Last week a I attended Eurekamp 2010. Among those who attended stood out one amazing person, Dr. Erika Landau founder of The Young Person’s Institute for the Promotion of Creativity and Excellence.
It took a couple of seconds to sink but here was sitting a lady I never met before but to whom I owe a huge debt for changing my life.
This story goes back 27 years. I was 12 years old with severe ADHD and completely lost. Back in those days no one talked about ADHD or the option of taking Ritalin.
Things went from bad to worse and pretty soon I found myself roaming the school yard most of the time, expelled from classes multiple times a day, learning little to nothing and worst of all starting to believe they might be right… maybe I was stupid just like those teachers say.
It was the last day of primary school. Being such a “bad influence” I was to be separated from all my friends in junior high. They were to go to one class and I was to go to another. I was in deep shit!
In that great atmosphere I dragged my feet to school to attend the end of the year “celebrations” with all the kids and their parents… The ceremonies were over and we all gathered in class and then it happened. My teacher called me and gave me a letter.
I haven’t given it a second thought but a few weeks before that we all took a test. I sucked in tests and had no reason to believe this test was any different than all the others I regularly failed. But there I was holding a letter in my hands and it was from “Young Person’s Institute for the Promotion of Creativity and Excellence”… it looked as though I was GIFTED.
Only two kids in the whole class got such a letter, the most talented kid in class and ME. I was accepted to Dr. Erika Landaus special program and most importantly I had a letter saying I was gifted… THEY WERE WRONG ABOUT ME.
All I needed was the signature of the headmaster. Walking to her office, holding that letter in my hands is, still today, one of the sweetest moments of my life. Thinking of the shock in her eyes, the disbelief, as I handed her that letter still gives me goosebumps.
I got the signature and sure enough I enrolled to the program the next year and took 2 courses: Photography, and Graphic Design. A few months later I got my first “A” in school… it was an “A” in Graphic Arts 
I may have been gifted but I still had ADHD and studying, even in an amazing place like Erika’s program, was hard and so I left after one year… But there was no turning back. From the moment I held that letter in my hands started the uphill straggle of fighting my way back, closing the huge gaps primary school left in me. It wasn’t easy. Frankly I consider the fact I made it a private miracle :)
So Erika. You’ve dedicated your life to education and helping kids realize their potential. I, for one, know without any doubt that my life wouldn’t have been the same without that letter, this proof that no matter what all the teacher in the world say about me… I’m gifted. A million thanks for changing my life.
Posted on Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010
| Name's Avi Charkham. I'm a product person currently working on my latest projectmyfamilio.com. Normally I prefer to simply tweet my thoughts but some times 140 are simply not enough :) |
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