers, and members of the community. The Benefit Concert was a great opportunity to listen to incredible music and for many in the community to learn more about Student U.

As we say goodbye for Thanksgiving break, we are all feeling grateful for being a part of the Student U. community. We are looking forward to a great December, complete with a trip to the Light Up Durham Festival as well as continued academic clubs and mentoring.

Nick Johnson - "I have a Dream"

The following speech was given by Nicholas Johnson on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Nick was one of Student U.'s five winners it the annual D.C. speech writing contest.

I have a dream to be free and to be myself.
I have a dream to see good cards and ideas dealt.

I have a dream to keep hope alive.
I have a dream to pursue happy vibes.

I have a dream to see world change.

I have a dream to better my community.

I have a dream to bring nations together to fellowship as one.

I have a dream to succeed and to see others succeed as well.

I have a dream to be remembered for greatness.

I have a dream to see today and not yesterday.

I have a dream to be equal.

I have a dream to dream higher than Dr. King.

I have a dream to know why the caged bird sings.

I have a dream to be a leader and not a follower.

I have a dream to see justice.

I have a dream to see my dreams come true.

I have a dream to see you change the world too.

I have a dream to change the world through you.

Yesterday - Today - Tomorrow

Three months ago Student U. Summer 2008 came to an end as 102 middle school students from all over the Durham Public Schools, 32 teachers from NCCU, UNC-CH, and Duke, families, friends, and community members piled into a packed Kenan Auditorium at Durham Academy to celebrate a wonderful summer. The summer was filled with learning, laughter, and love. In English class, our sixth grade students explored race relations in our country through reading and analyzing Leon's Story. Seventh grade Global Connect students were exposed to the horrors of genocide and then had to opportunity to visit the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. Sixth grade students discovered the building blocks to all matter with their study of atoms and the nucleus. Seventh graders partnered with Habitat for Humanity and designed a roof using the Pythagorean Theorem. When students were not in their academic classes, they were engaged in electives about the city of Durham, changing the world, song writing, or running around outside playing soccer and crazy kickball during Cheza Time or in Family Time, having important conversations about the dangers of peer pressure in Middle School.

Each Friday students applied the knowledge they gained inside the classroom on a special field trip. Students created art in the Duke Gardens after a tour of the Nasher Art Museum, practiced their interview skills at corporations, non for profits, and governmental agencies during Career Day, got dirty at the Beaufort Marine Lab and declared their power on the steps on the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.

Although it is impossible for one moment to capture a summer filled with so much energy, witnessing Nick Johnson sharing his dreams for the world in the same spot Dr. King himself stood 40 years ago, is a moment our students and our teachers will never forget.


Everyone was sad three months ago at Celebration as we said goodbye to the summer. However, this marked the beginning of our exciting year round program. Unlike last year when all of our students participated in one on one tutoring, this year we offer a menu of options for students and families to chosen among. Some students gain important skills through our remedial math and remedial reading program. Others participate in a Leadership Club, Literary Society, Science Rocks Club, or an Odyssey of the Mind Team. Still others meet with teachers once a week and simply talk about life and pressures of being in middle school. Regardless of which activity a family has chosen to participate in, all students have contact with at least one Student U. teacher for a minimum of an hour and a half a week.

Every month the whole Student U. community gets together for a big mentoring event. Last month Student U. hosted a carnival and tomorrow students will be testing their teamwork skills at a low ropes course. Every time the community reunites it feels like a big family reunion with students and teachers sharing stories from school and already looking ahead to next summer.


We are now starting our recruitment of students and teachers for next summer. Joining our 102 current students will be another class of 50 rising sixth graders from the Durham Public Schools. These 150 students will be taught by 48 college students from all over the Triangle Area. With new programming in place, a new campus to call home (we will be moving to Durham Academy's Middle School Campus), and the same Student U. spirit spread throughout all of our participants, it is sure to be another incredible summer.

Teacher Orientation Week 1 - Release your own Brilliance

Student U. began its summer program last Monday when 31 college students from all over the Triangle-area joined together at Durham Academy. The morning started with Minnie Forte-Brown, Chair of the Durham Public School Board, providing teachers with their charge for the summer: release your own brilliance and then allow your students to do the same. Her inspirational talk was the ideal way to begin what proved to be a powerful week of orientation.

Throughout the week teachers participated in workshops led by experts in the field of education who taught our college students how to lesson plan, how to manage a classroom, and how to engage students though thought provoking questions and meaningful activities. Teachers had lunch with members of the school board and school system who understand the strengths and weaknesses of the schools our students are coming from. Presentations were given by professionals who have spent their lives studying adolescents and were able to explain how middle schoolers think and act. And teachers also quickly recognized how much they could learn from one another. Through diversity workshops, reflection sessions, and presentations given by returning teachers, the faculty has embraced the fact that at Student U., we are all students and we are all teachers.

In 8 days our teachers will welcome 100 students from the Durham Public Schools into their classrooms. I have no doubt that our teachers will be ready to let their own brilliance shine in their rooms and empower our students to allow their brilliance to do the same.

Student U. Day at DA

On Friday, Durham Academy celebrated Student U. Day. The day's events, completely organized by DA students, began with Chris Bassil discussing Student U. with the student body. Chris asked the students questions about Student U. and threw chocolate into the crowd when a correct answer was given. Then as students ate hamburgers and hot dogs on the quad, the DA Student U. Team sold t-shirts and loco pops, with all proceeds going to Student U. Dozens of students all took this opportunity to sign up to volunteer at Student U. for the summer.

It has been almost three years since I first arrived at Durham Academy and met with Michael Ulku-Steiner as well as other members of the DA faculty and staff to discuss the possibility of starting Student U. at DA. After Friday's events, it is clear that Durham Academy has completely embraced Student U. as a part of its community.

Thanks to the wonderful DA Student U. Volunteers who put together a meaningful day and for everyone at Durham Academy who has worked to make Student U. feel so welcomed on this campus.

Why Educate?

The following is the address I will give today at the Duke University Program in Education Graduation Ceremony. This piece explains why I believe education is so important:

Why Educate?

We are not simply fighting for test scores. We are not simply fighting for good grades or for passing with honors. We are not simply fighting for report cards, for check pluses or A+ or for extra credit. We are not simply fighting for trigonometry, for literary allusions or for geology, nor for the Great Compromise the Dread Scott Decision or the Spanish American war. We are not simply fighting for science class, for metaphors, or for fraction worksheets.

We are fighting for hope. We are fighting for optimism. We are fighting for the future. We fight because we believe. We believe that all people, regardless of their race or socioeconomic status, regardless of their religious beliefs or their sexual orientation, regardless of their home town or the home life, deserve a chance to become their best selves, deserve a chance to believe in the potential of that best self.

Why educate? Because we need a world where people believe in themselves. We need a world where people understand they are unique, special, amazing. We need a world where people value themselves more than they value the clothes they wear or the cars they drive.

We are all here today because when we look at a student, we see who that person can become, not just who that person is. We see a future mayor a future doctor a future wife a future father. We see our students growing up, finding their passion, and using that passion to spread some light on the world. We fight because we see the potential - the potential of one student to create a masterpiece, of another to cure a disease, of another to raise a great family.

A baby is born. That baby has life, potential, hope, dreams, a future. We educate to further life and potential, to teach how to use one’s hopes, one’s dreams, one’s future. We education to inspire, to strive, to yearn, to care, to empower.

We do not dedicate our lives to help students learn how to identify adjectives and solve math problems. We dedicate our lives to help students to identify passions and use those passions to solve world problems. We teach how to dream, how to believe, how to love.

We educate because we believe in the collective powers of individuals to spread this love across the classroom, across the school, across the city, the state, the country, across the world. We educate because we believe.

We work, we sweat, we cry, we fight, because we can imagine a better world. We can imagine a world filled with individuals reaching their full potential. A world with each person’s light flowing together to shine color. A world where all people, all baby’s, all adolescents, all adults, all people are loved and cherished and told that they matter.

Last year over 500 students dropped out of the Durham Public Schools. 500 students. 500 future teachers, doctors, musicians, artists. 500 people, filled to the brim with potential, with light just yearning to brighten up your day. Why educate? We educate not simply to raise test scores, but to raise confidence. To help these 500 people, to empower them to see their light and figure out how to use it to illuminate a world that sometimes is so dark it is easy for one to lose her way.

By being here today, by choosing to educate, you are choosing to fight for these 500 students. You are deciding to never give up on these precious individuals. And therefore, by being here today you are making a promise to always look at all of your students and see who they CAN one day become and then to treat them as those people.

Don’t let anyone tell you that one person can not make a difference. Don’t let anyone tell you that one teacher can not make a difference. And certainly don’t let anyone tell you that you are too young.

Go out and fight for one student. Go out and fight for one individual. Go out and change the world.

Parents' Association Meeting

A combination of returning parents and new parents and returning students and new students met tonight to discuss the upcoming summer at Student U. The meeting began with a conversation about both the best aspects of the schools students are currently attending as well as the parts of schools where there is room for improvement. After students and parents shared success stories, I asked to hear about some of the struggles students were currently facing. All of the six students who were at the meeting immediately raised their hands. Each discussed a specific aspect of school which had become difficult in the past year. I was so impressed with the courage each student had to share with the group as well as the willingness of the students to admit weaknesses. These students are clearly ready to face challenges and do what is necessary to combat these struggles.

These thoughts led to a conversation about what Student U. could do this summer to help students better prepare for the sixth or seventh grade. Comments ranged from teaching more study and test taking skills to working with students on how to deal with peer pressure to creating a Student U. School Board. Many of the ideas brainstormed today will lead to tangible additions to the summer program.

Perhaps even more exciting than these new ideas was the way our rising seventh grade students interacted with our new students. Diamond, one of our returning students, stood up at one point and exclaimed, "When I first heard about Student U., I thought it was going to be boring, but then I came and made new friends. I was at first upset that I wasn't going to have a summer, but then on the last day of Student U. I cried." Diamond and other returners kept on trying to get the new students exciting about the upcoming journey. Genessa told the new students "If you have a problem, come to us. Seriously, we are here." Kayla added on "we know how to help people. Student U. taught us how to help people and we can use that to make you new students happy."

The meeting ended with a lot of excitement, enthusiasm, and anxious bodies, wishing the summer could start tomorrow.

To end this post, I will share one more story form the night. Sara, a new student, expressed at one point her interest in art and her disappointment that her current school did not provide better art classes. Kayla quickly responded, "Mr. Kimberg, can Sara help teach an art class this summer?"

At Student U. we truly are all teachers and all students, working together to enhance our strengths and combat those struggles we face.

40 days until Student U. Summer 2008 begins.

So Much Potential

Student U. Summer 2008 officially began on Saturday with Family Day. Our fifty returning students were joined by our new class of fifty rising sixth graders as well as our thirty-two college-age teachers. Below are the remarks I made to welcome the new Student U. community together for the first time:


Welcome to the 2008 Student U. Family Day

My name is Mr. Kimberg, the Director of Student U.

Can I have all of the returning students, students who were here with us last summer, stand up? This is a great moment for you. One year ago, you were sitting in these same seats a little nervous, a little unsure of what you were getting yourselves into. Now, after a full year of Student U. programming, you have the great opportunity, the great responsibility, to welcome a whole new group of students into this program which you have grown to love so much. Join me in welcoming our fifty new students. Will the rising sixth graders please stand up?

So many students. So much potential. So much energy.

We all know that this program cannot work without everyone else in the room today. Teachers, parents, friends, Advisory Board Members, stand up with our students.


Take a second and look around. This is the Student U. Family. Together, we can reach our full potential. Together, we will make this world a better place. Together, we can make our dreams come true.


Welcome to Student U.



Students were then introduced to their family heads and were matched up with their buddies. Families, made up of seven sixth graders, seven seventh graders, and five teachers, spent an hour together came up with a name, created a flag, and wrote a cheer. Each family then presented themselves for the first time as members of the 2008 Student U. Family. To the right is one of Student U.'s newest families, "I Peoplez", who was welcomed into the community on Saturday.

Our teachers left Family Day excited to have the opportunity to learn from their students throughout the course of the year. Parents walked away proud of their children for being a part of Student U. and appreciative of the high expectations to which the program will hold their children. As one student was saying good-bye to me, he asked why the summer program couldn't start sooner.

100 students, 32 teachers --- so much potential.

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