Serving Through Uncertainty

Author: Adam Taubenslag

Resilience is such an important skill, necessary to be taught at every level. Serving as teachers requires resilience on a regular day, but during the pandemic, many of my colleagues have found a stronger footing.

At my new service location, the teacher postponed service due to his illness, which was unfortunate but it made him all the more excited to introduce and prepare his students for my ArtistCorps service. As I arrived, the students greeted me with curiosity and questions about things that impacted their lives in this uncertain time. They wanted to know about college and get an inkling of what their future could look like - a picture far more difficult to imagine in a world where one can't fully envision life even a month from now. These students seem to be some of the most resilient, willing to bounce back every 45 minutes into a new world of learning, while dealing with massive social changes that are unprecedented.

Things are getting better, and when the pandemic ends, things will be better with one foot forward and the next step ahead. These students intend to lead the world someday, and this begins with patiently looking to the future and moving on with what they've learned as a basis for how to live in the present day. I'm glad to be a part of that journey, creating a space in a high school drama class for expression and facilitating artistic empowerment and wholistic enrichment of character that will hopefully serve them in their futures.