Exploring Their Possibilities

What do poetry, cheerleading, dance, football, the culinary and performing arts have in common? They are all part of UrbanFUTURE's Explore! Enrichment hour at Fanning Middle School.

One of the more enlightening Explore! Enrichment classes offered at Fanning is the Hip Hop & Poetry Class in which students learn about poetic devices and forms in classic literature and how those forms show up in the popular hip-hop music today. Over the past 6 weeks, students have learned how to scan a poem for rhyme schemes, the difference between slant and perfect rhyme, similes and metaphors. They have compared Tupac to Shakespeare, Lil’ Wayne to Langston Hughes, and Emily Dickinson to Talib Kweli. Through this unique approach to learning, UrbanFUTURE students gain exposure to established authors in the literary canon using the vernacular of everyday life. The students also get the chance to produce an original work. Below are samples of work done in the creative writing class, inspired by Langston Hughes’ poem “A Dream Deferred”

“Dreaming is like sleeping on a cloud.
Sometimes we have nightmares
And fall off that cloud.
Then there are sweet dreams
When we stay on that soft cloud.

Dreaming can help us expand our beautiful ideas.
Then the bad dreams come
Out of nowhere and smack us.
Troubles we have find ways into
Our dream like sneaky little ninjas.

Dreaming makes us as creative
As the best artist in the world.
But sometimes dreams slip away like a ghost.
That could be a good thing
When you had a bad dream.”

Excerpt from “Dreaming”, Christine Ordono, 7th grade

“Is life fair, will you be upset if your dream didn’t come true?
What can you do to make your dream stay alive?
Are you going to sit there and watch your dream die?
…
My dream won’t die,
‘Cause it’s going to stay alive, no need to lie,
My dream will never say bye bye.
My dream will not be out of my sight,
‘Cause my dream is on my head every morning, every night,
I invent my dream
My dream is like a word that never ends.”

Sinh Le, 7th Grade

Through the UrbanFUTURE Explore! program, these students are discovering their possibilities!

Parent Leadership - Our Keystone to Success

What is it that differentiates UrbanFUTURE from other organizations that providing mentoring? The biggest difference is our emphasis on involving the parent. In fact, we believe that without engaging the parent as a leader in their child's education, we will see mediocre results that are less likely to be lasting. That's not to say a child cannot benefit from having an adult mentor, but generally, to have a sustainable, lasting impact in that child's life, the parent or some other responsible adult has to be involved and leading the change.


To UrbanFUTURE, parent leadership is parents leading the child's goal accomplishment process, holding a child accountable for his/her (in)actions, encouraging the child to succeed and acting as an advocate for the best interest of the child. Parents who fulfill these roles, will likely see their son or daughter develop into a good student and a good person.


There are many barriers that exist in engaging parents. In some cases a cultural and language barrier exist for parents. While a parent may wish to help a child with homework, a lack of English may prevent that from happening. A similar situation exists for parents who have to work in the evenings and are unable to provide homework help for the child despite their desire to do so. Other parents may not have the necessary skills themselves to help on difficult math, science or writing assignments. Still others may be operating under a veil of ignorance in which they don't know of their child's deficient skills due to satisfactory grades (another topic for another day, perhaps). Finally, there are some who are well aware of their child's struggles, but don't know what they can do to help. The combination of many of these can lead to parents who appear apathetic to their child's education.


UrbanFUTURE turns that apathy on its head. By telling parents that they can not only help their child, but they can lead their child's education they re-gain control of the situation. We do this by setting high expectations for parents and challenging them to step up their efforts. We offer opportunities for them to network with other parents. We provide trainings for how they can work on goals with their child, help them improve their literacy and even how to better communicate with an adolescent child. We encourage them to come to the school to help out, sit in the classroom and talk with teachers. As parents become more comfortable in their role as a leader, their child in turn will see how much the parent truly values a good education.


It's when the parents come to see and believe in their own possibilities as parents that their child sees and believes in their possibilities as person.

Exploring Possibilities

UrbanFUTURE students at Mann Elementary are getting a chance to go out and explore careers in their community. So far this year, Mann explorers have researched careers in art and law. In January the group visited an art gallery and learned first-hand from a local artist. Craig Downs is a self-taught artist who has spent the past seven years creating a bold and unique style to call his own - he also happens to be an UrbanFUTURE mentor! Craig was kind enough to invite the Explore! Club to Urban Eats (3301 Meramec St.) for a personal showing of his paintings. The students were also given a chance to create their own masterpieces using Craig's paintings as inspiration. Their artwork will be displayed at the local Hartford Coffee Company (3974 Hartford St.). Lloserf, a 5th grade student at Mann had this to say about Explore!, "I think Explore! Club is fun and interesting. I liked going to see my mentor, Craig. I learned to be a great artist you have to keep trying and trying."

Explore Club also had the opportunity to visit the Old Court House where they reenacted the Virginia Minor Trial and learned about women's suffrage. Students had the opportunity to learn about the specific roles and responsibilities of lawyers, judges and juries. They also learned about the constitutional amendements that afford U.S. citizens a fair and speedy trial.

In March, students are exploring careers in law enforcement. Last Friday they had a chance to visit a police station to learn about the different roles of police officers. Keep exploring those possibilities!