Day 13 of 100: MVT
Most valuable teacher.
Write about a teacher, cataloguing what you remember (good, bad, and otherwise) and how you saw them as a child. Then write about them as the student of life you are today. - Arden Brown
Dr. J, formerly known as Lil' J in his hood. Lil' J had play. Not play in the romantic sense, but play like that of a chess game. Lil' J was never not thinking. He kept hypothesizing and studying and researching all the way into a PhD. Lil' J was on a mission to discover his community while discovering himself.
Dr. J; smoothest cat in the program, slicker than butter, and cooler than ice. Fellow Virgo and it showed. A natural caretaker of young minds. A professor balancing the traits of power and relatability. Students never feared him, they revered him. Students loathed missing his dynamic lectures and open forums. Dr. J referred to every student - no matter their grade point average - as, "young scholar." Nobody was too far gone. Everyone was on their own journey and Dr. J met you where you needed him to. There were no stupid questions. There was a whole lot of debating. Exchanging and mixing theories until the class collectively landed on one concoction or two. Dr. J fostered communal problem solving. Even the quietest student had to speak up because no matter how often someone dimmed their light, Dr. J strolled around with a spotlight on everyone. But like I said, he's a Virgo. So after leaving his class, you may not hear from him again. But if your paths were to cross after years past, I bet he'll greet you the same. We are all young scholars.
As the student of life I am today, I am a profound believer of working with people. For the majority of his upper course tests, Dr. J issued essay based exams. You may not have the answer he was looking for, however if you could persuade him of why your answer should be an answer, you were still awarded points. On an exam I failed to study for, Dr. J wrote a, "see me," on my pamphlet. Friend, I didn't even know see me was even on the grading scale. I knew I did poorly but not 'we need to talk about this' level bad. I saw him after class as instructed. He had the whole disappointed guardian look. Yet, rather turning my failure into a hard earned lesson, we discussed the exam. Turned out, I knew some of the answers. But in the moment - because of whatever angsty drama I was going through in my personal life, I gave up that day. I was going to take the L, but Dr. J wouldn't let that slide. See now, folks may not know the answer today, but don't beat them down tomorrow and especially do not give up on them the day after. Seek comprehension, first.
If it were not for Dr. J and the program, I certainly would have transferred colleges again. Coming from an HBCU that embedded Black life into the curriculum, to a PWI that viewed any identity other than white as an afterthought, caused immense strife for me. I no longer felt seen within my studies and student life felt so segregated. Until, Dr. J met me where I was. He introduced a new radical community to me and the rest is herstory.