Tend your garden ...

David Israel graduated in 2004. I was never lucky enough to have him in class, but I do remember him routinely beating me in a variety of fantasy sports.

Of all the advice dispensed in the 650 Words blog, David’s may be the most practical. It’s about making connections, reaching out, doing the little things that put you in a position to advance in a direction you’ve set for yourself.

As an English teacher, I believe in this wholeheartedly, even though the end game is different. I try to make connections in the classroom not to advance my career, but to create the conditions needed for growth and learning for my students. The best teachers I know do this. We tend our gardens. This is a metaphor, obviously, and it comes from a poem called “The seven of pentacles” by Marge Piercy. In the poem, she uses the tending of a garden as a metaphor for how we cultivate connections and relationships -- and it occurred to me that it applies very much to what we do every day, whether we’re talking about teaching and learning or creating career opportunities. “Connections are made slowly,” she writes, “sometimes they grow underground.” As English teachers how do we cultivate connections that are out of view? By being alert. By watching when the eyes of that student in the back row flash with delight. By honoring every piece of writing done by our students and responding with thoughtfulness and empathy. By knowing our students and creating forums that allow us to get to know them better. By making the conscious and intentional decision to care. This list could go on and on, but the bottom line is that as a teacher, especially an English teacher, we have to do everything in our power to create the conditions for growth in our classrooms. Piercy’s poem ends with this line: “... for every gardener knows that after the digging, after the planting, after the long season of tending and growth, the harvest comes.”

David’s post isn’t anything about gardening, but in a way it is. Cultivating relationships, creating the right conditions for growth, paying attention to each seedling because you never know which one is going to bloom.

The harvest has definitely come for David, as he has settled into his dream job: he is General Counsel for Modern Times Beer in San Diego. In his piece, he talks about his journey, from high school to Washington University in St. Louis to law school at the University of San Diego. His main piece of advice? Tend your garden.

“This post is advice geared towards taking little actions now that can help out in the future,” he said. “It’s about coming to the realization that personal relationships will get you further than any GPA or extracurricular activity in making the day-to-day of high school better. Focus on being a person who does good things for those around them, and it will help the rest fall into place.”

- C. H. 

Parker (and similar schools) offer you a fantastic leg up on the college experience, but the prestige of it does not matter once you leave. No one asks you where you went to high school, or hires you because of it. If you’re reading this as a high school student looking to survive high school with your soul intact and also get into college, congrats: the simple act of actually seeking outside help is a great start. By now, you’ve undoubtedly read advice from many others, most of whom are much closer to being your contemporaries and have a better understanding of the current issues you face down daily, and many of whom have established the thesis of appreciating your opportunities, and finding the things that make you happy, regardless of what others think. This, looking back, is absolutely good advice, but could use some expansion as those things become easier in college and adulthood.

You’re about to be forging your own path based on your actions, decisions, and relationships, but that path will also be partially a function of pure, unadulterated luck, so my advice is this: fortune favors the bold. Be bold by putting yourself out there, with the goal of building relationships. I’m writing this because I played fantasy baseball during high school with Mr. Harrington, got to know him a bit, and we’ve crossed paths a few times over the years. Build those relationships by acting in accordance with your own value set, whatever that may be, but by being reliable and trustworthy.

In high school, I was content. I was happy enough to just have things the way they were; I let things come to me, and would decide on them as they came. There wasn’t a great deal of long-term thinking, or goal setting – just dealing with what was in front of me, then moving forward. This was mostly true of the college process: I applied to what was recommended to me, waited to see where I got in, and was planning to just go from there. Then, I visited Washington University in St. Louis and loved it. It was the first time I decided to actively pursue something, and still believe I ended up getting in because I communicated as often as possible with the admissions officer (and would tell her as much whenever we crossed paths on campus).

Putting yourself out there isn’t always going to pay dividends. Simply put, there will be a lack of success as you’d envisioned it, but don’t consider that a failure. Any time you meet someone new who will answer an email with a question, or connect you to someone new, it’s a success on some level. It’s taking the opportunity when someone offers to meet to follow up, hear what they have to say, and send a handwritten thank you note in the mail afterward.

That persistence pays off; I’m in a place where I absolutely love my job, which I was offered because I put myself in a position to meet the founder, was lucky enough for him to try me out, and built a relationship with him over four years before the job offer came in. It was, without question, a result of being in the right place at the right time – a combination of hustle and luck.

So, be bold. Put yourself in a position to be successful. And, once you are, put yourself in a position to give back to those who are where you used to be. On that note, if any of you ever want to chat, or get advice, reach out to Mr. Harrington, and he’ll put us in contact. Best of luck to you.