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< Back Eileen's Story Eileen discusses gender roles present in her childhood in the 1950s and how it caused her to choose her career in teaching. She then goes on to talk about how she was able to be successful in her career choice. Scroll to listen 00:00 / 04:20 “How did you originally decide you want to do teaching as a career?” You know I’m not sure how I decided that I kind of wonder if, well I think I can be fairly relational, I mean I really like kids. But um I’m not sure I saw a lot of choices. I'm not sure I realized that there were all these kinds of things like be an engineer, or be an architect, or a doctor, or a therapist, or be a researcher. I think if I, I have no clue if I saw all of that what I would've chosen. I think I really felt that I had two choices, I could be a nurse or I could be a teacher. So I don't really know what I would choose to do, I mean I could've been a good motorcycle mechanic also I kind of like that stuff. But at the time I think I felt I had two choices, and I wasn’t really into the whole blood thing. “Do you regret that in a sense, do you feel like it was because of the time period you grew up in and how women were viewed? That you only really saw those two careers as an option” Do I Regret it…I don't think I have regrets about my teaching. You know I learned a lot all the time, you know as much about myself as about anything else. And I mean I could keep learning, it's endless. So um I don't really have regrets about that. I do imagine I probably wouldn't have done this, you know if I knew then what I know now. But I don't know what I would've done. You know in my world, I mean, there wasn't a mom of anybody that I knew that did anything. I mean I didn’t even know teachers or social workers. I mean I got put in a school with some really good teachers and I got placed there with two or three of my very close friends. And so It was kind of a hoot. It was hard, we were an inner-city school and the kids were tough. I don't know if they were really tough but they were tough for us, like fifth or sixth graders. But I was not alone, and I had this team of teachers, I worked with three teachers, not one. And they were really helpful. And I had my friends there and you know we would literally go to someone's apartment and figure out our week's lessons and kind of do all this stuff and do it together. You know, have some beers and you know just plan it and go down the tubes in terms of being successful and not being successful. I think I worked with some talented people. I think I was pretty average. Some of my friends were remarkably fantastic. And I learned alot from them. And that's kind of how I taught. I always met with other people and friends. You know that kind of hung out together and figured shit out together. Well, that was nice not to do it alone. I was lucky I had very good people. I just fell on really wonderful friends and support, that's the positive thing about teaching, you know you could get really lucky. I suppose you could get really unlucky too. But I got really lucky, you know I worked with great people. I think that's key in life. Who you work with is really, really important. You gotta have people you admire around you, or at least I did, or else it’s kind of doomed. And on the one hand, I didn’t feel like I had all that much choice. I just kind of went down this path, and with going down that path, I at least had a path. You know and I just took it and I didn’t really at the time, well I flailed here and there but I didn’t really question it and I was okay with it and it worked out. Previous Next

< Back Dennis' Story After the Vietnam War and having to put his future plans on pause, Dennis found himself in the city of Boston, not New York, working in education, not pursuing his studies at law school and gaining confidence all along the way. Scroll to listen 00:00 / 03:35 Well to set the stage. I was in college from 1967 to 1971, and those were very tumultuous times in this country, much of it having to do with the US fighting an ultimately disastrous war in Vietnam and the growing resistance to that war effort. But I was going through a process of trying to figure out what I thought about all this, and I concluded that I was just morally and conscientiously opposed, that I did not want to participate in this war, and there's a process of becoming a conscientious objector. And I went through that process, and my draft board said, okay, we find that you are a conscientious objector. So that meant that if my draft number came up, I wouldn't be put into the military and sent off to fight the war, but I would be asked to do some form of alternative service. At that point, I had been admitted to law school. I was going to be going to NYU in Greenwich Village in New York, was all excited about heading to New York, pursuing the law. I made the estimation that my number would come up so that even if I started law school, I would have to stop law school in order to go do my alternative service of some sort. So I made the decision to just defer and to instead take a job that would qualify as alternative service if my number came up. And I was very interested in urban education, so I decided I would be a daycare teacher on a Head Start program in Boston. So I took that job. It turns out that my number didn't come up, so I could have, in retrospect, gone to law school and just stayed there and moved in that direction. But instead I wound up teaching. And though I discovered that teaching itself wasn't necessarily my cup of tea, but I got involved in other aspects of urban education issues. I became the director of a community school, and then I became involved in other organizing efforts around education in Boston neighborhoods, and I became involved in a variety of youth services and the funding of youth services. So I wound up getting just totally fascinated with the life of neighborhood organizations in different Boston neighborhoods, particularly Jamaica Plain where I lived for 20 years. And there were a few years where I thought about, am I going to go back to law school or not? And at some point that just kind of faded, and I wound up headed in different directions, following my curiosities, following my interests. As I look back on those years, I realized that I developed a sense of confidence that I could change directions and still land on my feet. And that sense of confidence, that sense of agency, has served me well ever since. And as I look back on it, though, I would like to say, oh, it's because of my ingenuity and my smarts, and that may have a little something to do with it. I recognize that so much of this was the privilege that I had, the wonderful education that was made possible for me by my parents. I had a financial backstop. But knowing that there was a very good chance I would land on my feet. Those early years helped give me the confidence to be able to make changes like that knowing how fortunate I was to be able to bring that attitude to things. Many, many people were not and do not now have the kind of background handed to them and the privilege and access handed to them that makes that possible. Previous Next

< Back Robert's Story Robert talks to Honor about his experiences living in a commune and how it saved him from serving in the Vietnam war. He explains how his faith and trust in a higher power guided him to conquer this fear, and continues to support him to this day. Scroll to listen 00:00 / 04:00 ​ Previous Next

Josh's Story Josh shares his dedication and identity to football at college and wanting to succeed in his athletic career, only to realize that it was taking him away from his academics. When Covid hit, which was brought with a year spent at home, he decided to change his focus from football towards his studies on Public Health. Leaving your past self may be hard, but it’s the sacrifice to limitless possibilities and realizing . Josh's Story 00:00 / 03:20 So at 18 I think, not that my head was in the wrong place but, now looking back I was definitely a little bit naive, I think. I was really obviously into football. I'd like that's where I kind of put all my time and energy. I was fortunate enough where I won a state championship with my team in my senior year so that kind of boosted not my ego but my like attention towards football and wanting to keep on having success in the sport. So I obviously ended up going to Springfield College right after graduation to go play football at the college you know after being there for a couple of months and just kind of interacting with the people there. I just kind of realized that like I wasn't really getting as much out of it then that I thought I was going to and I was like you know what I'd rather just commit the time that I was spending playing football just to focus purely on my academics at that point. So I decided that I was going to quit football which was kind of a big part of my identity at the time. I kind of had to learn how to you know take that part of myself and kind of let it be in the past. I would say fortunately but unfortunately enough by the time I realize that I was done playing football Covid became a thing and that was during the Spring of my freshman year so we all got sent home and that was kind of like the you know the nail in the coffin for my decision if there's any time to you know hang up the cleats now. I lived at home for about like a year and then at that time I transferred to you Umass. As my studies kind of kept on getting more in depth, I started to figure out that I really liked them my new major public health I you know I started to meet some new people and most of them were from you know the friends that I had for my hometown and I met their friends that they met up here. I would say that when it comes to you know now being 22 and graduating in a month I would say like the biggest difference from like now to when I was 18 in high school and like you know kind of just bullying and obsessed with football is that I kind of realized that education is definitely you know the ultimate way forward because you know I was just so into Sport and then I realized that we're all just lifelong learners and why limit myself and put time into you know a sport just entertain myself when I could go out and like learn something. My dad was my football coach in high school so he obviously kind of wanted me to keep on playing but he obviously had no like there's no pressure that came with like he wasn't going to force me to keep on playing. He would have liked it if I did but, he was totally supportive that I decided I wasn't going to play anymore. Previous Next

< Back Vicki's Story Vicki talks about how her parent's decision to move from Long Island to Western Massachusetts when she was a senior in high school and how it impacted her life and her future trajectory. Scroll to listen 00:00 / 03:41 Right before my senior year of high school my parents decided to make this huge move. We lived on Long Island in a very suburban, busy community. It’s all I’d ever know is living on Long Island since I’d been born. And my Dad at the time was commuting to a job in New Jersey and sitting in horrible traffic going through New York City everyday and my Mother was going some of the time with him. And it was very very stressful, just, you know, not a sustainable lifestyle. So they just all of a sudden had this dream that they were going to open a craft store in the Berkshires. And amazingly, when I look back, I think what a big deal it was now, they made it happen. So, they sold their house, they bought a house in Otis Massachusetts which is this teeny little town. So, we had acreage, we lived across from a lake. I did my senior year in high school up in, you know, Western Massachusetts just everything different from anything I had done my entire life. It motivated me through college I was a super good student, and maybe I would have been anyway, I don’t know, but I feel like it just kind of kicked in my motivation. I also, because here we had this craft shop and we had a workshop next to it where my parents were making things and they were bringing things in on consignment from other artists, it motivated me to try some different things. It allowed me to explore the creative side of myself. And I think, obviously, it pushed me to make new friends which is hard when your 18 years old and you’re leaving your best buddies. It’s like that stage of life where it’s really hard to leave friends just like going to college is. So, it pushed me to make new friends they were very different than the people I had been friends with or grown up with, so it was eye-opening for me. Also, I think more than anything it exposed me to nature in a way that I had never been exposed. To me nature was going to the beach for the day, you know, the ocean, because I lived close to it. And not that we never went away to pretty places but this was every day of my life, you know, that I could walk into the woods and take a hike and I could swim across the street in a lake. So, I think it gave me a new appreciation of nature and being outside that I’ve maintained my whole life. I eventually met my future husband out there so, obviously, if I didn’t meet him, I wouldn’t have the daughter I have, you know all of that, just everything would have been different. I always wonder who I would’ve married. “Are you glad that your parents made the decision to move at such a pivotal age?” I really am, I really am. Yeah, you know I just think it changed everything, mostly for the better obviously I can’t know what my life would’ve looked like if I didn’t do that, but I feel like most of the things that I can look at feel better. I’m grateful, you know, that I love nature. I’m grateful for the career path I followed which may or may not have been the same. I’m grateful that I got in touch with that more academic side of myself. Yeah, I’m really grateful that they did it, and now I live in Massachusetts, and I love Western Massachusetts! I can’t imagine ever living on Long Island. I still have family there, and I go back sometimes and its crowded and there’s terrible traffic and I just think, yeah, I’m really glad I live here. Previous Next

Amira's Story Listen to Amira talk about her experience finding a home at UMass. In her story, Amira shares the struggles of connecting at UMass and how sitting in RSO room on campus started to become more than just a place to do work but somewhere she met people who have become her close friends. Amira's Story 00:00 / 03:58 Growing up, I never had a real sense of home. My parents immigrated from another country and they had to redo their training for their jobs and they were kind of just being placed wherever they were put for residency. So, I was just constantly moving from one state to another for their training, and never stayed in one place long enough to put down roots and make lasting friendships. Every time we moved I had to start all over again and it was exhausting. I remember the first time in the US, I was only six years old and we just moved from Saudi Arabia and moved to Ohio, and it just felt like a completely different world. I didn’t know anyone and I felt so out of place and I was learning English. All I think about was my friends back in Saudi Arabia and the familiarity of my old home. We moved several more times after that: Arkansas, Massachusetts, and now in Long Island. Each time we moved, it was for my parents’ jobs. They were both doctors and they had to redo their training once they came to America. I understood why we had to move, but that didn’t make it any easier. By the time I got to college, I was used to the idea of not having any real friends or connections. I was just there to get my degree and move on with my life. But things didn’t quite work out that way. I had some bad experiences with friendships before. I’d make friends with someone only to have them turn on me or something like that. It was disheartening, and I started to feel like maybe there was something wrong with me. But then I discovered the RSO room. There’s this room in my school’s student union and it stands for: registered student organization room. It’s basically supposed to serve for all the clubs on campus. For them to meet there and kinda hold their supplies there. Initially, one of the clubs that I joined, it was like a cultural club, a lot of people from there just started hanging out in this room to do homework and I remember being intimidated to go into this room cause it was just like these friends and like it was for studying but everyone was just kinda hanging out and talking and stuff like that. So I’d always avoid this room but I’d always want to go in. So little by little I would hang out in there sometimes, take a friend with me, maybe stop by, but I would never do anything too extreme. But eventually I started going to the RSO room more often and I would just keep seeing familiar faces all the time. And we started to hang out and get lunch and become friends and the RSO room just kind of became more than just this room for student organizations. So I think that was one of the first times where I felt like I formed that community and found that community on campus because it was insane like no matter what time of the day, if you go after your classes, if you go for lunch whatever, like there’s going to be at least five people in that room. It kind of reminded me of like some shows I would watch, like I know in Boy Meets World there’s always this one place in college where everyone would go to hang out and I just thought that was just like a TV thing or a movie thing but like I had that own thing with me and my friends. Like I credit a lot of my friendships to the RSO room because these are the people I’ve like celebrated my birthday with. These are people I go to concerts with. I’ve gone to New York with them and it was literally all just from seeing them often to go study everyday and just eventually kind of realizing we have more in common than we think. It was just such a relief because before that I was like really struggling to find my people on campus. I saw this like quote the other day and it said something about home is the place where people notice when you’re gone. And, like when I don’t go or when I’m sick or I have a lot of work, my friends will be like “Where are you, when are you coming?” blah blah blah. And that feeling is just, it’s so amazing. Like to feel like my presence matters and like I’m missed and all that stuff. It’s just been a great thing, and I, I recommend it to anyone who’s like looking to make friends. I’m like “just come to the RSO room like five times and you’ll be best friends with everyone.” Previous Next

David's Story David talks about his experience with coming out during the 70s and 80s to his parents and how people’s perceptions of what it means to be gay was different then compared to today. He also talks about what it was like to finally be able to marry his partner Todd and what that meant to him. David's Story 00:00 / 03:06 Well, when I was a teenager I knew that I felt differently. But um, back in the um late 60s or late 70s there was really no place to go for information and stuff. So I had really no one that I could talk with or um, and you know you couldn’t go to the library and get a book or anything. It was, it was hard because its not like now where you know there’s social media. There’s just so much on television or movies or whatever. And, um I told myself that I was bisexual for a while and this sounds really horrible to say and I don’t mean it that way but I was telling myself that I was at least half normal but I was kidding myself cause I wasn’t. When I was in college, I finally accepted that I was gay. And that was when I decided to you know come out to my parents and I did it by letter. Which I guess some people would say is very cowardice. They were like typical republicans. Upstate New York. It’s not like Republicans now. But I knew that they would freak out and be crying and stuff like that. And I didn’t want to be there to have to deal with that because I want them to be able to have their honest reactions on their own. And I got a phone call from my parents and they said that they would always love me no matter what. They didn’t understand because back then nobody talked about it. That was kind of an important thing cause I know it still happens now, but back then I had a lot of friends that were disowned by their families and stuff like that, so. It was a worry. I moved here with my partner at the time and from Idaho and had never been here before. The reason we came here was because we read about the five colleges and we figured well that should at least help to make the area somewhat more progressive. And we found at that point, we’re talking 1977, that it was to a point but there was still the old you know bastions of conservatives and everything. I met my now husband in 1983 and we got married in 2006, so um and it was funny because that was I think a year or so after marriage was legalized in Massachusetts. And um, my mother and Todd’s mother were here to give us away and I was so glad that we did it then because my mom passed away the Christmas of that year. It was interesting how being married does make a difference. It makes the relationship more legitimate. It was very, I thought it was more empowering than I knew it would be before. Previous Next

< Back Luke's Story Luke shares a story about his uncle Peter who is a Carthuegen Monk in Slovenia. He talks about his personal relationship with Peter and how Peter inspires him in his own life. Scroll to listen 00:00 / 04:43 I’m discussing my uncle Peter who is a Carthuegen Monk in Slovenia, which is a very small country just on the northern tip of Italy, and he’s been there for probably about 30 years and he will be almost 70 now he's in his mid to late 60s. To give a little background I guess on the setting it’s a very beautiful place Slovenia and especially where he is. One of my uncles once said that Slovenia is Europe’s best kept secret. It’s got rolling hills, and lots of vineyards. It’s a very picturesque place. Speaking on my personal relationship with him, I’ve met him three times, but the last two are pretty impactful on me I would say. He’s a very interesting character and someone I do think I admire a great deal. I met him when I was 10. I went with my father and I don’t remember a lot from that trip because that was 12 years ago at this point, but I do know that after that trip took place we started writing to each other, and we kept a correspondence consistently for the last 12 years. Peter’s a really great guy, a very joyful guy. I think it’s interesting because his characteristics or his personality goes against what a lot of people would consider a Monk to have. He’s very energetic. He’s very joyful. He’s talkative. Perhaps some of that has to do with the fact that he seeing family and he doesn’t get a chance to do that very often, but it did surprise me meeting him last year, because there is so much energy and passion and just brightness about him that I wouldn’t necessarily had pictured a monk having. Most of the time we stayed in the guest house, and just shared meals together and shared stories, but we did on one day go out. We left the monastery, and we, went into one of the popular towns, sat by a river, which it seemed almost like a beach club. There were restaurants and canoes you could rent and things like that. So we did that, we had a great time, and then went and got food at McDonalds. He was really happy I think to get a taste of America in a long time. There are stories, he’s told us stories about being rebellious even as a monk and what he’s, I guess expected to do. You are not supposed to leave the monastery. They have a weekly walk that they take together, but beyond that, they are only supposed to leave to go to doctor’s appointments to dentist appointments or something that’s really mandatory that they have to leave the cloister for. But, he tends to break away a little more if he can. I don’t think what he does I could do. It’s a very specific vocation and it's a vocation that requires a lot of dedication. His entire being is in it. And he’s on another continent from the rest of his family and he’s been there for decades. And when my grandparents, both of his parents passed away he wasn’t able to come to their funerals. And when he passes away he will be buried in an unmarked grave within the monastery. So his belief and how strong his belief is, and what he gets from God is something that I’ve never seen from anyone else. But I can tell that it gives him a lot of strength, and I can tell that he is really called to do it. I guess you know there is a relation in this story, quite clearly to God and you know, what role that plays in everyone’s lives that's met him and what role that plays in his life. And I don’t know, it's interesting because I am 22 at this point, I haven’t necessarily found my way or found an answer in my own mind as to whether I believe in a higher being and what that might be, what religion might be “right”, and all of these different answers. But his devotion is very inspirational to me, and I find I pull a lot from it. I don’t know how to encapsulate my relationship with him and what he means, but I will say that I love him and I find him inspirational in a lot of senses. I’m excited to see him again at some point, hopefully in the near future. I’d like to go alone maybe the next time, I think that would be interesting and beneficial Previous Next

Jonathan Daube's Story ​ Jonathan Daube's Story 00:00 / 04:23 ​ Previous Next

Marci's Story ​ Scroll to listen Marci's Story 00:00 / 03:26 ​

< Back Abby's Story Abby talks about her adventures while traveling. She talks about her experience studying abroad and traveling as a young kid and how that shaped her into the person she is. Scroll to listen 00:00 / 04:02 Basically, growing up, traveling was a really big part of my life, one special one that I remember was when I was going into my junior year in high school, they took us to Peru for 3 weeks. For 2 of the weeks we were living on a boat on the Amazon River which was really really cool. We were kind of like helping college students who were doing their thesis or dissertations. We were basically going in and out of the Amazon Rainforest and helping them collect data. It was an awesome experience. It made me look at my life differently, it was my first time traveling without my family. But also while we were there we were able to go to a little village for the day and the villagers just showed us around their homes but we were hanging out with all the little kids and we brought them school supplies and gifts but it was just awesome to see, it was like Christmas day for them when we came they were so excited and that really put a lot of things into perspective because coming from America we just have a lot more things than other countries do, so it was just a really awesome experience and it really shows me a lot about life and how materialistic things like that doesn’t really matter. From that traveling really became my passion, I knew I loved going to new places and experiencing new cultures and seeing different cultures. So, I knew when I came to college, I was going to study abroad no matter what. I went abroad in Fall 2021, and I went to Verona, Italy. It was one of the best experiences of my life. It was my favorite semester in college so far. I was able to travel a ton, I met a lot of new people, I learned so much about myself, I grew as a person. You kind of learn to be comfortable with being uncomfortable if that makes sense, you just are kind of thrown into situations that you usually wouldn’t be in and you kind of just got to figure it out. Like it's been an experience that pushed me so far out of my comfort zone, but it was amazing and so worth it. You just kind of got to learn to just go with the flow and stuff won’t always go the way you planned and that’s okay. My first trip was to Lake Como in Italy. It was one of my favorite trips on that I went on there, it was beautiful and so fun but I think what made it one of my favorite trips was the people I was with and we were just hanging out and having fun and getting to know each other because we were only 3 weeks in so it wasn’t like we knew each other super well. My last trip was to London, basically to London we were just being the biggest tourists you could be. We were doing all the touristy things, we went and saw the London Eye, we saw Great Ben, we saw the Parliament, we saw Buckingham Palace, everything that was stereotypical and touristy about London, we did it. My current job right now which I love is at our study abroad office at UMass. I basically just encourage kids to go abroad and tell them that they can do it, I know it's scary, but you got it. I am working for Teach for America when I graduate, before this year I've always known about it but never thought I'd be able to get in. Previous Next

< Back Chad's Story Chad discusses his struggles in elementary school with learning disabilities and how it led him to the development of Sudbury Valley Schools and to the career path of community development. Chad talks about how important being a part of a community is, and how important it is to feel heard and respected in a group. Scroll to listen 00:00 / 02:58 The first question that I have for you is: What was the most difficult part of school for you? You know again there was no special ed then, saying from the front of the room “Ok Chad what’s the answer to number 2? What’s two times nineteen” and I would get red in the face and now, all the other kids are whipping their heads around looking at me, so it was the kids too so. The hardest part was, I guess you would call it sticking out or the change, the change from fitting in and community, to sticking out as there’s something different here, what’s going on. You know, I was called lazy and a lot of those kinds of things until around 13 years old or something, when they diagnosed a bunch of learning disabilities. You know, it’s like any health diagnosis, somebody could take the diagnosis, let’s say alcoholism, they could take that and say “Oh my god I’m broken! This is never going to get better.” Other can take that diagnosis “Hey, now I know I need to watch out for this, how can I work on that.” So as soon as the mind makes that turn, that change, there is benefit. So, by the time I hit high school I had dropped out so, joining that new school in Framingham was the best thing that could have ever happened. I was accepted for who I was no matter what that small part of me was about. I was kind of, I guess you could call it sitting at the boundary. I was neither at the public high school nor at the prep school, but once I started that new school with the others, I was back in the arms of the community. I mean the Sudbury Valley School prepared me for being a member, you know, being someone who had something to give. “We want to hear from you, what’s your take on this, now what about yours.” And I think being a member of that warming school, and the specific model of the school formed a lot of the rest of my life. Previous Next