Nicole Ware
Why I'm doing Mission Year.
Hi, I’m Nicole Ware, I’m 20 years old, and I have completed 2 years of college at NC State University. I decided to do Mission Year, because I needed a change of pace, and I wanted to begin to DO something with my life. I want to Love people who need to be loved. I am hoping for this year to be life changing! I want to come away from it Closer to God, and with a better view of the impact my life can have on the lives of others.
About Mission Year
Mission Year is a year long urban ministry program focused on Christian service and discipleship. We take teams of young people, place them in an area of need, and help them to serve people and create community. We are committed to the command of Jesus to “love God and love people,” by placing the needs of our neighbors first and developing committed disciples of Christ with a heart for the poor. Learn more about our first year program…
Nicole Ware's Blog
February Newsletter / Feb 9, 05:13 PM
Hey Guys! It’s February!
I’ve been trying to decide what uplifting story I could write for this month, something about love, and the beauty that I’m seeing in my neighborhood, but I’ve also been thinking about the hardships that I see. The injustices that I’ve witnessed, that just can’t be explained away with a sappy story about happy children, and loving neighbors. True those things are good, amazing even, and they happen regularly, but they aren’t my only experiences. I’ve been struggling a lot lately with the state of education in my neighborhood. I never understood what people were talking about when they would say things about the state of education in America. I always just envisioned my own school experiences, and sure school wasn’t always the best, but I mean the teachers around me seemed qualified, and I got an education, and so did my classmates. We were all offered a fair chance at learning, and so I just thought that that was how it was everywhere. I knew that there were exceptions to that thought, that some teachers in fact did not know how to teach, and that some students had no support at home, but I just assumed that that was overcome by the amount of teachers who did know, and parents who did care. But here it’s not that easy to assume that that is how it is. Here I’m faced every day with students who can’t put together a paragraph, five sentences without basic grammar and spelling mistakes, for a college application! Here they had to find a way around a literacy test that college juniors take because too many students were failing it! Here the class valedictorian has an 80 out of 100 for her GPA. A lot of these students have the drive to succeed and just aren’t, and that breaks my heart, because isn’t that what we’re always told, if you’re determined you’ll go far? I just don’t see that happening for a lot of these kids…they are determined, they want to do well, they want to succeed, they know the importance of getting an education, but if all of those things are in place then what is the problem? Somewhere down the line our system is failing them. Is it elementary school, is it passing students because of the social stigma assigned to repeating a year? Are they just not smart enough? Are they doing the best they can, should we be happy with mediocrity for these kids, because they are growing up in the inner city, or should we tell them, you can do better. There’s a teacher here who told her ‘A’ Students that if they were in a white school they would only be pulling C’s, how can that be OK? How can we have separate standards for White and Black students, how can we say that according to black standards you’re the top of the class, but according to white standards you are barely the middle. Why so many years after integration are we still so separate?
I’m leaving you with my questions, if you have any answers send them my way. If this has somehow caused you to question what you thought you knew let me know, if you think I’m wrong tell me that too! Communicate with me while I’m here, I like to know that you are all on this journey with me.
Missionyear.org/launch/nicoleware Missionyear.org/blogs/nicoleware 49 Bowen Ave Atlanta Ga, 30315
Comparisons / Dec 18, 09:37 PM
We as humans compare all the time. All we do is look to see if who we are, or what we are given lines up with who everyone else is and what thye have been given. Now of course we have those people who buck the system, who aren’t conformists, and want you to know it. But how do you konw if you’re not conforming, w/out comparing what you are doing with everyone else. So far this year, God has been teaching me the evil that too much comparing can bring.
Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! / Oct 13, 10:01 PM
OK, so This week, we volunteered at the Catalyst conference. I spent 3 days there, and I loved it so much. Not so much the actual conference, but the behind the scenes set up, it was so much fun. Like getting to put together the goodie bags, and setting up and breaking down the shirts, and the books. Helping load and unload trucks, and just walking around helping people when they needed it. Watching the little bit of the conference, I was like…I helped set this up. I’m thinking I want to see if I could just volunteer for this again next year. It would be super awesome to get to do something like that as a career, how do you do that? Anyway, other than that this week has been pretty slow…umm Carver is cool, but students aren’t coming to me like they should. Pray that more students request my help, so work isn’t so boring…Facebook is blocked by their Internet, so I have NOTHING TO DO!!!! Hmmm, Today is sit in the library and watch TV day. What else can I think of….oh our power went out the other day, turns out a tractor trailer truck doesn’t belong on our residential streets with our low hanging power lines…I have no idea why he thought he did, anyway, we ended up hanging out at Wendy’s together, and it was a lot of fun, and in case you haven’t noticed…Super is like my new favorite word, and I don’t really like it, but Kirsten said it a lot the first few days we were here, and now I have adopted it as my own. I am really liking this though, Tomorrow I’m probably going to get my hair done by my friend Shaun, and it’s fun hanging out with her and her son Chris. I have pics of the last time on facebook! OK, I don’t think this blog is what it’s probably supposed to be, but really it’ll be ok! Bye!!!!
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