Ojibwe Charter School teacher Brian Streichert will be deployed to Iraq later this month. He submitted the following letter to the community and students:
Parents tend to have an idea of what they want their children to be when they grow up. The children, of course, tend to have an alternate idea of what they'd like to be. Then there is a third party with their own idea ... an outsider, one who spends a great deal of time and effort with each child ... the teacher.
This class has endured so much change, personal issues and various other stressors within the past nine months. However, in their own way, they've banded together. Sometimes it doesn't appear that way, but they are a surprising group of resilient young adults. Yet with all of the issues a typical seventh grade child has to endure, with a touch of skepticism and hesitancy, they've accepted me into their school. So, what is it that I see in them?
I see a great deal of maturity since Aug. 22, 2005. I see a willingness to learn. I see a group of students who are not afraid to try something new even if it means stepping out of their defensive shell and taking a chance to succeed. I see determination with every exhausted sigh when they simply do not understand something. I see a positive change for our school. I see frustration in their faces when others make poor choices that affect them either directly or indirectly and how they deal with disappointment. I see strong-willed individuals work through disagreements as well as or better than some older students. And finally, I see the future. Not just the future of this school, or of Bay Mills or Brimley; but the future. The future what? That will have to be hashed out between these soon to be 8th grade students and all of their challengers.
However, with the help of a great community, a strong education and supportive, caring parents, our future, this community's future, looks to achieve nothing less than greatness.
So I will end with this: Kelsey, Cole, Jay, Kayt, Tony, Allan, Alisa, Nick and Daraka, thank you for tolerating me for four hours each day. I am very proud of each of you for all your accomplishments and expect you to carry this on into the next school year.
Brian Streichert
OCS Teacher
